Sustainability Concept and Knowledge Analysis in Construction Industry

Transcription

1 Volume-7, Issue-5, September-October 2017 International Journal of Engineering and Management Research Page Number: Sustainability Concept and Knowledge Analysis in Construction Industry Abdallatief Tahon 1, Hany Abd Elshakour 2 and Ahmed Elyamany 3 1 M.Sc. Student, Construction Engineering & Utilizes Department, Faculty of Engineering, Zagazig University, EGYPT 2 Associate Professor, Construction Engineering & Utilizes Department, Faculty of Engineering, Zagazig University, EGYPT 3 Assistant Professor, Construction Engineering & Utilizes Department, Faculty of Engineering, Zagazig University, EGYPT ABSTRACT Sustainability is one of the rising concepts in construction industry. The goal of sustainability is to help people all over the world to satisfy their needs without compromising the future generations' needs. Sustainability is a wide concept, which requires environmental, economic, social and technological criteria to be met. This paper aims to asses and analyzes the sustainability knowledge among construction industry members. The analysis results show that 66.67% of respondents have medium to well sustainability knowledge while 12.5% of the respondents know nothing about the sustainability and only 4.17% have very well sustainability knowledge. LEED certificate was the sustainability certificate that 66.67% of respondents enteritis are targeting. Construction industry was the most area where 66.67% of respondents are familiar with sustainability in, followed by architectural, mechanical and electrical with 33.3%, 29.17, and 29.17% of respondents respectively. Keywords-- Sustainability; Sustainable Construction; Sustainable development; LEED I. INTRODUCTION II. OBJECTIVE Sustainability is a rising concept with effect of change that has been increasingly used in construction industry for the last decade (Steele, et al. 2002). Sustainability goal is enabling people to satisfying their needs and have a good quality of life without affecting the future generations needs (Department of Trade and Industry 2006). Construction industry massivly consumes nonrenewable resources and produces wastes with a huge CO2 emissions. For example, one ton of CO2 and other greenhouse gases are generated in order to produce one ton of Portland cement clinker (Naik and Moriconi 2005). This makes the construction industry challenge to delivere economic buildings that enhance life quality while minmizing the social and environmental impact (Corus 2006). Sustainability is a wide concept that includes maerials, building, structures, etc., which reqiures many environmental, economic, social criteria to be achieved. Concrete structures sustainability depends on complying with different criteria such as energy rational use through the material life cycle; manufacturing, construction and operation, the use of renewable resources and recyled products and having a healthy work areas (Ministerio de Fomento 2010). The main objective of this paper is to measure and analyze the sustainability concept and knowledge among the construction industry practitioners. III. METHODOLOGY The research methodology passes through three main steps: Step 1: literature review is conducted defining the sustainability goals, dimensions, factors and rating systems. Step 2: A questionnaire form is designed to assess the sustainability concept and knowledge among construction industry members. Step 3: conducting the questionnaire and analyzing data. IV. SUSTAINABILITY DEFINITION Sustainability definition has been evolved over years since In year 2000, Raynsford provided some points for organizations wishing to address sustainability as reducing consumption of materials and land, minimizing waste, using recycled materials, embracing energy efficiency and managing site operations better to avoid pollution. A sustainable concrete structure is one that is 307 Copyright Vandana Publications. All Rights Reserved.

