Building Construction Materials

Go Green In Construction

Around the world, building and construction projects utilize an average of 3 billion tons of raw materials yearly. This estimate constitutes about 40 percent of the total world consumption. With this in mind, various strategies should be employed during the design, construction and process of any building activities. One essential approach is to consider green building materials usage.

Green building materials can bring a lot of benefits for building occupants and owners as well. Conservation of energy and more flexibility in design are some of the benefits that can be achieved when green building materials are used in the construction of buildings. Moreover, costs for maintenance or even replacement of the building will be diminished. Lastly, occupants will have better health and enhanced productivity when green building materials are used.

The use of green building materials in construction and building endeavors will not only benefit building occupants and owners but the entire world as well. This is possible because these products help in conserving non-renewable sources that are constantly diminishing. Also, utilization of green building materials in building activities will lessen environmental impacts that have been caused by extraction and disposal of the usual building source products in the industry.

A green building product or material is different from the conventional building and construction materials because they are made up of renewable resources. In addition to that, the environmental impact of green building materials is always measured against the product life span. To select green building materials, there are several criteria that can be evaluated.

Resource Efficiency Recycled content is the first factor that affects resource efficiency. Select materials that have recycled content which are identifiable. This includes post-industrial and post-consumer content.

Another factor to consider is if the materials are renewable, natural or abundant. These materials should be obtained from sources that are continuously managed. It is favored if the products have independent certification by a third party. Another factor to consider is if the materials have been produced with processes that involve energy consumption, waste and greenhouse gases reduction. Choose building materials and products that are available locally to minimize energy and resources spent in transportation to the site. Materials or products that are recyclable or reusable after their useful life span should always be selected. The packaging of the products should also be considered if they can be recycled. Lastly, the durability of materials in comparison to conventional products should always be considered.

Indoor Air Quality Select materials that are low or non-toxic based on a test demonstrated by the producers. Also, products that can reduce chemical emissions while taking advantage of resource and energy efficiency are preferred. Another factor to consider is choosing materials and products that are resistant to moisture. With moisture resistant products, the development of biological contaminants in the building is less likely.

Energy Efficiency Use materials and products that can aid in reducing the usage of energy in buildings.

Water Conservation Select materials that can help in lessening the consumption of water in buildings and also in landscape area water conservation.

Affordability This should be assessed if the building life span can be evaluated against the usual construction materials.

After knowing all the criteria for selecting materials, the next thing to do is to learn the basic steps in selecting a product. These are research, evaluation and selection. Research involves getting all the pertinent technical data and information that should be assessed. Evaluation, the next step, is about verifying the technical information you have gathered in your research and also acquiring other information that you may have missed during research. Lastly, selection is utilizing an evaluation matrix to score materials or products against the environmental criteria mentioned above.