Sustainability in construction industry

"Volatile fatty acids (VFA) including acetic, butyric, formic and propionic are extensively utilized in contemporary industry. Their commercial value is of high significance while their often derive from petroleum which is non-abundance source. Other methods for the production and recovery from these substances have been proposed and investigated.  Waste effluent streams are potential candidates for VFA recovery, especially if for their processing filtration technology will be used. Membrane filtration is an effective and efficient choice as it is a low cost, low energy, easy integrated method tested for the separation and concentration.
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Service Life Prediction to plan optimized maintenance involves the necessity for designers to handle with tools which can allow the definition of Estimated Service Lives of single buildings’ components and moreover of buildings themselves: ICT tools to manage service life prediction need Reference Service Life Data Bases. The report deals with the development of tools for the application of enhanced Factor Method through grids to guide users in assigning the values to the factors, avoiding subjectivity. Application of Factorial Method needs the knowledge of Reference Service Lives of building components, starting point of the calculation. That’s the reason why, it is fundamental to provide a data collection of reference Service Lives which can help and drive the designer in obtaining the value of Extimated Service Life in each context of application. In collaboration with the C.S.T.B., Research Group on Durability of Building Components of Politecnico di Milano is collecting data coming from researches at Politecnico’s itself and from the Italian durability network. The work wants to provide an open database which can be constantly implemented through the auxilium of researchers, owners, designers, manifactures, insurance companies, property asset managers from all over Europe, leaking and driving the insertion thanks to grids of control purposely prepared. Service life management systems are, therefore, analysed from the point of view of the information due to allow designers to manage service life prediction and maintenance planning. Databases will supply the input datas to predict Service Life of each single building component and will be available on internet in order to be a valid tool for designers. The paper reports on methods and tools developed to produce data and information in an easy-to-use form, on the durability of building components about both the quality of the manufacturing processes and the service life of products.

The Gulf Cooperation Countries (GCC) consistently rank among the top 10% of per capita waste producers in the world. Collectively around 120 million tons of waste is produced annually in GCC; 55% construction and demolition (C&D) waste, 20% municipal solid waste (MSW), 18% industrial waste, and 7% hazardous waste. Like other GCC nations, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) generates massive amounts of MSW, C&D waste, and industrial waste. This study aims to examine 81 construction companies in the Eastern Province of KSA to determine which factors critically affect the sustainable management of C&D waste in the country. Only 39.5% of the companies studied had a pollution control plan for their projects. It was also found that only 13.6% of C&D waste is recycled and reused every year, whereas the remaining 86.4% C&D waste eventually goes to the landfills. Most of the C&D waste in the country is a promising source of potential recyclable construction materials such as gravel from debris, metals, and sand. This would not only fulfill the requirements of gravel and metal production of the KSA but also solve the waste disposal issues along with generating huge economic benefits. However, to accomplish the goal of sustainable construction waste management, it is critical to underline the various factors that might impact the construction waste management practices in the country. Keywords Construction and demolition (C&D) waste · Municipal solid waste (MSW) · Waste recycling · Landfill sites · Sustainable construction material

The purpose of this study is to examine the possibility of using plastic bottles in concrete block. The plastic bottles were used to create voids at equal distance between them in the masonry units. Concrete was placed around each bottle to encase it in the masonry units. The study utilized 500-mL plastic bottles placed inside concrete masonry units and analyzed the compressive strength. The testing for compressive strength was determined according to the ASTM C140 standard. Results from this study were deemed reasonable due to the testing of concrete cylinders as a control of compressive strength for the concrete blocks from Oman " s market. This study shows 57% improvement of strength by using plastic bottles compared to local concrete blocks. This proves the necessity for further research regarding concrete mix design , amount of cement and properties of local concrete blocks as well as other technical and non-technical aspects to determine the appropriate mix design and feasibility in the production industry.

Existing approaches to sustainability assessment are typically characterized as being either ‘‘top–down’’ or ‘‘bottom–up.’’ While top–down approaches are commonly adopted by businesses, bottom–up approaches are more often adopted by civil society
organizations and communities. Top–down approaches clearly favor standardization and commensurability between other sustainability assessment efforts, to the potential exclusion
of issues that really matter on the ground. Conversely, bottom–up approaches enable sustainability initiatives to speak directly to the concerns and issues of communities, but lack a basis for comparability. While there are clearly contexts in which one approach can be favored over another, it is equally desirable to develop mechanisms that mediate between both. In this paper, we outline a methodology for framing sustainability assessment
and developing indicator sets that aim to bridge these two approaches. The methodology incorporates common components of bottom–up assessment: constituency-based engagement processes and opportunity to identify critical issues and indicators. At the same time, it uses the idea of a ‘‘knowledge base,’’ to help with the selection of standardized, top–down indicators. We briefly describe two projects where the aspects of the methodology have been trialed with urban governments and communities, and then present the methodology in full, with an accompanying description of a supporting software system.

"Introduction/Problem Identification
In 2007, a 20-county area encompassing the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex was designated by the State as a Priority Groundwater Management Area (PGMA) in need of implementing strategies for
groundwater conservation. The newly created PGMA’s population is expected to increase from 5.5 million in 2000 to 9.5 million by 2030 with projected water needs rising from 1,677 million m3
in 2000 to 3,034 million m3 by 2030 according to a study by Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). The Trinity Aquifer supplied 73% of the area’s groundwater in 2000, with the aquifer outcrop zone being highly susceptible to anthropogenic sources of contamination. Parker County is within the Upper Trinity Groundwater Conservation District (UTGCD) and is largely a rural area with many residents dependent upon private shallow, groundwater wells. Groundwater resources are under escalating pressure from urbanization, natural gas drilling, and predicted intensifying of droughts due to global climate change."