Sustainability and Built Enviornment Assignment

Sustainability and Built Enviornment - Assignment Example While several sustainable construction materials are now available, the criteria used to choose either of the same is informed by the desire to strike a delicate balance between the growing needs of the world today and the need to minimize the negative impacts that would emanate from such initiatives both to resources and to the environment. From the perspective of the environment, the building materials used have a direct impact on the energy consumption, the emission of carbon dioxides, how much waste materials are generated, the natural resources used, water consumption as well as how the utilization of such materials directly affects the health of the persons around the area. The first criteria that would be used in choosing a sustainable building material are the ability of the material to be recycled. Taking an example of steel, it is a building material that is recyclable for an indefinite time without necessarily suffering any losses in terms of quality. Steel can, for instance, be recycled 100 percent. However, for purposes of building, steel materials can be recycled i.e. used from one building to another to a degree of about 98%. There is, therefore, an economic loop that is sustained by the intrinsic quality inherent in the steel itself. Today, it is estimated that all over the world, recycled steel make up to about 40% of the total ferrous material in the steel industry. Mostly, such materials are used in the electrical furnace procedures and other processes like the blast oxygen furnace that play a role in generating building materials and even in direct construction processes. Through recycling, there are a significant cost reduction processes meaning that it can be sustained for a long time.