Alternative building materials

ENVIRONMENTAL LIFE-CYCLE ANALYSIS OF ALTERNATIVE BUILDING MATERIALS... 

Environmental Life-cycle Analysis of Alternative Building Materials... 

Jute and allied fibers have gained interest as a reinforcing material in the composite industry to produce new and alternate building materials for low cost housing applications [6-14]. The typical applications include building panels, roofing sheets, boards partitions, doors and windows, tiles, etc. Currently, the... 

HBCD is a brominated aliphatic cyclic hydrocarbon used as a flame retardant in thermal insulation building materials, upholstery textiles, and electronics. In 2001, the world market demand for HBCD was 16,700 tons, from which 9,500 tons was sold in the EU. These figures make HBCD the second highest volume BFR used in Europe [29], HBCD may be used as an alternative for PBDEs in some applications. To date, there are no restrictions on the production or use of HBCD. As a result of their widespread use and their physical and chemical properties, HBCD are now ubiquitous contaminants in the environment and humans [30, 31]. 

It is reported that the UK Department of the Environment, Transport The Regions (the DETR) has announced an innovative study to compare environmental and health impacts of PVC and alternative building and packaging materials. The research will take a year and will be carried out by consultancies Entec and Ecobalance. Details are given. 

One of the most important challenges in the modern chemical industry is represented by the development of new processes aimed at the exploitation of alternative raw materials, in replacement of technologies that make use of building blocks derived from oil (olefins and aromatics). This has led to a scientific activity devoted to the valorization of natural gas components, through catalytic, environmentally benign processes of transformation (1). Examples include the direct exoenthalpic transformation of methane to methanol, DME or formaldehyde, the oxidation of ethane to acetic acid or its oxychlorination to vinyl chloride, the oxidation of propane to acrylic acid or its ammoxidation to acrylonitrile, the oxidation of isobutane to... 

It is difficult to provide cost comparison data for the SET process vs. alternative technologies because of the wide variability of the waste that must be remediated (soil, sludge, neat, oils, building materials, DNAPLs, etc.) and the nature of the contaminants. Each situation must be examined individually. What can be said is that SET is cost-competitive to incineration. Several good cost and effectiveness comparison references for these technologies are available from the Federal Government web sites (www.frtr. gov/costper.html and www.lanl.gov/projects/etcap/intro.html). 

The NFPA Building Construction and Safety Code or NFPA 5000125 is the alternate building code to the IBC. In structure, it is similar to the Life Safety Code (NFPA 101), in that it starts with general requirements and then includes chapters on occupancies. It is also similar to the NFPA 1 and the UBC in that, after Chapter 40, it has specific chapters on individual materials, such as plastics, wood, glass, and gypsum board. It also contains a performance option alternative in Chapter 5. 

Evidence indicates that the ancient people of India from as early as 4000 BC were well acquainted with the production of building materials such as lime and plaster. By using crude equipment they fashioned the materials they needed, some of which have lasted until the present day. Present-day methods used in India probably resemble those used in ancient times. In the production of bricks, it is still not uncommon to find that sun-dried bricks are heaped or stacked in piles alternating with coal and arranged in the form of a beehive oven for firing. 

New processes using carbon dioxide will provide alternate methods for manufacturing chemical intermediates used to produce building materials, motor vehicles, tires, paper, plastics, apparel, fertilizer, furniture, and appliances. Essentially, all of these products are sequestered because at the end of their useful life they end up in landfills. The carbon from fertilizers ends up in plant tissue and will eventually be released to the atmosphere. 

In contrast to building materials such as steel and concrete, which can be specified and obtained with desired properties, soils cannot be designed . They are just there, they already exist at the construction site, with properties which are adequate or inadequate for the work to be done. There are alternatives for dealing with poor, inadequate soils. These include ... 

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