Green Recovery And Reconstruction: Training Toolkit For Humanitarian Aid Materials and the Supply Chain Session 2: Building Materials and the Environment

2 Mod 5 Ses 2 SESSION 2 - OBJECTIVES By the end of this session, you will be able to:  Demonstrate the environmental impacts of building material choices for reconstruction projects  Apply the principles of the 3 Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle) to building material selection

3 Mod 5 Ses 2 Application to you: What you can do in your role as program officer, project planner, or funder to achieve the aims of environmentally sustainable materials selection in reconstruction programs.

4 Mod 5 Ses 2 Two tools to inform selection of building materials  Life Cycle Analysis  Environmental Impact Assessment

5 Mod 5 Ses 2 Tool 1: Life Cycle Analysis The Cradle to Cradle Life of a Brick Every step requires energy, and has an environmental cost Extraction Colin Beatie Processing Colin Beatie Transport Colin Beatie Building/ Maintaining UN Photo/Jawad Jalali Demo/ disposal Colin Beatie

6 Mod 5 Ses 2 Extraction / Mining the clay destroys habitat and consumes energy Photo by colin-beattie.blogspot.com

7 Mod 5 Ses 2 Processing Six large trees are needed to fire approximately 10,000 bricks – for 1 small house. UNEP photo - A brick kiln at Abu Shouk camp in Northern Darfur

8 Mod 5 Ses 2 Transport Strangecosmos.com Fuel is consumed in the transportation to the site

9 Mod 5 Ses 2 Building / Maintaining Construction Workers in Kabul build a brick wall for a new building. UN Photo/Jawad Jalali

10 Mod 5 Ses 2 Demolition/disposal/reuse…Back to the cradle Tsunami destruction in Banda Aceh, Indonesia – how easy is it to reuse the bricks for reconstruction? UN HABITAT photo

11 Mod 5 Ses 2 This applies to all building materials, what are the energy costs associated with the “life” of this nipa palm roofing thatch? Images from

12 Mod 5 Ses 2 Embodied Energy…...the energy used in the work of making a product. It is an accounting methodology which aims to find the sum total of the energy necessary for an entire product lifecycle : extraction, transport, installation, etc. Expressed as mega joules of energy needed to make a kilogram of product: Mj/kg

13 Mod 5 Ses 2 Embodied Energy A brick is not just a brick. It also represents…. 8.4 Mj per brick of embodied energy in the UK -- as determined by the Inventory of Carbon & Energy (ICE) of the University of Bath website ( Photo by Colin Beatie 13

14 Mod 5 Ses 2 Quick Practice with EE  Common Bricks  Soil Cement Bricks  Concrete  Concrete Block  Timber – Sawn Hardwood  Timber – Sawn Softwood  Particle Board or  Plywood Let’s build a wall……choosing the materials with the lowest EE, your choices are: Colin Beatie

15 Mod 5 Ses 2 MATERIALEE – Mj/kg Common Bricks3.00 Plywood15.00 Sawn Softwood7.40 Particle Board9.50 Sawn Hardwood7.80 Concrete Block0.60 Concrete0.95 Soil Cement Bricks0.85 EXAMPLE VALUES FROM THE ICE CHART OF EE VALUES

16 Mod 5 Ses 2 MATERIALEE – Mj/kg Common Bricks3.00 Plywood15.00 Sawn Softwood7.40 Particle Board9.50 Sawn Hardwood7.80 Concrete Block0.60 Concrete0.95 Soil Cement Bricks0.85 Which material has the LOWEST EE?

17 Mod 5 Ses 2 MATERIALEE – Mj/kg Common Bricks3.00 Plywood15.00 Sawn Softwood7.40 Particle Board9.50 Sawn Hardwood7.80 Concrete Block0.60 Concrete0.95 Soil Cement Bricks0.85 Which material has the HIGHEST EE? Is this all you need to know to decide which material to choose?

18 Mod 5 Ses 2 Analysis…  Which are the materials with the lowest embodied energy from the ICE chart?  What does this mean in practical terms?  What else do you need to know to use this approach successfully? MATERIALEE – Mj/kg Common Bricks3.00 Plywood15.00 Sawn Softwood7.40 Particle Board9.50 Sawn Hardwood7.80 Concrete Block0.60 Concrete0.95 Soil Cement Bricks0.85

19 Mod 5 Ses 2 Why is the concept of embodied energy relevant to us?

20 Mod 5 Ses 2 Tool 2: Environmental Impact Assessment  A brick is not just a brick – environmental effects will be different for different groups or locations or ecosystems Earth, air and water Wildlife and plants Local population Artisans and builders Homeowners

21 Mod 5 Ses 2 Assess who is affected Wood harvesting leading to deforestation

22 Mod 5 Ses 2 Assess what is affected Collection of traditional building materials at an unsustainable rate affects the ability for some species to regenerate and destroys habitat for other species.

23 Mod 5 Ses 2 Assess where are the effects? UNEP photo – S. Rocha

24 Mod 5 Ses 2 Environmental Impact Assessment Tools  See Module 3 Environmental Impact Assessment Tools and Techniques  Environmental Stewardship Review for Humanitarian Aid (WWF & American Red Cross)  Annex VIII Project Environmental Review Record, UNEP, SKAT

25 Mod 5 Ses 2 Three R Analysis Recycle Reuse Reduce 25

26 Mod 5 Ses 2 REDUCE Total Material Amounts  Design for minimum response in terms of materials consumed. Put simply – use the least (but still acceptable) amount of materials in order to ensure the least cost and damage to the community and environment.  Choose materials with lower embodied energy  Buy materials with least inherent waste in their use  Train workers/ artisans to minimize waste during construction

27 Mod 5 Ses 2 RECYCLE  Recycle damaged materials where possible  Use or buy materials with a high recycled content percentage

28 Mod 5 Ses 2 REUSE: The Gift of Rubble UNEP photo – Indonesia Tsunamoi aftermath

29 Mod 5 Ses 2 Exercise: How can we put these materials to good use?  Green waste, such as trees and shrubs  Concrete and asphalt  Metal  Brick  Dirt  Many materials can be recovered and re-used for their original purpose (bent roofing sheets)

30 Mod 5 Ses 2 Wrong design - Wasted materials

31 Mod 5 Ses 2 Overall Resource Efficiency  Include environmental factors when conducting benefit-cost analyses for material selection and procurement options.  Design to use fewer materials (and those with lower embodied energy).  Use local sources – where this can be done in a sustainable way.  Use materials with recycled content (e.g., fly ash)  Consider disaster debris as a construction material  Support only sustainable or legal sourcing of materials (e.g., use of legal timber).  Train workers/ artisans to minimize waste during construction Environmentally-aware planners consider:

32 Mod 5 Ses 2 3-R Analysis in Practice Applications – What can you do in your role as funder, project planner, or program officer to achieve these aims of materials selection in reconstruction programs? Recycle Reuse Reduce 32

33 Mod 5 Ses 2 LUNCH