Environmental Sustainability in the Construction Sector - Essay Example

Environmental Sustainability in the Construction Sector For a country to be able to accomplish the task of transforming their economy to produce low levels of carbon, adequate workforce with the proper experience in the field of manufacturing, installing as well as running the technologies responsible for the production of low carbon is required (Zero Carbon Hub, 2013, p. 23). The required capacity and knowledge is not standard. It depends on the rate at which the transition is expected to occur, but the contracted workforce should possess the needed skill, and they should be able to carry out the transition process within the stipulated time. The government also has a role to play in promoting this transition. It should promote the training of students who will be experts in this particular field by establishing learning institutions that will specialize in giving the students knowledge that will enable them to undertake the task of transforming a given country to be low carbon economy successfully (Smith, 2010, pp 32). This paper seeks to bring out the business opportunity that comes along with the challenge of transforming the UK economy to be a low carbon economy and the challenges that might be faced in the effort of trying to achieve the objectives of the business (Baeli, 2013, p.15). The paper will also address how the aims of having a sustainable development will be achieved from the main contractor’s perspective. The discussion of the paper is based on the UK construction industry. Introduction The transition of an economy to low carbon is essential. In this context, the paper intends to point out the benefits that the UK government will experience when they invest into this project. The transition might appear to be a major challenge to the UK construction industry, but it brings along a wide range of business opportunities, which can be exploited to improve the UK economy. Business opportunities provided by the challenge include: First, the transition to a low carbon economy by the UK construction industry will create employment opportunities to some on the citizens in UK (Robert, Howlett, Lakhmi, Jain, Shaun, Lee, 2010, p. 23). Creating employment will reduce the rate of insecurity due to stealing, especially by the youth who are ideal because of unemployment. Creating of employment will also improve the economic state of the country. The government will see an increase in their revenue due to the taxes from the transition sector. This will ensure that the citizens are able to live in better conditions together with their families. When other countries see that the UK construction company has managed to achieve a successful transition to low carbon economy, then they will collaborate with the industry in order to achieve a successful transition too. This will have a positive impact on the industry. They will be able to generate a lot of revenue as the result of partnership with the other countries and this will help in the development of the industry. It will also open opportunities for some of the employees in the industry to be contracted to go work in other countries and this means that they will have to pay the company for the services being offered by their employees. The employees of the industry can also be contracted to go teach the employees in the construction industry for the other countries on how to use the low carbon technologies. The technologies require the proper expertise to operate them. For this service, the companies will have to pay the company for the period that the training will take place. On top of that, the company will also have to pay the employees of the UK construction industry who are conducting the training program. This will benefit the company as well as the employees who are carrying out the training. Some of the barriers that the UK construction industry may experience in trying to achieve their objectives in terms of transition to the low carbon economy include: The threats and uncertainty linked with the expertise Investing in the different technologies of low carbon is usually risky and uncertain. Due to this, the company might have less interest in investing in the expertise that is required to operate the technology. The training of the employees might take up much time, and require a lot of capital. The company might not want to invest a huge amount of capital in the technologies not being sure whether the project will succeed or fail. In case of failure, the company might suffer a great loss, which will bring about an adverse effect. Uncertainty for any company is not productive, and therefore there might be low chances for the business investing in the low carbon technologies. The business might also highly benefit from investing in the technologies. Therefore, company will be faced with a dilemma when making the decision of whether to invest in the technologies or not. The low carbon technologies Novelty A number of the technologies related to low carbon might require novelty for them to be incorporated to the transition process. They might also require a combination of expertise. This is so because some tasks that might be undertaken need to be complemented by other relevant skills. In this instance, the UK construction industry might have a challenge in regards to innovation. This is mainly attributed to the fact that the construction experts usually have a negative attitude towards new inventions made. It is also difficult to find employees who possess a unique combination of expertise. As a result, for this particular company, it may be hard to have the experienced employees to train the new ones. When the employees are low skilled, the company will be subjected to redoing a piece of work constantly, and this is time consuming and utilizes a lot of capital that could have been used in other developments for the industry. For these technologies to be adopted by the UK construction industry, employees with the appropriate skills need to be recruited. It is only through proper knowledge and experience that the industry will be assured of benefiting from the technologies. Inadequate experienced employees Most young people might not be willing to undertake the course because it is still a new venture. This is because they are not assured of getting employment once they