Sustainable construction materials

This chapter identifies the means by which construction materials can be evaluated with respect to their sustainability. It identifies the key issues that impact on the sustainability of construction materials and the methodologies commonly used to assess them. Examples of sustainable materials are used to identify their potential use in construction. Learning outcomes: on successful completion of this chapter, readers will be able to: (1) appreciate the role and impact of building materials within a building’s life cycle; (2) comprehend the concepts of embodied energy, gross energy requirement (GER), and process energy requirement (PER); (3) have knowledge of renewable materials and how they are grown, processed, and used as building components; and (4) have an appreciation of sustainable construction materials in the context of green building assessment methods.