Put Plants on Buildings

Recently, I have seen a building in central park in Sydney. This building is surrounding by many kinds of plants. It looks like in a forest. Every side of wall is full of plants. After I have seen this building, I think that it may a great design for sustainable cities.

With the rapidly increasing process of urbanization, more and more people live into urban areas. Because the land in urban areas is limited, there is not much land for government to build parks, gardens or lawns. The green cover rate will be decrease under this situation. But, this building gives us an idea that we can put plants into buildings.

There are several advantages of putting plants into buildings. Firstly, it saves the land in urban area. The increasing number of population in urban area requires more dwellings in urban area. Thus, the green will be decrease. This design for buildings can solve this problem perfectly. Secondly, in the past, plants only cover the land in low level of city. The tall buildings bring many problems such like urban heat island effect and photochemical pollution. Putting plants on the wall of tall buildings can reduce generation of harmful emissions and decrease the temperature in high level of city. Finally, it raises the green cover rate in urban areas. The more greens in urban cities, the more CO₂ emissions will be absorbed from atmosphere.

Although some opponents argue that the irrigation system for these plants will cost a lot and it is dangerous to put solid on high level, the benefits of this design cannot be ignored. The plants on the buildings can also contribute to solve climate change problem. In addition, everyone likes to live or work in a great environment which is surrounded by greens. It can reduce pressure on urbanite.

To sum up, every coin has two sides. We cannot ignore the benefits of this design brings compared with its disadvantages. In light of this, I think that this design should be encouraged to use in other buildings. The buildings which use this design will be more sustainable and environment friendly in urban areas. 

Reference:
1. Falkenbach, H., Lindholm, A. and Schleich, H. (2010), Environmental sustainability: drivers for the real estate investor. Journal of Real Estate Literature, 18: 203-223. 
2. Fuerst, F. (2009), Building momentum: an analysis of investment trends in LEED and Energy Star-certified properties. Journal of Retail and Leisure Property, 8(4): 285-297.

To be a sustainable office

To be a sustainable urban city means that it should consider all activities to be sustainable in urban areas. Because there are many companies located in urban cities, especially in CBD, it is essential to make it become more sustainable.

The first related thing to office in our brain must be the paper. And paper is one of the products frequently used in office. The total paper consumption per year in office is about 330 million tons in the world. And it still sharply increased in recent years.

Another section is printer. The ink used in printer will cause a serious environment problem. If the waste ink is thrown into nature, it will be harm for environment and human health. Moreover, computer, copy machine and desk lamps will generate large amount of ecological footprint.

To solve these problems and reduce ecological footprint in office, there are several methods can be used. For computer and monitor, putting computers and monitor in the mode of energy saving. And turn off when leaving office. According to the report, it can save 172 kWh a year per computer. It equals about save $250. For the printer and desk lamps, turn off in the night can reduce 100kWh/machine per year. Although it is a small number, it will have significant impact on environment if everyone does it. For the part of paper, this has huge contribution to footprint. We need to pay more attention about it. Firstly, the office manager should encourage employees use e-file instead of paper print. If something has to be printed out, it is better to print in two sides of paper. Only these two points can reduce about 30% of total paper consumption annually. In addition, the furniture in office also should be sustainable. The material of furniture used should be easily to recycle and reuse.

To sum up, to be a sustainable office is not a easy thing. But if everyone do his own effort to improve it, the office will be better. And it will be a significant part of a sustainable city. 

Reference:
1. Dermisi, S. (2009), Effect of LEED ratings and levels on office property assessed and market values. Journal of Sustainable Real Estate , 1(1): 23-47. 
2. Eichholtz, P., Kok, N. and Quigley, J. (2010a), Doing well by doing good: green office buildings. American Economic Review, 100: 2494-2511.

A Sustainable City-Melbourne

A sustainable urban Precincts Program (SUPP) was established in Melbourne. And this program is written by RMIT University. And Melbourne has a long history in sustainable design. In this program, it contains project of save energy, eco-city forums, save water and eco carlton. In this blog, I will introduce these projects and illustrate their details.