finish the training. Apart from the job opportunities, they have doubts whether or not the job will be paying. Since the course is still new, they might have a negative attitude towards pursing it, so most of the young people would prefer taking up courses that are known and according to them, they are assured of getting a job and good pay after they are through with their studies (Phillips, 2010, p. 31). Construction companies can also decide to take some of their employees through the training program that will equip them with the skills that they will need to be professionals in the field of transforming the UK economy into a low carbon. Most of the companies are not willing to take up that initiative because they feel like it will impose much on the company in terms of finances. Therefore, they choose not to opt for that option. In some circumstances, the company might be willing to take some of their employees through the course, but none of the employees might be willing to participate simply because they have a negative perception towards that particular field of expertise (Reed, 2002, p.15). In UK, the following techniques have been employed to mitigate the risk of uncertainty of the UK construction company investing the low carbon technologies: The government provides incentives for the renewal of heat An independent body of Committee has been put in place to give advice on the change of climate Creation of long-term goals for the small-scale industries that are dealing with renewal of heat Focusing on the reduction of carbon emission, which is estimated to have reduced by approximately 78% by 2050. Giving responsibilities to those large-scale industries that deal with the renewal of heat The UK government has also introduced a course that deals with training of the low carbon technologies in the universities to get as many skilled workforces as possible (Banerjee & Chakrabarti, 2013, p.13). Ensuring that sustainable development is achieved Sustainability is described as the act of ensuring that resources are not consumed at a fast rate as compared to their rate of production. It is also described as the act of not causing an environmental pollution in a way that it will not reversed. In order to achieve the aims of sustainable development, the following factors need to be put into consideration: The construction of CO2 needs to be reduced This will be a major task for the UK construction industry. This process involves focusing on the design, building, utilization, as well as the destruction of a given building or a particular infrastructure. Carbon is produced from the mining of raw materials (Powell & Craighill, 1999, p.23). It is also produced from the process of manufacturing and the distribution of the materials used for building by the contractors. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the main contractor to supervise the construction process. The following measures can be taken to ensure a reduced level of CO2 construction (Schaltegger, Bennett & Burritt, 2006, p. 51): The process of selecting the required raw materials should be evaluated carefully The main contractor is supposed to examine the source of the raw materials. The aspect of emissions should be made inclusive during the construction phase. Ensure the proper utilization of all the constructed building as well as the infrastructure. With these factors in place, then the construction industry will be able to ensure that level of CO2 construction has been made as minimal as possible (HM Government, 2013, p. 34). Employing renewable methods The industry of construction is considered as one of the main sources of pollution. With the renewable methods in place, they are going to ensure that pollution is minimized. As compared to other industries, this industry is seen to cause a major pollution to the environment. It is associated with approximately 4% of the carbon emission, water pollution, as well as noise pollution (NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL (U.S.).2011, p.46). In industry, causes air pollution through the demolitions of buildings, burning material substances that are toxic as they release the toxic air into the air without treating it, the clearing of land, among others (INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON SUSTAINABILITY IN ENERGY AND BUILDINGS, & Håkansson, 2013, p. 38). There is also the issue of the dust, which is produced because of construction. When human beings inhale this dust, it causes adverse effects on the breathing system. To curb this issue of pollution, a good construction practice, which in this case is the use of the renewable methods of construction, should be adopted (CONSTRUCTION RESEARCH CONGRESS, Molenaar & Chinowsky, 2004, p.40). For instance, the dust from construction should be controlled by putting a fine mesh on the source of the dust to screen the dust. In addition, non-toxic substance should be used in the industry to ensure that the emission from the industry is none toxic. The use of some renewable methods, for example, the solar energy can help in reducing the expenses incurred in the industry (Voigt, 2013, p. 16). The solar energy can be used to generate the industry’s electricity. This will help the industry to save on the expenses of electricity since they will depend on the solar energy (INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ENVIRONMENTAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACT ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, INCORPORATING ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS, TOXICOLOGY AND BROWNFIELDS, BREBBIA, & Chon, 2012, p. 42). This is also a reliable source of energy, therefore, it will give the industry the guarantee of having electricity, and hence they will not be required to purchase generators because of a power blackout. However, the solar energy will not applicable during the cold seasons or the rainy seasons (Osullivan, P. E., 1988, p. 24). The Green construction method Green technology is the term that is used to refer to those industries that make use of technologies that does no harm to the environment, and most especially, the effect the technologies pose on the health of the human beings (Preece, 2012, p. 23). In this technology, the raw materials that are used are the materials that are new and sophisticated. The materials are mainly the different