2 constructed so that the total environmental impact during its entire life cycle, including during its use, is minimum (Naik and Moriconi 2005). The term sustainability used to be seen as covering the three commonly agreed dimensions: environmental, social, and economic (Aguado, et al. 2012). Recently the definition was developed to include the technological dimension as the fourth sustainability dimension (Bakhoum and Brown 2012). V. SUSTAINABILITY GOALS Many sustainability goals were set started from The ultimate goal of sustainable building is determining the best alternative, while reducing environmental and economic impacts, taking into consideration the technical difficulty as well as the increase of convenience of occupants (AboulNaga and Elsheshtawy 2001). On 2006, the Department of Trade and Industry stated that the sustainable development goal is enabling people in the world to satisfy their needs and have a better quality of life, without affecting the future generations' quality of life. VI. SUSTAINABILITY DIMENSIONS Sustainability is sometimes termed the triple bottom line, because it involves a commitment to economic, environmental, social objectives and it can use the technology to contribute to efficient use of resources (Bakhoum and Brown 2012). The following is a brief description of each dimension: 1. Environmental sustainability is defined as maintaining the quality of environment by maintaining the factors and practices of a longterm contribution (Attah 2010). Environmental sustainability aims at emissions and waste impact reduction for environment protection along with the careful use of natural resources (Constructing Excellence 2004). 2. Economic sustainability is defined through the increase of profit which is resulted from the efficient use of different resources (Constructing Excellence 2004). Life cycle cost (LCC) is the preferred technique used in several researches. The main advantage of using LCC is because it considers all life cycle costs (Tatari and Kucukvar 2012). LCC is "an economic assessment of competing design alternatives, considering all significant costs over the economic life of each alternative, expressed in equivalent dollars." (Kirk and Dell'Isola 2008). 3. Social sustainability in construction includes employment required for construction, site cleanliness, having a health center close to site or a quick transportation in case of accidents (Aguado et. al. 2012). Social sustainability considers everyone needs through the project lifecycle from inception to demolition (Constructing Excellence 2004). 4. Technological aspect includes recyclability and functionality criteria (Bakhoum and Brown 2012) where they could be defined as follow 5. Material recyclability measures the percent of material which could be used for industry purposes after spending its lifetime. The recyclability is affecting both the environmental and economic dimensions because of the longterm financial advantage. 6. Material functionality concerns with durability flexibility and being friendly to user. Flexibility is measured through the easiness of use, repair, transportation and demolition. Durability is considered as an important aspect as it helps the environment in resource conservation, repair and waste reduction. VII. SUSTAINABILITY FACTORS Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) (2003) obtained some considerations to be taken into account when evaluating materials sustainability used in construction, as follow: Material depletion presentation; Pollution impacts of the materials manufacturing process; More use of recycled and reclaimed materials; Reduce energy consumed in the transport of materials; Reduce waste and dust on site; More natural building materials incorporated; and More low-maintenance materials used to reduce further energy and resource use in the future of the building. Through literature review, sustainability secondary factors are obtained. Environmental factors include air pollution, raw material extraction and residual waste. Economical factors include manufacturing cost, transportation cost, construction cost and demolition cost. Social factors include employment, health and safety. Technological factors include recyclability, reusability and functionality. Table 1 presents the sustainability factors related to each sustainability dimension. Table 1: Sustainability dimensions and factors Sustainability Dimensions Sustainability Factors literature Environmental Air Pollution Bakhoum and Brown (2012) Raw Materials Extraction Residual Waste CIOB (2003) Economical Manufacturing cost Bakhoum and Brown (2012) Transportation cost Construction cost Zhong and Wu (2015) Demolition cost Bakhoum and Brown (2012) 308 Copyright Vandana Publications. All Rights Reserved.