The goal in saving energy project is to become carbon neutral by 2020. The first step is to develop the public transportation. There is a special public transportation system in Melbourne-----inner city train system. This kind of train runs on the central of road. And it does not consume fossil fuel, only need electricity. It won’t generate much greenhouse emissions into atmosphere. The project is aim to extend its distance in Melbourne so that more residents can benefit from this service.

The second part is save water. The city of Melbourne is aim to build a sustainable water management plan to protect water in the parks, gardens and open spaces. In addition, the government wants to stop using potable water in park and garden irrigation by 2020. Instead of it, other alternative sources will be used in these places. Moreover, the government also encourage residents to save water at home. They will send saving water guideline book to each resident. And this guideline book will give information about how to save water.

For another two parts, they all focus on the green in urban area. The Melbourne government plan to increase the total green cover rate in urban area. It will help to absorb the CO₂ emission and increase air quality.

In conclusion, this plan about building sustainable city of Melbourne focuses on the future environment and society. And all parts in this plan is aim to make the city become better not only in environment but also in technology, education and many other aspects. If this plan runs well, Melbourne will be a model in sustainable design urban city. 

Reference:
1. Alberti, M., 2000, "Urban form and Ecosystem Dynamics: Empirical Evidence and Practical Implications" in Williams, K., Burton, E. and Jenks, M., Achieving Sustainable Urban Form, Spon, London. 
2. Armstrong, G., Birrell, R., Buxton, M., Johnstone, P. and Stanley, J., 1995, Green Cities, Australian Urban and Regional Development Review Strategy Paper No.3, Canberra. 
3. Alexander, N., Buxton, M., Morris, W. and Smith, B., 1996, Urban Villages Project. Encouraging Sustainable Urban Form, Summary Report, Government of Victoria, Melbourne. 
4. Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), 1994, Yearbook Australia, AGPS, Canberra. 

Wind Energy in Urban Cities

In a sustainable city, the energy supply should be combined by different kinds of energy. And the wind turbine can be one of renewable energy to supply a part of energy consumption. With the development of technology, it is possible to build an individual wind power system.

This picture shows the wind power system built in the top of a building. Each wind turbine can supply average individual consumption.

These two pictures are in Hilton Hotel and Foods Market in Brooklyn, New York. The wind turbine offers a part of total energy to serve customers. It can meet sustainability goals set by government. In that foods market, although the wind power system oly supply for the lights, it still reduce the ecological footprint.

There are some standards should be known before apply for wind turbine. The most important thing is the location. The location should have sufficiently fast wind speed, because the low wind speed cannot produce electricity. Also, the wind should be clean and laminar. The polluted air may damage the wind turbine in a period of time. And the laminar wind can provide the strongest power to generate electricity.

In addition, because it is hard to forecast the intensity of wind and the wind direction, the energy storage system is always added in wind power system. It can be stored into battery when the electricity generated.

To sum up, although the wind turbine for individual use occurs in recently, it has huge potential development opportunities in the future. Because wind power is a renewable energy, it is environment friendly power system which can reduce ecological footprint generation in urban areas. 

Reference:

1. Dempsey, N.; Bramley, G.; Power, S.; Brown, C. The social dimension of sustainable development: Defining urban social sustainability. Sustain. Dev. 2011, 19, 289–300.
2. Wilhite, H. The conditioning of comfort. Build. Res. Inf. 2009, 37, 84–88.
3. Parsons, K. Human Thermal Environments, 2nd ed.;Taylor and Francis: New York, NY, USA, 2003.

Does urban air outdoor pollution contribute to indoor air pollution?

In recent years, air quality becomes a hot topic in many countries, especially in developing countries. According to the United Nations Environment Programme, it is estimated that more than 1 billion people are exposed to outdoor air pollution annually. Urban air pollution is linked to up to 1 million premature deaths and 1 million pre-native deaths each year. Urban air pollution cost about 2% of total GDP in developed countries and 5% of in developing countries. So, what causes this serious problem? And does urban air outdoor pollution contribute to indoor air pollution? To answer these questions, we should know what cause it.

