Sustainable Building Construction: Strategies for Energy Efficiency, Renewable Energy, and Environmental Impact

Sustainable Building Construction: Strategies for Energy Efficiency, Renewable Energy, and Environmental Impact

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Introduction: Advancing Sustainable Construction Through Energy Efficiency and Renewable Materials

Sustainability is a very common and well-known term for the present day. For the contracting project, the importance of sustainability is also huge along with its development. The technical and design implementation is also critically evaluated in the entire text for the sustainable development of the construction project. The project is based on the construction of a school building for three different floors. There will be different bathrooms, kitchens, stare and two left. The method and materials of the project are critically described in the study. At the same time, there are also some very innovative and effective suggestions for the development of the entire project by the determined method of the related employees and the officials as well. Energy efficiency and environmental factors are also critically discussed in the entire study.

Energy efficiency

U-Valve: A U-valve is used in building materials for the measurement of heat loss or gain, which heat is used for walls of the building, floors and roofs. The unit of U-valve is W/m2K (Watts per meters square Kelvin). If the value of the U-Value of a material is higher the material performance is very worse in retaining heat and the value is lower if the valve of the U-Valve is lower than the product installed is better and the tighter your building envelope. The range of U-Valve lies between o.1. to 1.0. 0.1 range generates little heat loss and 1.0 generates high heat loss (Nižeti? et al. 2019). The effectiveness of the control valve is associated with closing and opening the internal passages to control or regulate the flow of gas and liquid. Using this element in the building construction project is capable of measuring the thermal insulator. The stability and sustainability of the project might also be maintained by an effective method. 

Combined Heat and Power (CHP): Combined Heat and Power are a producer of electricity or mechanical power, it also uses thermal energy for heating or cooling purposes from a single source of energy. Another name for CHP is the Cogeneration system. In power plants, heat is generated in the form of a byproduct of electricity and this byproduct is released into the environment. But the main advantage of CHP is to recover this waste and use it further for electricity generation or other heating purposes (Chel and Kaushik, 2018). This ability of the CHP system is the center of interest for industrial and commercial in the civil field for power generation as CHP is more usable in rural areas compared to the other power generation system.

The main advantages of using CHP system-building technologies:

• CHP system is reduced pollution in the air by removing SO2, Hg and NOx 
• CHP reduces the dependency on grid support by producing on-site electricity.
• During grid power outages the critical electrical and thermal load can be removed by the CHP system.
• By using CHP systems, the industry reduces the cost of energy, and it also reduces initial set-up costs.

Disadvantages of using the CHP system: CHP system is only used for the place where both hot water and electricity are needed. If a place where only electricity or only water is needed then at this place CHP can not be used.

Energy Efficiency in the building: The Energy Efficiency in lightning, ventilation etc of a building is the increase of energy computation in a building per square meter of the area under defined climatic conditions. Energy efficiency is important because the Government makes the rule for ensuring that there is a secure supply of energy for buildings for economic growth. In every building energy is most important for lighting, ventilation, lift, and other purposes (He et al. 2018). At this time renewable energy like wind energy, hydro energy, solar energy etc. is also used for the energy in a building. Renewable energy sources provide better efficiency compared to non-renewable energy sources. 

The energy efficiency performance of other building services: Applying local weather patterns detached design, such as architectural style, awareness, providing a broad range, sun coloring, constructing acoustic insulation, barrier properties, airflow, etc., can reduce the heat transfer, temperature control, fumigating, and brightness loads for modern constructions or when revamping existing structures. The energy usage index (EUI), which is the amount of energy consumed per square foot of a ventilation system, is a widely used indicator of a structure's efficiency in terms of energy use (Jiang et al. 2019). This measure, which is utilized by the widely available Energy Star Financial Consultant, is given in Tons per annum per square meter in the United States. One of the most economical methods to slow environmental issues is to improve constructability. Building efficiency offers the best value for money when it comes to decreasing emissions that contribute to global warming in addition to lowering construction costs and household bills.

Renewable energy

Solar energy: Given that it is a renewable and organic resource, renewable energy is an excellent option for homes and business structures to obtain clean energy. It will unquestionably replace our reliance on non-renewable energy sources like coal, petrol, etc. The need for solar panels has increased at an astounding level during the past several years. Solar energy has experienced tremendous development as rising temperatures become more popular. The industry has increased at an average annual rate of 39% during the past ten years. And from 2013 to 2002, when it reached 260,000 employees, the number of people employed in the solar industry increased by a factor of two (Hepburn et al. 2021). Among the sectors of the world economy with the quickest growth is solar energy. The use of solar energy is capable of reducing the cost and pollution of the entire project with the help of some effective methods. This entire method is associated with the sustainable development of the building construction project. 