3 Sustainability Dimensions Sustainability Factors literature Social Employment Health Aguado et al. (2012) Safety Technological Recyclability Bakhoum and Brown (2012) Reusability Functionality VIII. SUSTAINABILITY RATING SYSTEMS IX. SUSTAINABILITY CONCEPT QUESTIONNAIRE World-wide, there is hundreds of building evaluation tools that focus on different areas of sustainable development and designed for different types of projects. Sustainable building rating systems are defined as tools that examine the performance or expected performance of a whole building and translate that examination into an overall assessment that allows comparison against other buildings (Fowler and Rauch 2006). Leadership in Engineering and Environmental Design (LEED) is the most well-known initiative founded by the US Green Building Council to outline standards and rating systems for buildings for the aim of having green buildings (Flórez et. al, 2010). Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Methodology (BREEAM) is used by many national green building councils in Europe. It concerns with energy, water use, transportation, waste and materials. Green Globes is an online certification tool used mainly in Canada concerned with building sustainability rating. It is an in-house questionnaire used by project responsible personals. Comprehensive Assessment System for Building Environmental Efficiency (CASBEE) was founded in 2001 by Japanese to present a new assessment. It concerns with environmental load of buildings (Fowler and Rauch 2006). Green Pyramid Rating System (GPRS) was established by the Egyptian Green Building Council to setup a sustainability ranking system. GPRS certificate is given as silver, Golden and Green Pyramids (Egyptian Green Building Council 2009) A questionnaire is designed to assess the sustainability knowledge in the construction Industry. The questionnaire includes three sections; general knowledge, sustainability knowledge and knowledge development. The general knowledge section surveys the respondent entity description, scope of work, projects geographical location, how much respondent can describe his sustainability knowledge and what sustainability certificate that respondent entity is seeking. The sustainability knowledge section surveys whether the respondent is familiar with the sustainability definition or not, the rank of sustainability dimensions from high to none, the rank of each factor to the sustainability dimensions from high to none. The knowledge development section surveys the respondents' suggestion to increase the sustainability knowledge. Questionnaire was sent to 40 of construction industry members. The response percentage to the questionnaire was 60%. X. CHARACTERISTICS OF RESPONDENTS The respondents classification based on their entities is 8.33% representing owner entities, 25.00% representing consultant entities and a 66.67% representing contractor entities. The respondents classification according to experience is represented as 12.5% (from 1 to 5) years, 37.5% (from 6 to 10) years, 12.5% (from 11 to 15) years and a percent of 37.5% for respondent exceeding 15 years of experience. Table 2 presents respondents classification based on their entities, scope of work, projects geographical location. Table 2: Characteristics of Respondents Characteristics of respondents Percentage Respondents entities description Owner Public Organization 0.00% Owner Private Organization 8.33% Design Firm 25.00% Construction Firm 66.67% Construction Management Firm 20.80% Respondents scope of work Building 62.50% Engineering (highway, heavy, etc.) 4.17% Industrial (power plants, refineries, etc.) 12.50% Infrastructure 20.83% Projects geographical location Local 8.33% National 16.67% 309 Copyright Vandana Publications. All Rights Reserved.

4 Characteristics of respondents Percentage International 75.00% Note: Some respondents selected more than one response. XI. SUSTAINABILITY CONCEPT QUESTIONNAIRE RESULTS Table 3 shows that 66.67% of respondents have medium to well sustainability knowledge, 12.5% of the respondents know none about the sustainability, and only 4.17% know very well about sustainability. The respondents who know nothing about the sustainability did not proceed in the questionnaire. Therefore the following results represent only respondents with at least "Not Well" as sustainability knowledge. The results show the need to increase awareness of sustainability as a rising important concept. Two solutions are suggested; training and academic study to overcome the lack of sustainability knowledge. The respondents have the ability to choose both suggestions % of respondents think that sustainability knowledge could be increased by the training, while 54% of them think academic study is the proper suggestion. Other suggestions are obtained by the respondents, i.e. the media awareness % of the respondents have a documented corporate sustainability philosophy because the mega projects requirements are recently including the project LEED certificate. Questionnaire indicates that 54.17% of respondents are familiar with sustainability definition as enabling all people throughout the world to satisfy their basic needs and enjoy a better quality of life, without compromising the quality of life of future generations % of the respondents are familiar with sustainability in construction, while only 4.17% of respondent is familiar with material sustainability. Table 3: Sustainability Questionnaire Main Results Item Description Value Number of sent questionnaires 40 Number of respondents 24 Percentage of response 60% % of respondents who have a Very Well knowledge about sustainability 4.17% % of respondents who have a Well knowledge about sustainability 37.50% % of respondents who have a Medium knowledge about sustainability 29.17% % of respondents who have a Not Well knowledge about sustainability 16.67% % of respondents who have a None knowledge about sustainability 12.50% % of respondents who have a documented