The main factor which causes the air pollution is the smog from industry. For example, the city of Beijing suffers a lot from air pollution. The main factor is the nearby factories. These factories generate huge amount of harmful emissions into atmosphere. The PM 2.5 in Beijing always rise to more than 500 which is a dangerous level may cause serious problems. In another city in India, New Delhi also is in bad situation with air pollution. The most cities in developing countries always have the problem of air pollution because of the rapidly increasing in economy and careless of environment.

Move to the question about “Does urban air outdoor pollution contribute to indoor air pollution?”. According to the research by Beijing Government, when PM 2.5 is over 300 outdoor, the indoor air quality becomes worse. If open the window, the air quality indoor will be same as outdoor in about 10 minutes. So it is clearly that air outdoor pollution has significant contribution to indoor air quality.

For being a sustainable urban city, the air quality is also an important matter which will be considered. The air pollution has huge negative impact on the environment and human health, especially in urban area because of the large number of population.

To solve this problem, the government should establish some policies to restrict development of factories. Moreover, the emissions generated by vehicle also need to be managed. 

Reference:

1. Ford, D., Berrang-Ford, L., Eds. Climate Change Adaptation in Developed Nations: From Theory to Practice; Springer: Dordrecht, The Netherlands, 2011; p. 490.
2. Kjellström, T.; Holmer, I.; Lemke, B. Workplace heat stress, health and productivity—an increasing challenge for low-and middle income countries during climate change. Glob. Health Action 2009, doi: 10.3402/gha.v2i0.2047.
3. Henning, H.-M. Solar assisted air conditioning of buildings—an overview. Appl. Therm. Eng. 2007, 27, 1734–1749.

Solar Energy Development in Sydney

I have read a plan called City of Sydney 2030 recently. In this plan, it indicates many great designs and projects for the next decade in Sydney. And one of the best parts which attract me is renewable energy development in the future. The plan’s target is to reduce greenhouse emission by development of renewable energy instead of coal and fossil fuel. The table below shows the different renewable energy which can be used in Sydney. Although there are many types of renewable energy can be

Table 1

Source: City of Sydney (2012)

considered, the solar energy is the first in the list for Sydney. Because Australia has a large potential solar resource, so that it is an enormous advantage to develop solar energy.

The opponent may argue that to build solar energy system is expensive and not effective as traditional power system. But we should focus on the future, for the environment and energy sustainable. In the other hand, solar energy also has many advantages which cannot be ignored. Firstly, when the solar energy system build up, the maintain fee is cheaper than traditional power machines. And the electricity charge is also cheaper than others. The chart below shows the different cost of electricity.

Figure 2

Source: City of Sydney---Renewable Energy Master Plan

Secondly, it can generate electricity continually if there is a sunny day. In addition, it can be equipped on many devices to supply energy. For example, the solar system can be set on traffic lights to supply electricity. Therefore, it can instead of traditional power perfectly. Thirdly, it won’t generate the greenhouse emission to the environment. Finally, the biggest advantage of solar energy is that we can obtain this sort of energy from everywhere. The picture shows the solar source in city of Sydney.

Figure 3 Solar Resource Mapping

From this map, it shows that we can obtain solar energy even in the city of Sydney. Because of this character, it can be widely used in many conditions and locations.

  In this plan city of Sydney 2030, a major target is to helping the City meet its renewable energy targets. When this plan has finished in 2016, it will deliver 1.7 gigawatts per year or 5.3% of current electricity demand. And the solar energy plays a vital role in this plan. Besides of its disadvantages, solar energy has much more advantages such as less pollution, access easily. Although solar energy is a new energy which is still in research, there is no doubt that it will become an important energy resource in the future.

The video below is about the renewable energy and traditional energy.

Reference:

1. Schulte, P.A.; Chun, H. Climate change and occupational safety and health: Establishing a preliminary framework. J. Occup. Environ. Hyg. 2009, 6, 542–554.

