Ensuring Sustainability in Infrastructure Development - Research Paper Example

Ensuring Sustainability in Infrastructure Development Total word count Introduction The infrastructure facilities are the backbone of all thedevelopment activities of a region. The increased rate of developmental activities often results in the consumption of huge quantities of natural resources and also lead to severe environmental impact. In addition, problems related to pollution, energy crisis arising from increased dependence on the fossil fuels are the other sustainability issues that we are forced to encounter in future. Hence, it is inevitable that all the future initiatives of infrastructure development need to be in line with the demands of the environmental sustainability. The objective of this study is to evaluate different forms of sustainable approaches that are practiced in different components of infrastructure development. Based on the analysis undertaken a pragmatic intervention across all the infrastructure development programmes in UK could be proposed. Background There are different ways in which the sustainability is currently addressed. It could be in the form of energy efficient construction where materials used for construction are prepared through the processes that consume very less quantity of energy. Every material used for construction demands certain amount of energy for its manufacture. Materials like cement and steel are the examples for high energy materials being used for construction. Thus making infrastructure development process more energy efficient demands optimum use these high energy materials. With energy crisis looming large it is essential that entire construction process need to be turned energy efficient. Another approach is to substitute the conventional building materials, like aggregates, with different alternate materials. This would also result in lesser dependence on scarce natural resources and also finds an alternate use for other wise waste by product. Implementing energy conservation measures in the building and other systems through innovative means could also make the design and construction of infrastructure elements both energy and environmental friendly. Methodology The methodology followed is the detailed analysis of the available literature on the sustainable practices at different places across the world. Various innovative practices adopted could be identified and a scenario analysis is undertaken to assess their viability in UK conditions. The possible policy level interventions in the transportation planning are also carried out. Based on the results obtained s strategy for effective implementation of sustainable development initiatives for infrastructure promotion schemes are proposed. Literature Review Energy efficient construction process The important guideline for the sustainable design of the building units is given by BREEAM guidelines. BREEAM refers to the Building Research Establishment's Environmental Assessment Method, which is the globally used method to improve and review the environmental performance of building (Article base, 2008). These methods could help to address the issues like high-energy use, large quantities of waste, poor comfort conditions for occupancy and very low user satisfaction by reviewing and improving the environmental performance of building. Further, these systems are also considered to have resulted in better environment indoors, high productivity, retention of staff and also attracting talented employees. The guidelines could also be followed in evolving regional transportation plan. The special emphasis given for cycle and motorways in some specific locations to ensure better mobility for masses and also to reduce pollutions is an example in this connection (Article base, 2008). Another major intervention for energy conservation in the building is by configuring the walls with materials having appropriate thermal capacity values. In the case of walls the U value to be considered could be 0.22 Watts/m2K which could be achieved in the case of masonry walls by filling the fibre insulation or in the case of concrete by an effective coating.. The average ground insulation if 0.17 watts/m2K and windows and doors need to have U value 0.17 Watts/m2K (DCLG, 2007). General practice of energy conservation in the systems under use is to have a comprehensive policy of using only low energy demanding lights or devices. Especially in the public spaces, use of energy efficient lights or maximum use of renewable energy technologies is normally proposed. Thus special emphasis on energy conservation by having favourable polices in the promotion of renewable energy systems is gaining momentum allover the world. In addition to all these, several innovative ways of generating energy within the system is also being attempted to support some of the small-scale requirements within. The innovative ways of energy generation at Tokyo railway station could be considered as a model for exploring in this direction. The Tokyo station has installed an array of piezoelectric material that is capable of converting the mechanical energy obtained from turning the ticket gates to electrical power. The installation has been undertaken by East Japan railway Company and demonstrates how the energy pooling could be undertaken effectively by using the advances in technology (Schwartz, 2008). According to them, with the expected volume of passengers power of atleast 1000kW per second could be generated from these units. Substituting conventional materials Concrete is still the most widely used construction material cross the globe, whose major constituents of concrete are cement, aggregates and water. The cement, which acts as the binder in the above mixture, is the most energy intensive material in them. By varying the combinations of cement and aggregates in various proportions, concrete of different characteristics to satisfy the wide range of strength requirement could be attained (Chang et al, 1999). But the rapid increase in the infrastructure development initiatives all over the world have resulted in the consumption of huge quantities of concrete which has put heavy pressure on the environment for the supply of the aggregates. The shortage of natural aggregates has resulted in the large-scale supply of manufactured aggregates. The manufactured aggregates refer to the group of aggregates that is prepared by crushing parent rock to the required shapes and sizes. Even this mode of supply too would cause severe pressure on the resources at a later stage and hence various options for aggregate replacement were explored. The replacement using materials that are formed as the by products of waste residues of different industrial manufacturing processes has become a common practice. The materials chosen for this purpose are the pozzolanic materials, like blast furnace slag, silica fumes, fly ash, which are not very reactive by themselves but in presence of cement exhibits cement like characteristics (Chang, et al, 1999). Most of them also have problem s related to their disposal and hence finding an alternate use is also an added environmental benefit. A few of such type of materials are listed below. (a) Fly ash : These are combustion products of coal used as fuel in the thermal power plants. These materials cause considerable amount of environmental problems related to its disposal. Successful efforts have been made in finding different application for its reuse in the construction