Embodied energy of alternative building materials and their impact on life cycle cost parameters

Abstract

House construction all over the world is in need of many alternative building materials since the conventional materials are in short supply and also cause degradation of the environment as in clay, sand and coral mining. For popularization of alternative materials, it is necessary to ensure that they are generally cost effective. However, the cost effectiveness should not only be based on initial capital cost but the whole life cycle costing. This will include the cost of energy used in the production stage of such building materials, cost of casting and the energy used in the life span of the building usage. This research has investigated and developed the embodied energy of different building materials. This study also included the performance of different materials on operational energy. It is shown that the alternative building materials and systems would have either reduced or similar impact on life cycle cost, compared to the conventional building materials.