corporate philosophy for sustainability 41.67% % of respondents familiar with the sustainability definition 54.17% % of respondents familiar with the Sustainability in the Construction industry 66.67% % of respondents familiar with the Sustainability in the Electrical specialty 29.17% % of respondents familiar with the Sustainability in the Architectural specialty 33.33% % of respondents familiar with the Sustainability in the Construction Material specialty 4.17% % of respondents familiar with the Sustainability in the Mechanical specialty 29.17% % of respondents familiar with the Sustainability in the Structural specialty 16.67% % of respondents proposing increasing sustainability knowledge by Training 79.17% % of respondents proposing increasing sustainability knowledge by Academic Study 54.17% Note: Some respondents selected more than one response. XII. ANALYSIS OF RESULTS Figures 1 through 9 present detailed analysis of results for each item in the questionnaire. Fig. 1 presents the respondents knowledge about sustainability. It shows that only 4.17% of respondents have very well sustainability knowledge while 12.50% know nothing about sustainability % of respondents have well knowledge about sustainability. These results are because sustainability is a rising concept which is not well-known among construction industry members. The construction members who have knowledge about sustainability are mainly who are working in mega projects where project sustainability certificate is a must. It is the role of the project owner to include provisions in the contract that compels contractor to deliver a sustainable project. Fig. 2 presents the sustainability certificates that the respondents entities are targeting for delivering their projects. It shows that LEED is most targeted sustainability certificates by 66.67% of respondents entities. The LEED certificate is most well-known sustainability certificate that is focusing on environmental, construction and design. The other sustainability certificates are not targeted by the respondents entities mainly due to geographical locations of projects. Fig. 3 presents the area of sustainability knowledge of respondents. It shows that construction is most area of knowledge where respondents are familiar with sustainability while the construction material is least area of knowledge where respondents are familiar in sustainability. 310 Copyright Vandana Publications. All Rights Reserved.

5 Fig 1: Respondents Sustainability Knowledge Fig 2: Respondents Entities Targeted Sustainability Certificates Fig 3: Respondents Sustainability Knowledge Area 311 Copyright Vandana Publications. All Rights Reserved.

6 Fig. 4 presents the respondents raking of the sustainability dimensions; environmental, economic, social and technological. It presents the percentage of respondents who assigned each rank for each sustainability dimension. Environmental sustainability includes but not limited to air pollution, raw material extraction and residual waste. The figure shows that 62.50% of respondents believe that environmental dimension has a high contribution to the sustainability while 37.50% of respondents believe that environmental dimension has medium contribution to sustainability. From most of respondents point of view, environmental aspect has a great contribution to sustainability as it includes all kinds of pollution and natural resources use which affect the environment. Economic dimension includes manufacturing, transportation, construction and demolition costs % of respondents believe that economic dimension has a high contribution to sustainability while 33.33% of respondents believe that economic dimension has medium contribution. Economic aspect is one of the governing aspects as it plays a great role when selecting a material or method of construction, that s why it has a high contribution to sustainability. Social dimension includes but not limited to employment, health and safety % of respondents believe that social contribution to sustainability is medium while 62.50% of them believe that social contribution to sustainability is low. Technological dimension includes recyclability, reusability and durability % of respondents believe that technological dimension has medium contribution of sustainability while 8.33% of respondents believe that technological dimension has high contribution to sustainability. Technological aspect includes the durability of material or project, flexibility and easiness of repair, recyclability and reusability. In general point of view the environmental and economical dimensions are with the highest contribution to sustainability while social dimension has the least contribution to sustainability from respondents point of view. Fig 4: Sustainability Dimensions Ranking Fig. 5 presents the respondents raking of environmental sustainability factors; air pollution, raw material extraction and residual wastes. It presents the percentage of respondents who assigned each rank for each environmental sustainability factor % of respondents believe that air pollution has high importance of the environmental sustainability while 25% of respondents believe that air pollution has medium importance % of respondents believe that raw material extraction has medium importance of the environmental sustainability while 33.33% of respondents believe its importance is low % of respondents believe that residual waste importance related to environmental sustainability is low while 33.33% of respondents believe it has medium importance. Air pollution includes all kind of pollution resulted from projects and affecting the environment which in construction industry is huge. The raw material extraction in the construction industry is high due to the material fabrication such as cement, brick, steel reinforcement etc. construction industry is considered one of the main waste producers which makes it an important environmental factor. 312 Copyright Vandana Publications. All Rights Reserved.