2. IPCC. Forth Assessment Report, AR4; Cambridge University Press: Cambrige, UK, New York, NY, USA, 2007.

Sustainable Road Design

In the urban areas, every building and location is connected by road. The total distance of road in a city may 500 kilometer or more. And the road in city plays a vital role in transportation. Thus, the road design is also important. With the tendency of building sustainable cities, the design for road also should be sustainable. In this blog, it will illustrate some problems exist in current road design. The solutions will be presented in the below.

There are some existing problems in current road design. First of all, limited street tree planting in many urban areas reduces opportunities for naturally occurring carbon sequestration, helping to combat climate change. Secondly, dark road surfaces and extra wide streets contribute to the heat island effect and higher use of air conditioning, increasing demands on electricity infrastructure during peak usage hours. Thirdly, lack of shade from trees results in poor passive environ­mental design and also contributes to higher air condi­tion demand for private properties in urban areas. Moreover, poor street design promotes poor physical and social health of citizens fostered by street design that discour­ages walking, community engagement and activation of the public realm (community gardening). Finally, lack of productive and failure to integrate waste conversion to nutrient soil are another two problems.

For the consideration of sustainable road design, there are the solutions for these problems. As the picture shows, to plant more trees near the road can sequester carbon. It can reduce the greenhouse emission in the atmosphere and improve air quality. And the plant near road should be biodiverse. For the plants, it should provide adequate space for healthy root volume. Secondly, to organize and consolidate services underground. Thirdly, adjacent properties are likely to experience reduced cooling demands & costs. In addition, minimize width of driveable street relative to movement network. Finally, the sustainable road should reclaim streets as an inviting public space.

To sum up, if the government aims to build a sustainable urban city, it is a basic project to design sustainable road. Because road is one of the most important components in urban areas, the sustainable design road will have huge positive impact on environment and transportation. 

Reference: 
1. Moore, W.E. 1972. Introduction. in Technology and Social Change, ed. W.E. Moore.

Chicago: Quadrangle Books, pp. 3-25.

Sustainable Population Growth in Urban Cities

The rapidly increasing process of urbanization brings a large number of population to the urban areas. Over the past 40years, Australia’s population has growth at an average annual rate of 1.4 per cent per annum, taking Australia’s total population to approximately 22.4 million in 2010 (Sustainable Australia-Sustainable Communities).

Figure 1 Components of Population Change

The figure 1 shows the different components of population change from 1989 to 2010. In this figure, the population of migration increases quickly. It is the main factor leads to the sharply population increasing in Australia.

Figure 2 Population of Australia’s Major Cities

For the major cities in Australia, the population in Sydney and Melbourne is about 50% of total population in Australia. And the largest number of population is Sydney, which is 4.5 million. And it is a considerable issue that how to be a sustainable city with this number of population like Sydney. The picture below shows the main changes of population in NSW in 2011 and 2031.

The population in 2031 will be 9.2 million. With this large number of population, it may cause many problems in environment and other aspects. For example, how to manage residents and the footprint generation becomes an important issue. In addition, transportation, food supply and energy system will be in press. Because of these problems, the sustainable design for Sydney is an important topic which the government cannot ignore.

There are several methods which may solve these problems. Firstly, the public transportation needs to be faster and more convenient. Secondly, several shopping centers should be set in different regions which can avoid the crowds. Moreover, it is easier for food supply. Thirdly, different components should be combined such as CBD, market and gardens. Thus, people can live in a comfortable environment. Finally, it is necessary for government to build a system to monitor the problems will happen with the growth population.

In conclusion, the process of urbanization is unstoppable. Only thing we can do is to manage and design the city to be more sustainable. With the help of residents and government, to build a sustainable city is not a dream. 

Reference:
1.White Paper for the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges, The Sigma Xi Center, Research Triangle Park, NC, November 6.
2. Moore, W.E. 1972. Introduction. in Technology and Social Change, ed. W.E. Moore. Chicago: Quadrangle Books, pp. 3-25.

