Environmental Issues in the construction industry https://s3da-design.com/environmental-issues-construction-industry/
Ever since the dawn of the industrial revolution and the invention of the internal combustion engine in the 19th century, environmental pollution has skyrocketed to unimaginable rates. This is because with the development of the internal combustion engine came a wide range of machinery that has made our lives much easier but has had and is continuing to have detrimental effects on our atmosphere. The transportation sector was revolutionized by the invention of vehicles and hence road networks. Unfortunately, these road networks are not efficient in taking care of the billions of vehicles that exist on our planet today; the result- unimaginable gridlocks in many major cities like London and New York, leading to more emission of greenhouse gases that ultimately destroys the ozone layer. Even trains that are being powered by diesel engines or electricity are not free from contributing to this pollution. Aircraft are truly great and it has truly cut travel time to levels unimaginable 130 years ago. However, there has also been ever-increasing pollution from aircraft. Ever since ships stopped using wind has its source of power, it’s a contribution to air pollution has been on a continuous increase. Spillage from oil tankers has also had detrimental effects on both terrestrial and aquatic life. All these and many more sources of pollution has led to a pressing struggle that scientists and architects all over the world are up against: the quest to meet up to the rising energy demands to power our transportation mechanism with clean energy solutions. Aside from the transport sector, the Industrial sector has also contributed to this environmental degradation that we experience.
Industrial activities have drastically changed our landscape; the invention of steel has helped raise our buildings to unimaginable heights, the demand for raw materials has also spawned an eclectic rise in diverse industries from quarrying operations to level highlands, drilling down great depth to access the black gold, mining operations to obtain limestone and so much more. They have all contributed jointly to all forms of pollution; air pollution from the engines we run, land and water pollution from the waste we dump or oil spillage. The landscape as we know it will never remain the same again. This article attempts to discuss briefly the Environmental issues in the construction industry. According to the U.S Green Home Building Council, the construction industry accounts for 40% of worldwide energy usage and is expected to rise in the years to come. This is not hard to believe if you consider the number of buildings that sprout up every day. For a building to come to life, a lot of components is required to make things work out. From excavating for raw materials like limestone to as little as getting water. In fact, everything you see in a building has taken a particular amount of energy to be transformed into its usable form. The result- ever increasing pollution. International communities have realized that to ensure sustainability, building design must allow for smartness and efficiency. Sustainability is a convoluted concept because various factors have to be put into proper consideration before it can be achieved. However, it has become a necessity if we want the earth to still be habitable in the future. Sustainability as a concept is the proper management of natural resources so as to avoid depletion and ensure ecological balance.