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Construction Industry
and its Impact to Built
Environment

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Construction Industry account for one-sixth
of the world's fresh water withdrawals, one-
quarter of its wood harvest.

The cement sector alone accounts for 5 % of

global man made CO2 emissions

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Construction & Demolition (C&D) generate between 10% and 40% of the solid
waste stream in most countries (Kibert et al, 2000). C&D wastes can generally
be used for low-priority works like footpaths, drains, pavements etc.

Most bonding & drying agents in carpets, veneers, particle board, plywood and
paint emit volatile organic compounds (VOCs) which contribute to greenhouse
gases and global warming.

Pollution and Waste

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Environmental
impacts

Resource depletion Social impacts

Physical disruption Economic impacts
Loss of open space &
Chemical pollution biodiversity To Builders:
Increased compliance
Other effects; Social Isolation
Increased car costs & waste disposal
Social disruption, costs
dependency
undesirable visual Decreased air quality To Owners:
impact. Unhealthy indoor Increased utility &
environment maintenance costs

To Occupiers:
Loss of well being &
productivity

To Society:
Decreased
environmental quality
 According to the World Watch Institute about
40% of the world's total energy usage is
dedicated to the construction and operation of
buildings.

The building industry consumes 3 billion tons

of raw materials annually, 40% of the total
material flow in the global economy.

Only about 0.003 % of earth's water is readily

available as fresh water for human use (Miller,
1992). Building materials manufacturing,
construction and operations consumes 16% of
available fresh water annually

In 1990 the building industry consumed 31%

of Global energy and emitted 1900 Megaton's
of Carbon.
Towards an innovative &
eco-friendly
Construction Industry

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 GREEN Building
Continued ability of a society, an ecosystem, or any such
interactive system to function without exhausting key resources
and without adversely affecting the Environment

Principles:

1. Maximizing the use of renewable and natural resources;

2. Minimizing the use of energy and water;

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 Green Buildings Materials
Green building materials offer specific benefits to the building
owner and building occupants:

Reduced maintenance/replacement costs over the life of

the building;

Energy conservation and reduce harmful emissions;

Improved occupant health and productivity;

Lower costs associated with changing space

configurations;

Do not exhaust the existing supplies of finite materials;

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 Choosing Building Materials

Underlining Principle:

Assuming that all stages in the life of a material

right from extraction, manufacture,
transportation to the installation, operation,
maintenance and the recycling and waste
management cause some degree of
Environmental impact which needs to be
evaluated.- This is called Life Cycle Analysis
(LCA) for any material/product. 10
 Characteristics of Sustainable
Managed Alternatives

1. CEMENT CONCRETE

Energy Intensive industry

Depletion of natural resources
Green house gas emissions

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Recommended Alternatives:

1. Blast furnace Slag Concrete

Using Ground Granulated Blast Furnace slag with

Cement (from steel plants) in mixes

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Recommended Alternatives:

2. Using Recycled Aggregates

Crushed Concrete, Bricks and other masonry waste

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3. Mortars and Plasters:

Basic Mortar used: 1 : 6 (Cement : Sand)

1. Cement : Lime : Sand (1 : 1 : 6)

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2. Lime : rha : Sand (1 : 1 : 1)
rha: Rice husk ash - hard protecting coverings of grains of rice (burnt)

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Looking back to think ahead..

Our predecessors knew it

better.

We were much less resource dependent in the past

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RAMMED EARTH AND MUD BLOCKS
CONSTRUCTION IN BHUTAN

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 Earthen Construction Technology
A brief History

Tabo Monastery , HP Auroville-Earth Institute

India , 996 AD Shey Monastery, Ladakh
17th Century

Ramasseum, Egypt
Our Very Own Aman, Gangtey Around 1300BC
Innovative Building Technologies:
Hollow Interlocking-Compressed Stabilized Earth Block
(HI-CSEB)

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Innovative Building Technologies:
Machine that produces HI-CSEB, developed by
Auroville Earth Institute, Tamil Nadu, India

Aurum Press 3000

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 HI-CSEB
Economical/affordable, environmentally friendly,
easily available, stronger, energy saving and simple to
manufacture

Better Thermal Insulation

Warm in winter and cool in summer

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 Technical /Engineering Aspects
Block Production
Material selection

Soil Identification Top soil and soil with organic matter should not be used.
Grain size distribution - more of sandy is preferred.
Gravel (mm) Sand(mm) Silt(mm) Clay(mm)

20 to 2mm 2 0.02 0.02 0.002 0.002 - 0

 Some basic test for identifying the suitability of soil
Granularity
(Grain size distribution test) 15%gravel, 50%sand, 15% silt, 20%clay

-Compressibility Compress a moist soil by hand

(Ease of the soil to be Difficult to compress gravely soil
compressed) Very easy to compress Clayey soil

Humus Smells Rotten lot of humus

Musty humus
(presence of organic materials0 Agreeable smell no humus - suitable for construction