Wind power: Another very important method to maintain the suitability of the building construction project is the use of wind power as an energy source. It will be a very popular replacement for all conventional energy sources as well. Grid-connected or off-grid wind turbines are both possible. Battery technology is necessary for off-grid systems because it allows the storage of excess energy and provides a more reliable source of power. Their use is best suited for remote and secluded locations without access to grid electricity, such as segregated villages and archipelagos (Malhotra et al. 2022). Energy systems typically need switching devices to convert produced Dc energy to AC electricity to interact with the power grid and equipment that use AC electricity. Contemporary wind turbines may now produce AC power generated as technology advances. Improvements in dependability, efficiency at low current, and running costs are all recent breakthroughs in interconnected windmill systems. The concept is to make blades on wind turbines attentive to minute air movements, and metals related to the project.

Ground source heating: A heat pump that is grounded is a type of environmentally friendly heating that employs underground piping to deal with low sun radiation from the water or the earth and crushes it into an elevated altitude. 90 % of the heating and hot drainage needs of a property are met all year round by a geothermal heat pump. Compared to an external heat pump, a pump system requires greater room. Temperatures of up to 67°C can be provided via heating systems. They can provide active or passive cooling in addition to heating structures of diverse shapes and sizes (Mandal et al. 2020). Around 800 sq meters are required for a standard longitudinal system. Drilling is just around 30 centimeters broad, but a vertical system needs room for the boring gear to reach the site. It might also be responsible for fulfilling the additional power requirements of the entire project. The use of this energy has also increased by 42%compared to last year.

Biomass: The use of biomass is continuously increasing in the construction projects of the modern world. Using this commodity is applicable for increasing the efficiency and development of the entire project by a huge margin to maintain sustainability. The main boiler that provides solar thermal, as well as separate biomass burners or heaters in each residence, are examples of this innovation. Through the technique known as Combination Heating and Power (CHP), electricity may also be produced from biomass resources. A new area to research is the exploratory use of novel building supplies, which uses specific biomass raw power sources including charcoal, crop residues, and forested stop waste from the food sector (Ingrao et al. 2018). A significant quantity of wood waste is produced during the shearing of lush greenery, grapes, and nurseries, but it is not usually valued adequately. Similarly to this, several scientific research has focused on the issue of managing another by of olive energy production and minimizing their environmental effect. Using this material the sustainability of the project can be maintained for the upcoming future.

Materials, water and others

Embodied energy: It has recently come into emphasis as a strategy to reduce carbon emissions and rising temperatures that contain properties of the substances used in building, as well as within the design process, be reduced. This may be done by using less energy, switching to alternative energy sources in place of carbon fuels, and conserving natural resources. The equivalent greenhouse gases in kilograms per amount of material are used to determine a structure's embedded energy (Hannan et al. 2018). Caloric density, which is the entire amount of non-renewable energy used in the production of a substance, has a significant impact on the selection of building supplies for maintaining the project’s sustainability. It is crucial to take this into account while evaluating a property's life cycle since it significantly influences the built atmosphere's resilience.

Environmental impact of materials: Building supplies use between 35 and 60 percent of the world's natural resources and provide roughly 45 percent of the garbage sent to landfills in OECD nations. They make up one-third of the garbage sent to landfills in Australia, and both usage and manufacturing contribute to significant damage, such as greenhouse gases. Collecting sustainable resources produces far less trash than that of other material types, including polymers, which reduces garbage sent to landfills, energy use, and environmental effect and maintains sustainability in the project (Kucherov et al. 2018). In comparison to other materials, cabinetry has a lower life span cost. They must be strong, reusable, or biodegradable, contain compostable components in their makeup, and be made from native resources found in the area in which the construction activity is going to place.

Recyclable: Although they are not typically gathered as regular residential green initiatives, bricks, construction debris, gypsum, and wood may normally be sent to a collection point. Check regionally because some businesses may charge for materials categorized as homeowner DIY garbage along with reducing the project cost. Reducing the industry's environmental effects is one of the objectives of green architecture. Utilizing biodegradable energy is one aspect of sustainable prefabrication. Lowering the found relevant in construction material (Wuni et al. 2019). Sustainable construction components are those that have been produced, installed, and maintained in ways that have little impact on the ecosystem. Additionally, these materials must be sustainable. Using reusable content in your building project has various commercial advantages, such as lowering consumption and waste disposal expenses. Enhancing competitiveness and lowering the carbon footprint.