Is sustainable process suit for developed counties only or should progress be monitored in all countries?

Sustainable urban cities design is the most popular plan in many regions and countries. But, is this tendency really good for all cities, especially in developing counties and third counties? Developing countries are facing unprecedented challenges towards sustainable societies in the sense that they have to balance economic growth and environmental consideration even though they are not major contributors to environmental loads.

As the picture shows above, this is in India, one of the biggest developing countries. It has serious environment problems in water and air. However, they have to develop their economic at the same time. It is hard for their government to make decisions about sustainable design and economic growth.

On the other hand, the fact is that developed countries and regions generate much more environment load than that in other countries. The figure below shows the number of vehicles in different countries and regions.

From this figure, it clearly shows that the developed countries account for large part of total vehicles. So finding an appropriate set of indicators of sustainable development for a community, a city, a region, a country or even the world is not an easy task (International Development Committee: Evidence). Developed countries and developing countries all have their own issues which have to concern and solve. In this regard, high and middle income countries have responsibility for the low income countries to improve their sustainable level. They can help low income countries with funding, technology and education etc.

In conclusion, a sustainable urban city design is a tendency in the future. Although it is hard for some cities in developing countries, it should be considered by government before they design. If these urban cities are designed to be sustainable, it will come true finally. Otherwise, the government will cost a lot to change design and build a new sustainable system. I believe that all the urban cities will be sustainable with the help from developed countries. The environment in urban cities will be better in the future.

Reference:
1. Kinlaw, D. 1992. Competitive and Green: Sustainable Performance in the Environmental
2. Malone, T.F. 1994. Sustainable Human Development: A Paradigm for the 21st Century.

Renewable Energy in Sydney

A master plan called “City of Sydney Decentralized Energy Master Plan---Renewable Energy” is published in 2012. In this master plan, it introduces the target about renewable energy used in the 2030 in city of Sydney. There are some main targets in this plan:

l  Renewable electricity can provide 30% of electricity used in the city of Sydney.

l  60% of the city’s 30% renewable electricity target can be met from renewable energy within the local government area.

l  Renewable gases can replace 100% of the natural gas used to supply the city’s planned trigeneration work.

l  Renewable energy can reduce greenhouse gas emissions across the entire local government area by 37% based on 2006 levels.

Figure 1 City of Sydney LGA Renewable Electricity Contribution to 30% Target

From figure 1, it shows the components of entire energy system changes. Many new energy resources will be added into energy system to supply power for city of Sydney. There will be 30% of total energy supplied by renewable energy in 2030. It can reduce a large amount of greenhouse emissions generation.

For meet these targets, several kinds of renewable energy will be used and built in Sydney before 2030. The picture below shows a brief process about this system.

The whole energy system is combined with large/micro-wind turbines, solar energy system and renewable gas from waste injected into the gas grid. Among these new energy sources, the key technologies considered in this Master Plan have been analysed across different contexts and scales. There are many opportunities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions based on currently available and proven technologies that can be realised by 2030.

For the part of solar energy, it can be used in many areas. There are solar hot water system, solar photovoltaic (PV) and concentrated solar thermal.

Besides these kinds of energy resources, there are some newest energy may be used in 2030. The first is the geothermal energy. And another is tidal energy.

After using these several renewable energy, I believe that the city of Sydney will be a sustainable urban area. If all the targets can be achieved in 2030, the city of Sydney will be a leader as a model in the world. 

Reference:

1. Kibert, C. 1994. Establishing Principles and a Model for Sustainable Construction. in Proceedings of the First International Conference on Sustainable Construction, ed. C.J. Kibert. Tampa, FL, November 6-9. CIB TG 16.

Be sustainable: To solve Urban Heat Island Problem

The rapid development of urbanization brings significant benefits to residents and government. But there are many problems occur with this process. Among these problems, the urban heat island is a serious one. An urban heat island (UHI) is a city or metropolitan area that is significantly warmer than its surrounding rural areas due to human activities (Wikipedia). The main cause of the urban heat island effect is from the modification of land surfaces, which use materials that effectively store short-wave radiation. This a long term effect in the urban areas. And it will have huge negative impact on environment and human health. As the aim to be a sustainable city, this problem should be solved.