types of metals (NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL (U.S.), 2006, p. 46). This technology can be used by the construction industry to achieve a sustainable growth by making sure that all the products are designed in such a way that they: Reduce the wastage to materials In the event that the product becomes exhausted with time, the product can be recycled and reused. Most countries have employed the aspect of recycling and reusing of products in effort to achieve a sustainable environment (Morledge & Smith, 2013, p. 32). The industry should ensure that the resources are not wasted. It should also make an effort of building products that can be recycled and reused after being worn out. The reduction of energy wastage This issue can be solved by ensuring that the construction company makes use of energy that is renewable. This is the type of energy that can easily be refilled, for instance, solar energy, which is from the sun, wind energy, among others (Yu, 2010, p.23). This category of energy is not depleted even after being utilized severally. When the company adopts the re-use of resources, it also saves on money. The company should follow the following steps in order to handle the issue of wastage of energy (Muhaisen, & Ahlbäck, 2012, p. 37): Carefully examine how the company’s buildings promotes the wastage of energy The industry should adopt the use of equipment that are energy saving The industry’s equipment should be maintained constantly for high level of efficiency The bulbs used for lighting the company should be energy saving The wastage of water should be minimized All the employees working for the industry should be informed on the importance of saving energy so that they can also take up the responsibility of ensuring that they do not waste the resources. The construction of a material responsible for recycling In most cases, the waste from the construction industries is usually dumped at those areas that are not yet constructed (INTERNATIONAL FAIM CONFERENCE, & Azevedo, 2013, p.23). This waste can sometimes lead to water or even soil pollution in the area. Some of those wastes can directly be recycled, while others will need to undergo processing for them to be re-used (Edwards, 2013, p.21). Therefore, it is the responsibility of the UK construction industry to ensure that it has in place the proper machines that are needed to recycle the waste products (Glicksman, & Lin, 2006, p. 19). This will not only help in the conservation of the environment, it will also ensure that the industry gets to save on money that could have been used to purchase the products. This will also create jobs for some people who will be working in the recycling department. This creation of job will facilitate the growth of the UK economy as a whole, because it means that the government will have increment in the level of tax that they will receive in a monthly basis (Bunting, 2013, p. 15). This tax will help in improving the economy. This act will encourage the recycling of other materials in UK. This will ensure that the development of a sustainable environment is achieved with ease. When the UK industries learn the importance of recycling some of their waste products and they engage in the activity, then the development of a sustainable environment will not be such a hard task (Fewings, 2013, p. 13). It will be achieved within a short time and with less effort. Therefore, the UK government should encourage the recycling of the waste products, not only for the construction company, but also for all the UK companies (Hunter and Boyd, 2011, p.11). The following are statistics carried out by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in 2012 The global built environment is responsible for: Green buildings can deliver: 30-40% of global energy consumption 30-50% reduction in energy use 30% of greenhouse gas emissions 35% decrease in carbon emissions 3 billion tonnes of raw materials used annually 70% decrease in waste output 20% of global water usage 40% reduction in water usage Conclusion: The transition to a low carbon economy will provide many opportunities for the construction industry. It will also ensure that the industry has as minimal pollution impacts on the environment, as well as the surrounding human beings. This transition will also provide job opportunities for many people (Ellingham and Fawcett, 2013, p.14). This will have a positive impact on the economy of the country. It will also improve the living standard to the citizens. The through the transition, the development of a sustainable environment will be easily achieved since it will mitigate the level of pollution in the country. By achieving a sustainable environment, it implies that the industry will make use of renewable methods, for instance the use of solar energy. This will enable the industry to reduce on the amount of capital that they utilize in their electricity. The capital can be used in other development projects. With the solar energy, the industry can be assured of a reliable source of electricity. The level of global warming will be reduced drastically by the transition to a low carbon economy. This will lead to low risks of getting some health complications, for instance, skin cancer. The transition is of a get advantage to both the industry as well as the construction company. Engaging in the transition will ensure that the emission of carbon is reduced by around 80% by 2050 as approximated by the UK government (Stoner, Wankel, & Malleck, 2008, p. 36). With dedication and a workforce that is appropriately skilled toward the project, the reduction will be attainable. The country can also encourage the other nations to join in the project to ensure that each nation is transformed to a low carbon economy. The construction industries should be taught the importance of having an economy that produces low carbon. References HM Government (2013) Industrial Strategy: government and industry in partnership Construction 2025, Crown Copyright. Baeli, M. (2013) Residential retrofit : 20 case studies, RIBA Publishing. Edwards, B (2013) Rough guide to sustainability. A design primer, 3rd Edition. RIBA Publishing. Hunter, L. and Boyd, C. (2011) Climate capitalism : capitalism in the age of climate change. New York : Hill and Wang. Ellingham, I. and Fawcett, W. 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