Water consumption: In regards to sustainable building, the trend of irresponsible water usage in architectural design is right up there with renewable energy and wastewater treatment. Although water is utilized elsewhere, most significantly for cultivation, 60% of structural water usage takes place inside. The primary data of indoor water usage are lavatories, kitchens, and water desalination for production or industrial purposes. No one is advocating that a contemporary structure goes through without fresh water; it is just not an option (Churkina et al. 2020). However, an effective first attitude may result in significant cost savings when it comes to lowering total water usage within the building. This mostly entails the installation of moisture gadgets, planting techniques that require little to no watering, alternative water sources, and lastly constant proper water sub-meter surveillance to keep things under control.

Rainwater harvesting: They have a responsibility as a community to protect their homes and commercial structures from upcoming climatic difficulties. Consequently, all architects need to think about how their housing developments will function to lessen the impact they will have on the ecosystem. The architecture will be future-proof if this protection is developed early in the planning process. The project schedule itself would be neglected recently, and many subcontractors showed little conservation concern. Due to this, precious items and resources were used extensively on development projects all over the world (Feng et al. 2019). More lately, the entire building sector has indeed been working together to develop answers to reduce carbon emissions in addition to excessive rainwater and power use. It will be very helpful for controlling and maintaining construction sustainability.

General environmental, social, and economic impact of proposals 

Biodiversity: The Development Strategy, the New Urban Strategy, and the Paris Convention are important recent global ecological efforts aimed at promoting a more environmentally friendly civilization. The building sector must play a significant part in a greener manner where environmental qualities are increased since it has been identified as a valuable addition to the disappearance of biodiversity (Marini et al. 2022). The building sector and the global ecosystems should coexist peacefully since both mankind and the environment are frequently harmed by habitat destruction. The purpose of this essay is to investigate the relationship between both Sustainable Development, biodiversity, and the surrounding structures. The article examines the contribution that a sustainable built ecosystem may make to diversity preservation, which is essential to achieving both Targets and the SDG in particular. When developing equipment and apartment buildings, Built Nature seldom ever takes the relationship between biodiversity and human welfare into account; the incorporation of pertinent biodiversity approaches for sustainable urban development receives even less consideration (Favier et al. 2018). The completion of new projects of construction or the remodeling of existing building systems has the potential to increase the ecosystem functions of the majority of building sites, notwithstanding the detrimental effects of the building design on diversity. The effort to decrease biodiversity loss while focusing on intact natural habitats might be assisted by the conservation of biological diversity in a healthy construction sector that contains little or no natural surroundings.

Enhancing social integration: The concept to include SS into their activities, building companies have adopted the idea of corporate social obligation (CSR). CSR, or corporate social responsibility, is a term used to describe a situation in which businesses market themselves as ethical, law-abiding, and successful entities. Nowadays, administrators and academics from all spheres are paying more and more consideration (Wang et al. 2019). According to academics, research on corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the construction industry has mostly concentrated on topics including corruption, community engagement, environmental sustainability, safety and sanitation procedures, and the role of construction enterprises in reducing poverty. An organization can be acknowledged as environmentally accountable when it implements a structure for corporate governance that considers working environment issues, and improves their economic viability, health and safety indicators, and relationships with suppliers, according to an investigation on the Australian construction industry (Zeinelabdein et al. 2018). In the nineties, a researcher pushed the participants to take into account the social principles of environmentally sound building and gave one of the previous definitions for social sustainability in the framework of the construction sector. According to the description, SS is a strategy for enhancing living thing life quality, providing for issues of self and cultural diversity, putting skills education and capacity development programs in place for underprivileged individuals, pursuing economic sustainability, and aiming for an equitable distribution of building economic and social benefits. 

Local economic impact: Stakeholders in the construction industry with different waste and toxic materials help to create a better society overall. Reduced Demand on the Local Facilities. Green construction has less of an influence on local energy, water, and garbage organizations since it consumes fewer resources (De la Fuente et al. 2019). It offers the users several economical and economic advantages. Reduced operational expenses, improved occupant productivity, and lower utility expenditures for tenants are a few of these. Additionally, it increases the returns on assets and earnings since they save money on operational expenses. The construction sector maintains employment, pays wages, and contributes to local economies. As a result, the local economy will develop since the project's workers will have the income to spend at other nearby firms. The involvement of the local authority might also be very helpful to determine the success of the construction project and create a sustainable environment for performing all the responsibilities (Jia et al. 2019). The involvement of the local authority might also be very helpful to demonstrate all the possible methods to maintain the improvement of the building construction project. In simple words, the construction process is directly associated with the time and cost management determined by the authority to increase the efficiency and profitability of this project. 

Conclusion 

The entire study focuses on the development and sustainability of a building construction project. The adopted method and materials in the study have critically described the significance of the entire method with the help of the involvement of the management. Along with that, the information focused on the study is also capable of putting a huge impact on the determined growth and success of the project for the upcoming future. The study expresses that the construction project of the building is helped by a completely innovative and sustainable method. There is a brief explanation of all the factors related to the business and the entire operation. In conclusion, it can be said the adopted method and technology are responsible for the determining sustainable development of the entire building construction project by the entire management.