7 Fig 5: Environmental Sustainability Factors Ranking Fig. 6 presents the respondents raking of economic sustainability factors; manufacturing cost, transportation cost, construction cost and demolition cost. It presents the percentage of respondents who assigned each rank for each economical sustainability factor. Manufacturing cost includes all costs required for production such as the equipment, labor, material, maintenance etc % of respondents believe that manufacturing cost has a high importance when evaluating the economic sustainability while 25.00% of respondents believe that its importance is medium. Transportation cost is mainly considering the material transportation. It varies based on the production site location and the required destination % of respondents believe that transportation cost is highly important when evaluation the economic sustainability while 50.00% of respondents believe it importance is medium. Construction cost includes all costs required to deliver the final product; material, labor and equipment % of respondents believe that construction cost importance is medium when evaluating economic sustainability while 41.67% believe its importance is high. Demolition cost includes costs required for demolition after the product completes it lifetime % of respondents believe that demolition cost importance when evaluating the economic sustainability is low while 33.33% of respondents believe it is not important at all. Fig. 7 presents the respondents raking of social sustainability factors; employment, health and safety. It presents the percentage of respondents who assigned each rank for each social sustainability factor. Employment factor is considering the number of employees required delivering the product % of respondents believe that employment factor has high importance in the social aspect while 33.33% believe that its importance is medium. It is important to contribute to the social life by saving jobs for Fig 6: Economic Sustainability Factors Ranking people. Health factor is considering the dieses resulted from working on the product % of respondents believe that health factor importance to social sustainability is medium while 45.83% believe its importance is high. Safety factor is considering how safe is working on the product and if working may cause any accident or disability % of respondents believe that importance of safety factor to the social sustainability is medium while 45.83% believe that its importance is high. 313 Copyright Vandana Publications. All Rights Reserved.

8 Fig 7: Social Sustainability Factors Ranking Fig. 8 presents the respondents raking of technological sustainability factors; recyclability, reusability and durability. It presents the percentage of respondents who assigned each rank for each technological sustainability factor. Recyclability factor focuses on the applicability of the product to be recycled after spending its lifetime and being demolished % of respondents believe that recyclability importance to the technological sustainability is medium while 29.17% of respondents believe its importance is high. Reusability factor focuses on the applicability of the product to be reused after demolition % of respondents believe that reusability importance to the technological sustainability is medium while 37.50% of respondents believe its importance is high. Durability factor focuses on how long the product will spend in service % of respondents believe that durability importance to the technological sustainability is high while 20.83% of respondents believe its importance is medium. XIII. CONCLUSION Sustainability is a global concept, not specific to concrete structures, which requires a series of environmental criteria to be met, in addition to other economic and social criteria. The contribution to sustainability therefore depends on meeting criteria such as the rational use of energy (both in the manufacture of construction products and in the execution of structures). It also depends on the use of renewable resources, use of recycled products, minimization of the impacts on the nature and creation of healthy work areas. The aim of this Fig 8: Technological Sustainability Factors Ranking paper is to measure and analyze the sustainability concept and knowledge among the construction industry members. Comprehensive literature review is conducted to obtain the sustainability goals, dimensions, factors and review the existing sustainability rating systems. A questionnaire is designed based on experts' views and conducted. Analysis of the questionnaire results is conducted. The following briefly summarize the analysis results: the questionnaire was sent to 40 of construction industry members where the response ratio was 60%. The analysis shows that 66.67% of respondents have medium to well sustainability knowledge while 12.5% of the respondents know nothing 314 Copyright Vandana Publications. All Rights Reserved.

