Green Engineering Solutions in Construction

Question: Discuss about theGreen Engineering Solutions in Construction. Answer: Introduction With the massive rise in the pollution level of the whole world, scientists have been involved in several research activities in order to find solutions for minimizing the pollution and increase the sustainability of the world ecosystem (Hoffer 2015). The stream of engineering that deals with the design and construction of eco-friendly materials and structures that benefit the ecosystem on a whole is called green engineering. Nowadays, green engineering solutions are applied in the construction industry in order to design and construct buildings with the help of eco-friendly materials. In this assignment, a literature review has been conducted in order to analyze the applicability of green engineering solutions in the construction industry. Literature Review Zuo and Zhao (2014) have conducted their researchers on the basics of green engineering and its applicability in the construction industry. They have stated in their works that the construction industry plays a very important role in the growth and sustenance of population in a country. Moreover, the construction industry provides residential buildings, office and commerce buildings, roadways, bridges and others. These buildings are extremely important for the growth of population. However, there are a lot of harmful effects of these buildings on the ecosystem. During the construction stage, there are the problems of water and material wastage, noise, dust and others (Kibert 2016). Moreover, these buildings are mainly constructed by filling up regional water bodies. Owing to this, the pond ecosystem has been destroyed in many parts of the world. Again, after the constructions are over, the buildings continue to impact the environment by contributing to the rise in the greenhouse gase s, wastage of water, dust and others. The authors have emphasized on application of green engineering in order to solve these problems as much as possible. Figure 1: Energy Savings from LEED Certified Buildings (Source: Zuo and Zhao 2014, pp. 274) They have suggested adoption of certain tools and principles that would enable the construction industry to build eco-friendly green buildings. Some of the most popular green building tools are as follows: Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED, United States) BRE Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM, United Kingdom) Green Building Council of Australia Green Star (GBCA, Australia) Green Mark Scheme (Singapore) DGNB (Germany) Comprehensive Assessment System for Built Environment Efficiency (CASBEE, Japan) Pearl Rating System for Estidama (Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council), Hong Kong Building Environmental Assessment Method (HK BEAM), and Green Building Index (Malaysia) Figure 2: Conventional v/s Green Building (Total Cost and Cost Per Unit Floor Area) (Source: Zuo and Zhao 2014, pp. 275) Green engineering promotes the use of construction materials that are derived or prepared from natural materials. This is because, regular buildings are constructed with materials that are made up of silicon and the oxides of silicon. Although the silicon oxides provide strength and rigidity to the building, they are major air and water pollutants (Eichholtz, Kok and Quigley 2013). Too much silicon oxide in the air causes dust allergy in the land organisms including human and in the water causes choking and other hazards to the water organisms. On the other hand, green materials do not have such effects and can easily disposed of as well. Again, according to Zuo and Zhao (2014), green buildings provide thermal comfort, cleaner environment, lesser noise, low emission of greenhouse gases, conservation of energy and other important benefits that are needed to increase sustainability of the environment. Wang, Toppinen and Juslin (2014) based their works on the construction of the green buildings and their benefits in order to analyze the applicability of green engineering in the construction industry. They mainly based their research of tools and techniques that are needed to construct green buildings. They have described about the following factors that provide positive argument for the benefits of green buildings against regular buildings. Energy Conservation The authors have said that one of the most important benefits of green building is the conservation of energy. In green buildings, natural air ventilation and underground heat conservation techniques are used for entry and exit of heat and air as per the requirements (Alias et al. 2015). This saves the power cost for air conditioning devices, ventilation fans and others. Hence, a lot of electrical energy is saved. Figure 3: Benefits of Green Buildings (Source: Wang, Toppinen and Juslin 2014, pp. 352) CO2 Control In regular building, due to the respiration of the tenants, a huge amount of the CO2 gas is emitted into the environment. Green engineering promotes the use of green trees and plants around the buildings. These plants absorb the CO2 gas and emit O2 gas in the environment. Green Construction Material The authors have conducted their research on some wooden houses that have been built recently in the UK. They have reported that wooden buildings are much more cheaper and environment-friendly than regular brick and mortar buildings. Although some may argue that wooden buildings are not strong enough and obsolete, wooden buildings have their benefits for the sustainability of the environment as well (Huang et al. 2015). Recently, researchers have found certain techniques to build wooden houses along with some other materials that provide strength and sustainability to the building. One of these techniques is wood-steel hybrid. With the development of this particular hybrid, many construction companies have been eager to build green buildings owing to the cheaper construction and easily available materials (Ye et al. 2015). Moreover, throughout the world, initiatives have been taken in order to promote the green buildings in order to reduce the world pollu tion level and protect different ecosystems that help in maintaining sustainability of the environment. Conclusion Owing to the increasing pollution in the world, the ecosystems are getting destroyed and the sustainability of the environment is getting reduced. Green engineering solutions are trying to promote the green techniques that do not harm the environment and help to preserve the ecosystems. Initially, green engineering mainly dealt with design of eco-friendly materials that do not harm the environment. Now, after the research results suggested the benefits of green buildings, the green engineering solutions find significant applicability in the construction industry. However, there are certain limitations of the green construction. Most of the research activities have been conducted on the green engineering firms and sector where the main technical claims are mostly theoretical as well as biased. Hence, the applicability of green engineering solutions in construction industry is still under research it is expected that the applicability will truly be possible in the near future. References Alias, A., Mohamed, M., Yusoff, H., Amini, M.H.M., Aziz, M.A. and Rizman, Z.I., 2015. The enhancement of heat transfer of wood (Neobalanocarpus Heimii, Shorea Sp, Instia Palembanica Miq) of bio-composite materi als for green building in Malaysia.ARPN Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences,10(1), pp.357-369. Eichholtz, P., Kok, N. and Quigley, J.M., 2013. The economics of green building.Review of Economics and Statistics,95(1), pp.50-63. Hoffer, E.R., 2015, July. Green building policy and real estate development: A causal mapping study derived from qualitative data. InProceedings of the 33rd International Conference of the System Dynamics Society, Cambridge, MA, USA(pp. 19-23). Huang, K.T., Huang, W.P., Lin, T.P. and Hwang, R.L., 2015. Implementation of green building specification credits for better thermal conditions in naturally ventilated school buildings.Building and Environment,86, pp.141-150. Kibert, C.J., 2016.Sustainable construction: green building design and delivery. John Wiley Sons. Wang, L., Toppinen, A. and Juslin, H., 2014. Use of wood in green building: a study of expert perspectives from the UK.Journal of cleaner production,65, pp.350-361. Ye, L., Cheng, Z., Wang, Q., Lin, H., Lin, C. and Liu, B., 2015. Developments of green building standards in China.Renewable Energy,73, pp.115-122. Zuo, J. and Zhao, Z.Y., 2014. Green building researchcurrent status and future agenda: A review.Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews,30, pp.271-281.