References

Journals

Chel, A. and Kaushik, G., 2018. Renewable energy technologies for sustainable development of energy efficient building. Alexandria Engineering Journal, 57(2), pp.655-669.

Churkina, G., Organschi, A., Reyer, C.P., Ruff, A., Vinke, K., Liu, Z., Reck, B.K., Graedel, T.E. and Schellnhuber, H.J., 2020. Buildings as a global carbon sink. Nature Sustainability, 3(4), pp.269-276.

de la Fuente, A., Casanovas-Rubio, M.D.M., Pons, O. and Armengou, J., 2019. Sustainability of column-supported RC slabs: fiber reinforcement as an alternative. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 145(7), p.04019042.

Favier, A., De Wolf, C., Scrivener, K. and Habert, G., 2018. A sustainable future for the European Cement and Concrete Industry: Technology assessment for full decarbonisation of the industry by 2050. ETH Zurich.

Feng, W., Zhang, Q., Ji, H., Wang, R., Zhou, N., Ye, Q., Hao, B., Li, Y., Luo, D. and Lau, S.S.Y., 2019. A review of net zero energy buildings in hot and humid climates: Experience learned from 34 case study buildings. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 114, p.109303.

Hannan, M.A., Faisal, M., Ker, P.J., Mun, L.H., Parvin, K., Mahlia, T.M.I. and Blaabjerg, F., 2018. A review of internet of energy based building energy management systems: Issues and recommendations. Ieee Access, 6, pp.38997-39014.

He, B.J., Zhao, D.X., Zhu, J., Darko, A. and Gou, Z.H., 2018. Promoting and implementing urban sustainability in China: An integration of sustainable initiatives at different urban scales. Habitat International, 82, pp.83-93.

Hepburn, C., Qi, Y., Stern, N., Ward, B., Xie, C. and Zenghelis, D., 2021. Towards carbon neutrality and China's 14th Five-Year Plan: clean energy transition, sustainable urban development, and investment priorities. Environmental Science and Ecotechnology, 8, p.100130.

Ingrao, C., Messineo, A., Beltramo, R., Yigitcanlar, T. and Ioppolo, G., 2018. How can life cycle thinking support sustainability of buildings? Investigating life cycle assessment applications for energy efficiency and environmental performance. Journal of cleaner production, 201, pp.556-569.

Jia, M., Komeily, A., Wang, Y. and Srinivasan, R.S., 2019. Adopting Internet of Things for the development of smart buildings: A review of enabling technologies and applications. Automation in Construction, 101, pp.111-126.

Jiang, Y., Zhao, D., Wang, D. and Xing, Y., 2019. Sustainable performance of buildings through modular prefabrication in the construction phase: A comparative study. Sustainability, 11(20), p.5658.

Kucherov, F.A., Romashov, L.V., Galkin, K.I. and Ananikov, V.P., 2018. Chemical transformations of biomass-derived C6-furanic platform chemicals for sustainable energy research, materials science, and synthetic building blocks. ACS sustainable chemistry & engineering, 6(7), pp.8064-8092.

Malhotra, A., Mathur, A., Diddi, S. and Sagar, A.D., 2022. Building institutional capacity for addressing climate and sustainable development goals: Achieving energy efficiency in India. Climate Policy, 22(5), pp.652-670.

Mandal, J., Yang, Y., Yu, N. and Raman, A.P., 2020. Paints as a scalable and effective radiative cooling technology for buildings. Joule, 4(7), pp.1350-1356.

Marini, A., Passoni, C., Belleri, A., Feroldi, F., Preti, M., Metelli, G., Riva, P., Giuriani, E. and Plizzari, G., 2022. Combining seismic retrofit with energy refurbishment for the sustainable renovation of RC buildings: A proof of concept. European Journal of Environmental and Civil Engineering, 26(7), pp.2475-2495.

Nižeti?, S., Djilali, N., Papadopoulos, A. and Rodrigues, J.J., 2019. Smart technologies for promotion of energy efficiency, utilization of sustainable resources and waste management. Journal of cleaner production, 231, pp.565-591.

Wang, H., Pan, Y. and Luo, X., 2019. Integration of BIM and GIS in sustainable built environment: A review and bibliometric analysis. Automation in construction, 103, pp.41-52.

Wuni, I.Y., Shen, G.Q. and Osei-Kyei, R., 2019. Scientometric review of global research trends on green buildings in construction journals from 1992 to 2018. Energy and buildings, 190, pp.69-85.

Zeinelabdein, R., Omer, S. and Gan, G., 2018. Critical review of latent heat storage systems for free cooling in buildings. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 82, pp.2843-2868.