9 about the sustainability and only 4.17% have a very well sustainability knowledge. LEED certificate was the sustainability certificate that 66.67% of respondents enteritis are targeting. Construction industry was the most area where 66.67% of respondents are familiar with sustainability followed by architectural, mechanical and electrical with 33.3%, 29.17, and 29.17% of respondents respectively. Further research is conducted to calculate the weight of each sustainability dimension and its related sustainability factors using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) technique. REFERENCES [1] Aboul Naga, M. M., and Elsheshtawy, Y. H. (2001). Environmental sustainability assessment of buildings in hot climates: the case of the UAE. Renewable Energy, 24 (3-4): [2] Aguado, A., Caño, A. D., de la Cruz, M. P., Gomez, D., & Josa, A. (2011). Sustainability assessment of concrete structures within the Spanish structural concrete code. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 138(2), [3] Attah, N. V. (2010). Environmental Sustainability and Sustainable Growth: A Global Outlook. Master of Science in Organizational Dynamics Theses, University of Pennsylvania. [4] Bakhoum, E. S., and Brown, D. C. (2012). Developed Sustainable Scoring System for Structural Materials Evaluation. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management. 138(1), [5] Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB). (2003) Sustainability and construction. (Dec. 11,2016). [6] Constructing Excellence. (2004). Sustainable construction: An introduction. Retrieved Sep. 22, 2015, from org.uk [7] Corus. (2006). Sustainable steel construction: The design and construction of sustainable buildings. s/ Construction/Library/sustainable%20steel %20construction.pdf. [8] Department of Trade and Industry. (2006). Sustainable construction strategy rep. DTI. [9] Egyptian Green Building Council (2009). Egyptian Green Building Council: Formation and Achievements. [10] Flórez, L., Castro, D., & Irizarry, J. (2010). Impact of Sustainability Perceptions on Optimal Material Selection in Construction Projects. In Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Sustainable Construction Materials and Technologies (pp ). [11] Fowler, K.M, and Rauch E.M. (2006). Sustainable Building Rating Systems Summary. United States: United States Department Of Energy. [12] Kirk, S., and Dell'Isola, A. J. (2008). Sustainability/ LEED and Life Cycle Costing - Their Role in Value Based Design Decision Making. SAVE International. [13] Ministerio de Fomento. (2010). The Spanish Structural Code, EHE (Vol. 08). Spain. Retrieved from andle r.ashx?idpub=bnw001 [14] Naik, T. R., & Moriconi, G. (2005, October). Environmental-friendly durable concrete made with recycled materials for sustainable concrete construction. In International Symposium on Sustainable Development of Cement, Concrete and Concrete Structures, Toronto, Ontario, October (pp. 5-7). [15] Raynsford, N. (2000). Building a Better Quality of Life: A Strategy for More Sustainable Construction. Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions: London. [16] Steele, K. N. P., Cole, G., Parke, G., Clarke, B., & Harding, J. (2002). The application of life cycle assessment technique in the investigation of brick arch highway bridges. Proceedings of the Conference for the Engineering Doctorate in Environmental Technology. [17] Tatari, O., and Kucukvar, M. (2012). Eco-Efficiency of Construction Materials: Data Envelopment Analysis. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management. 138(6), [18] Zhong, Y., and Wu, P. (2015). Economic sustainability, environmental sustainability and constructability indicators related to concrete-and steel-projects. Journal of Cleaner Production, 108, Copyright Vandana Publications. All Rights Reserved.