sector. The pozzolanic properties the flyash has been made use of in the manufacture of pozzolanic cement. Recently published research results too show that pulverized fly ash could be used as an aggregate substitute and thus easing the pressure of pooling huge volumes of conventional aggregates (Siddique, 2003a). (b) Blast furnace slag : Blast furnace slag is a non-metallic by product formed in the blast furnace slag during the process of reduction of iron ore to molten iron. They consist mostly of silicates, alumino-silicates and calcium alumina silicates. Depending on the cooling method used for molten slag different forms of slag products are formed. These are air cooled blast furnace slags (ACBFS), foamed or expanded slag, pelletized slag and granulated blast furnace slag (Blast furnace slag, n d). Granulated blast furnace slags are sand size particles formed from rapid water quenching. They exhibit cementitious properties when converted to fine particles by crushing or milling. They are found to be suitable for a partial replacement or as additive to Portland cement. The general composition of blast furnace (c ) Incinerated ash The utility of using the incinerated ash of the stabilized municipal solid waste along with natural aggregates has been investigated in detail. The flyash from the incinerator was washed , milled and then stabilized using cement - lime process . They are then reused as recycled aggregate for the preparation of mortar and concrete. The results obtained were very favorable in using incinerated ash as aggregates. (d) Recycled aggregates: These materials refer to the recycling of materials obtained from the demolished structures. The coarse and fine fraction obtained from crushed concrete is reported to satisfy all the desirable properties required for the preparation of concrete. From the preliminary studies undertaken it is understood that strength of recycled concrete is higher than that reported for concrete prepared using natural aggregate. Thus the use of recycled aggregates could also give one more option of aggregate replacement options for concrete and finally leads to sustainable construction practices (Padmini et al, 2002). (d) Glass powder : Even though huge quantities of glass is recycled, attempts have been made to understand the utility of glass in construction process also. Due to the reactive nature of the glass , it is ground to fine powder and is mixed with the cement as a pozzolanic material. This material have displayed favorable strength gain in concrete and could replace cement up to 30 percent when the glass fines are added to atleast 20 percent weight of the cement (The Concrete society., n.d.). Sustainable transportation systems Availability of efficient transportation systems are the reasons behind the rapid economic progress of any country. The most significant development in this sector has been related to the increase in private vehicles mostly cars and automobiles. This has contributed to increased emission rates, which have threatened the health and safety of the people (OECD, 1996). The traffic congestion have become a common sight in most of the urban centers and it has negatively impacted the quality of human health and environmental sustainability. Thus the polices like improving public transport services, implementing mass rapid transport systems, implementing exclusive/special lanes for cycle and pedestrian ways are the common approaches proposed. These measures could be turned successful only with a proper awareness creation for public participation for the common good (OECD, 1996). Discussion /Evaluation It is observed from all the published reports that a well coordinated strategy to promote sustainability in infrastructure development schemes are already in practice. The efforts of BREEAM to ensure building sustainability are an indication for this. Though the well thought guidelines are in place the extend of participation by the infrastructure promoters are not very convincing. The sustainability issues are not currently being addressed from the system perspective. It is treated as isolated issues of material management, re-use of waste materials, energy efficiency rather than considering comprehensive approach. Still the illuminating example of using the movement of ticket door as the source of energy to power the lights would also foster a new way of thinking in exploring the energy efficient systems. Similar, innovate applications need to be identified that could add the possible level of application in the renewable energy sector. Further, it is also observed that the user level motivation need to be enhanced by creating necessary awareness among the people regarding the social good much above the economical gains they would enjoy on shifting to the renewable sources of energy in the infrastructure planning process. Conclusion The project has given the detailed understanding on the different ways of sustainability practices in the infrastructure projects. The different ways of resource optimizations that makes the projects more sustainable are well illustrated. Also the energy efficient construction by incorporating proper selection of materials also gives different options to make the construction environmental friendly. Also , proper interventions by renewable energy technologies in future would give much better impetus in making the infrastructure units more sustainable. Massive public campaign and policies that keep sustainability, as the core objective is the need of the hour for the promotion of overall well-being of the humanity. Recommendations Creative interventions are necessary to make infrastructure development process more sustainable and energy efficient. Awareness creation on the impact of large scale consumption of high energy materials need to be untaken at the government level. It could also be highlighted that such a philosophy of business could also bring them considerable saving in cost (Article base, 2008). It could also be initiated as a national mission to target a specific percentage of reduction and most innovative approaches could also be acknowledged. Adoption of the by products for the aggregate reuse shall also need a tragic intervention. As considerable apprehension could exist in the minds of users about the quality of substitution , builders organizations need to collaborate with the technological research centers to communicate and demonstrate the research results (Blast furnace slag, n.d.). References Article base (2008), How to achieve high bream rating [Online] Available from< http://www.articlesbase.com/project-management-articles/how-to-achieve-a-high-breeam-rating-458497.html> [28 Februrary 2009] Blast furnace slag (n.d.), [Online] Available from . [5 February 2009] Chang, N. B. , Wang, H., P., Huang, W. , L.. and Lin, K.S. ( 1999) The assessment of reuse potential for municipal solid waste and refuse-derived fuel incineration ashes ,Resources, conservation and recycling , 25 (3-4 ) : pp 255-270 DCLG (2007), Building regulations: Energy efficiency regulations for new dwelling units [Online] Available from [18 February 2009] OECD (1996), Towards sustainable transportation, [Online] Available at [28 February 2009]. Padmini A K, Ramamurthy, K and Mathews, M S. (2002), Relative moisture movement through recycled aggregate concrete, Magazine of Concrete Research , 54 (5 ) , pp- 377-384. Schwartz, A (2008), Tokyo train station trying power-generating floor [Online] Available from [17 February 2009] Read More