Plasticity ( Capacity to withstand Difficult to break clayey soil

deformation) Breaks easily gravely soil

Cohesion(Property of the soil Wash the hand on which the soil paste was made
Soils grains does not stick on the palm Gravely soil
grains to remain together)
Thin film of soil stick on the palm clayey soil.
 Proportions
Cement : Soil (1 : 6)
Water content = 25 liters for one bag of
cement
Varying the ratio esp. the cement has the
proportionate cost involved
The ratio can go up to 1 cement to 10 soil

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 Same basic data on CSEB

Properties Values
3 6Mpa (N/sqmm) ( +10% after 1 year,
Dry Compressive Strength @28days 20% after 2years)

Wet compressive strength @28days (3days 2 3 Mpa

immersion)
Dry bending Strength @28days 0.5 1 Mps

Dry Shear Strength @28days 0.4 0.6Mpa

Density 1700 to 2000kg/cum

Water absorption @ 28days after 3 days

immersion 8 to 12 % by weight

Energy Consumption 110MJ ( Kiln fired bricks = 539MJ)

 Comparison with other building blocks
Properties CSEB (HI - 245) Ordinary class III Concrete hollow
brick blocks
Size 245x 245 x 95 195 x 95 x 75 390 x 190 x 190
Weight 8kg 3kg 16kg
Compressive 30 60kg/cmsq 35kg/cmsq 45kg/cmsq(approx)
strength (28days)
Cost (Nu.) 13 per block ( 1:6 11 per brick @ 38.00 per block @
mix ratio) Thimphu Thimphu

For a 250mm thick 1msq wall in a load bearing building @ Thimphu

Block Numbers Cost(Nu)

HI - CSEB 40(Approx) 520

Ordinary second class brick 166(approx) 1496.00

Hollow concrete Block 19.5(approx) 741

 Block production machines
Two Machines in the market
1) HI CSEB Block machine Habitech centre, Thailand
Designer/ manufacturer Habitat centre , Bangkok

Cost of Press 73,500.00 (Nu) 2008 rate

Cost of Mould ( 1 set) -

Max Blocks size 300 x 150 x 95

Production capacity per day 500 average

( 6- 7 workers)

2) AURUM PRESS 3000 Auroville,India

Designer/ manufacturer Auroville Earth institute/ Aureka,

Cost of Press Rs 69,800.00

Cost of Mould ( 1 set) Rs 41,500.00

Max Blocks size 245 x 245 x 95
Compression force 150KN( 15 tones)
Production capacity per 500 Blocks (average)
day with 7 workers
 Pilot House Construction SQCA using HI CSEB 245

Two storied load bearing structures - serve as model

for the earthquake resistant design features

Sample Blocks test results

Soil sample source Average Compressive Strength

Proposed construction site (1:8 mix
ratio 22 kg/cmsq

Buddha Dodema site ( 1: 8) 33 kg/cmsq

SQCA Pilot Project

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Hollow Interlocking Compressed
Stabilized Earth Block (HI-CSEB)

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Pilot house using HI-CSEB

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Some other buildings using HI-CSEB

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 Advantages

1. Use of cheap & locally available materials

2. Job opportunity for local people
3. Biodegradable materials
4. Energy efficiency and eco friendliness 5 15 times
less energy consumed than fired brick and around 3
8 times less emission
5. Transferable technology
6. Import Reduction
 Advantages
7. Cost effectiveness
8. Minimum mortar required
9. Keys that interlock with each other provides better
integrity
10. Hollow provisions for laying vertical and horizontal
reinforcements to improve the lateral load resisting
capacity
11. Ease and Fastness in construction
12. Fire resistant
 Limitations
Only for low rise structures: maximum 2 storey

Strength very much dependant on the properties of

soil

Too much stabilization(cement) will make no economic

sense

Interlocking features do not provide air tightness.

Minimum gap is formed due to which termite/air
current can pass.
 Limitations
Requires minimum mortar between the blocks to maintain
horizontal construction level

Too much mortar between the blocks jeopardizes the

interlocking feature

For frame structures, HI-CSEB can be used as filler materials

but the structural members sizes increases due to increase
in the block weight
 HI-CSEB in Bhutan

No of private individuals who procured the

machine-2
Commercial basis- Established in Jemina by 2
firms
 Way forward
1. Conference on GREEN Construction Awareness and
exchange of knowledge;

2. Sensitization w/shops & trainings in Green building

practices;

3. Standards and regulations;

R & D required
Formulation of standards and guidelines
 Conclusion
Sustainable /economical/eco friendly building
material
Easy and simple technology
Creates employment opportunities
Reduce dependency on import of bricks
Making housing affordable

Therefore, production and construction with HCSEB

is relevant and it is to be adopted where ever
possible.
Thank you
and
Tashi Delek

www. sqca.gov.bt