At the beginning, we should know the factors that cause UHI. There are four main factors that influence the UHI. Firstly, Man-made heat source is one of main factors. It includes industrial boiler, vehicle and other kinds of heaters. These machines consume a lot of energy and generate a large amount of heat into atmosphere. Second factor is the effect of moisture. Because there are many buildings in the urban areas, the wind speed will be low. Moreover, wind can take moisture, and the heat capacity of water is high. When wind speed is lower than 6 m/s, the UHI will occur. The rest factors are air pollution and decreasing green field.

When we know the factors which may cause UHI, we can focus on these fields to solve this problem and to build a sustainable urban city.

First of all, the most important method is to increase the green field. The research illustrates that the more green-field is, the lower intensity of UHI is. When the green field covers more than 50% of total urban areas, the UHI won’t happen. Second method is to reduce heat generation into atmosphere. This can be solved by using renewable energy or clean energy like solar or electric. In addition, to control the air-condition use rate is a useful way to reduce effect of UHI. Finally, it needs the government to design well. For example, there is no need to make all tall buildings in one area, it will easily cause UHI.

In conclusion, a sustainable city should meet the entire standards as it called. Because the urban heat island impact on environment and human health, we have to solve this problem as soon as possible. The residents and government should do their efforts to build a sustainable and make the city better.

Reference:

Newman, P.W.G. (1999) Sustainability and cities: Extending the metabolism model, Landscape
and Urban Planning, Vol.44, 219-226. 

Love Food Hate Waste

Recently I have read a program called Food Waste Avoidance Education. This is a program set by NSW government, the office of environment & Heritage. And it builds on the Environment Protection Authority’s (EPA) successful program with $ 1.4 million funding (NSW government, 2014). Moreover, the aim of this program is to rise reduce the amount of edible food disposed of in NSW. After reading this program, I think deeply in this problem. Do we really waste a lot on the tables?

From the figure above, it shows the annual food waste by region. In the developed counties, the people waste more than that in developing counties. And more than 100 kg per person a year is also a surprise number. This is really a big number and a large amount of food waste.

These two pictures show the dairy and cereals loss in our daily life. The data still surprise me. Why we generate such food waste and we even do not aware of it? The problem may be our bad habit. In addition, government also has responsibility for this situation. I think that we should build sustainable table in our daily life.

According to the data from “The Sustainable Table”, up to 60% of our personal eco-footprint is embodied in the food that we buy. And the concept of sustainable table can guide people to reduce their waste on food. The Sustainable Table is a collection of recipes and stories from notable chefs, farmers, producers, winemakers, gardeners and everyday people who are reducing their impact on the environment by altering their food choices. These inspiring people eat seasonally, shop locally, buy organic, reduce food waste, purchase ethically and make backyards and public spaces productive (The sustainable Table, 2012). Under this concept, people will know how many calorie they should get per day and what kinds of food is suit for them. It can reduce food over-intake and waste. On the other hand, it is also good for health.

To sum up, with the sharply increasing modern pace of life, more and more people ignore their behavior on food. And the food waste becomes a serious in many urban cities. It is time to solve this problem. The government should do more in education about food and their behavior on food. The sustainable table is a great concept which deserves to spread. It is not only good for health, but also good for the environment.

Reference:

1. Kinlaw, D. 1992. Competitive and Green: Sustainable Performance in the Environmental

Clean Energy Car: The electric-car revolution

The first motor car was invented in 14 May 1886. Karl Benz had finished the first automobile and was ready to test drive. After that, motor car went into our lives. Nowadays, it becomes a useful tool for transportation. However, most of cars still use fossil fuel which is same as 100 years ago. It takes a significant negative impact on environment. Due to the problem of energy shortage especially in fossil fuel, many companies begin to invent an electric-car instead of traditional energy car. In this background, a car called “Tesla” is invented. And it becomes the most popular car in recent years.

There are many advantages of electric-cars. Firstly, compared with traditional energy car which use fossil fuel, the electric-car won’t generate huge amount of greenhouse emissions. Because the main energy for the electric-car is electric, the car owner can charge the battery in car at home. For example, Tesla can charge with a special cable quickly. And they can have this service either in a service center or at home.

Secondly, to maintain this kind of car is also simple and easy.  Because it does not need any machine oil, it can reduce the secondary pollution for the environment. Some opponents may argue that the electric-car cannot run long way compared with traditional energy car. But the fact is that the total kilometers of full energy electric-car is same as that of traditional energy cars. Finally, because the structure of electric-car is much simpler than traditional car, it is cheaper and uses less material. It is also a way to save nature resources due to the large demand and needs of cars.

Let’s still use Tesla as a example. From the picture above, it clearly shows the whole structure of electric-car. The main components only have wheels, battery and electro-motor. Thus, it won’t waste a lot of resources.

To sum up, although electric-car is a new technology which becomes popular in recent years, I believe that it will be a tendency in the future. Because of its environment friendly and using sustainable energy characters, many counties and regions may have interesting in it. It is recommended that government should encourage people to buy electric-car instead of traditional energy car for the concern about the local environment. 

Reference:

[1] Clements-Croome D-J. Creating the productive workplace. Spon Press, 2000.

[2] McDonough W. New Scientist, 20 March 2004. p. 46–9.

Environmentally Sustainable Building aterials

Building and construction industry brings significant profit to the society. However, it also has a huge negative impact on the environment because of its unsustainable materials. Moreover, some of building materials even are toxic which may cause serious disease for human beings. Thus, the concept of sustainable building materials is proposed. In this concept, the benefits range from conserving resources to reducing environmental impacts, improving environmental quality and accruing subsequent savings through improved productivity and waste reduction (Building management). In this blog, it will focus on the benefits of sustainable building materials. And the details and characters of green building materials which used in our life also will be introduced.

A building will consume large quantities of materials in the construction, renovation, maintenance and operation. All of these materials are taken from nature. As the increasing population growth and the process of urbanization, building and construction consume about 3 billion tons of raw materials per year (Roodman & Lenssen, 1995). It accounts 40% of total global raw materials use approximately. In this huge amount of materials, the transformation, use and disposal of them all have negative impact on the local environment. For example, it may cause air pollution and solid waste problem. Thus, the environment sustainable building materials become an important solution to solve or reduce the impact on environment.

Figure 1

From the figure 1, it shows that there are two main streams to select the green building materials. The first stream is to use natural resources more efficiently and recycle the waste materials for reuse. The second stream shows the green building materials which can contribute to safe and healthy, indoor air quality etc. These kinds of materials won’t generate toxic materials or pollution to the air, water and solid. For instant, a new sustainable building material called wool bricks are recently used in some buildings. These wool bricks are same as the name it shows. Simply by adding wool and a natural polymer found in seaweed to the clay of the brick, the brick is 37% stronger than other bricks, and more resistant to the cold wet climate often found in Britain. They also dry hard, reducing the embodied energy as they don’t need to be fired like traditional bricks (Joe Peach, 2010). It is non-toxic and using abundant local materials. Another example is the sustainable concrete. Because concrete is the largest amount which will be used in a building, it seems that it could be more sustainable to reduce the ecological footprint. For the sustainable concrete, more sustainable forms of concrete exist that use recycled materials in the mix. Crushed glass can be added, as can wood chips or slag – a byproduct of steel manufacturing. There are many other new sustainable building materials used in some urban cities, it will bring significant benefits for local environment and human health.

In conclusion, although some opponents argue that the sustainable building materials are expensive, we can ignore its positive impact on the environment. It is recommended that government should encourage building companies to use environment sustainable building materials. 

Reference: 

[1] Westbury PS. The value of innovation. The Journal of The Institution ofStructural Engineer 2004;82(1):33–7.