Ensu 2P02 Environmental Sustainability In Assessment Answer

There are plenty of factors we have to consider before making the selection of materials to be used in the building. The distance of the production place of material from the site of use in order to control the carbon emissions (Dave 2015). The lesser the distance, lesser will be carbon emissions of this material. The production of selected material should use the less raw material in the process of production in order to ensure controlled emissions of carbon. The production process of the selected material should be simple, as the complex process will consume more energy and hence more carbon emissions. In order to minimize the emissions of carbon and to control the production process, the wastage of materials during construction should also be minimum (Barnett 2017).

There are other considerations that ought to be made in the process; the material selected can be recycled, as it will reduce the energy consumption as compared to producing the material from scratch (Hawken 2017). The material selected should be from a renewable energy source as it will lower the energy consumption hence lower emissions. The material used should be energy efficient as well so it can add to the energy rating of the building.

Innovative construction process

When considering innovation, we refer to the process by which new ideas are used and evaluated in order to create new values in the construction process. In this case, the innovation is more focused on zero carbon design technology. In this case, different elements may be used to facilitate the innovation process in the construction process but in the focus of zero carbon design technologies; we are going to focus on strategy and delivery (Zhang 2018). The different strategies having been used to enhance environmental conditions are well evolved and are a major key to sustainable development in the construction process. The innovation process with respect to zero carbon in the construction process seems to be evolving every day due to the endless environmental changes which need to be taken care of in order to enhance a sustainable economic development (Naar 2016).

Innovation takes new and different impacts on the construction process. The zero carbon design technology is one that serves to the advantage of the global economy in terms of the reduced costs in the construction industry. This is because many construction materials that are carbon-free are made from the process of recycling (Naar 2016).

Management of operative energy consumption and consumption behavior

During construction, the operative energy that is consumed when using zero carbon construction material is less as compared to other materials. This is because the zero carbon materials have already undergone part of the process and the fact that the emissions associated with the construction with carbon materials are too much in the environmental pollution (Zhou 2015). The energy consumption in the process of construction is quite impressive when it comes to using zero carbon materials in the process of construction. The presence of carbon in the construction materials makes the process of combustion difficult and also long. The breakdown of carbon results in the high consumption energy in the process thus making the use of zero carbon materials in the construction process more economical (Atmaca 2015).

Choice of renewable energy systems

Considering the fact that building and construction activities are overloading the atmosphere with carbon emissions which leads to global warming, there needs to be a specific strategy of choosing the best renewable energy systems (Twidell 2015). From each stage of technology in the renewable energy system, there is a specific life cycle of the emissions of clean energy (Ellabban 2014). Low/ zero carbon in the construction controls the challenges that are as a result of air and water pollution due to uncontrolled carbon emissions in the environment. Some of the major problems associated with carbon emissions in the environment include heart attacks, neurological damage, and cancer among others.

When it comes to the consideration of choice of renewable energy, we consider the affectivity of the renewable system in terms of the carbon emissions. There are different systems that can be used in renewable energy, but some of the will include the emissions of carbon which is not environmental friendly. Biomass is one system of renewable energy that involves the emission of biomass in the environment. It, therefore, contributes to a high percentage of environmental pollution. There are other renewable energy systems that are less hazardous to the atmosphere which includes wind power, solar, and geothermal (Giesekam 2016).

Recycle and reuse

There are new methods that are being adopted by manufacturers in order to avoid carbon footprints. One of the methods used to reduce the emissions of carbon is the use of algae which absorbs the carbon emissions. The process of recycling also reduces the use of carbon materials of construction. When recycling materials such as metal, wood, and plastic, the process does not involve any emission of carbon (Keohane 2015).

The construction process involves different stages of technology in line with the construction process. According to the report provide by the national science foundation through a workshop that they sponsored, the process of reducing the emissions of carbon in the atmosphere is very important in controlling the health problems that are related to the carbon emissions. Recycling of carbon seems to be very effective in building and construction management (Hawken 2017).

Feasibility and challenges of implementing redesigned homes and how to overcome them

The process evaluation in relation to low/ zero carbon construction materials in the construction industry is one that is vital in order to ensure sustainable environmental control. There needs to be feasibility and transferability of practice in order to ensure successful process in the construction process. Feasibility ensures that all the possible options are put into considerations in redesigned homes in order to ensure low/ zero carbon emission in the construction process (Dave 2015). In the redesigned homes, there are some elements that ought to be considered in the process of construction in favor of low/ zero carbon emission. The elements include the possible alternatives in the process of implementing the redesigned homes, the human and economic factor that are going to be involved in the implementing process, the part and type of implementation being worked on, and lastly the description of the implementation and all the possible implications that ought to be done in the process (O’Malley 2017).

On the implementation process regarding the redesigned homes, there are a number of challenges that exist. One of the most common challenges in this process is the process of moving from integrated strategies to the operational action plan. This exists because the evaluation is done at a different time with the time of plan evaluation and strategic actions thus some things never remain constant and are subject to change during the process. This makes all the variables of implementation to delay the process for further integration and evaluation in order to enhance feasibility in the construction management process (Barnett 2017). Another challenge is setting up efficient indicators and systems that are responsible for measuring the performance of the system implementation (Dave 2015). The systems set or the indicators of the performance may not be effective due to variable conditions in the implementation process in relation to carbon emission in the environment. When it comes to implementation, sharing experience is one important action to take. This helps the implementers to base their orientation on the previously taken actions. In the process of construction especially in the redesigned homes implementation, there are different challenges one of them being the inappropriate documentation of different strategies which are not generally applicable due to policies involved in the process (Fossey 2016).

In order to overcome the above-mentioned challenges among others, some critical evaluation needs to be done. An overview should be done from the plan of the implementation process to the finalization of the implementation process considering all the possible changes that may apply and at what cost (Ukoje 2017). In construction management when we talk about cost, we not only refer to the cost involved in making the process successful as a monetary cost but also as an environmental cost which in this case we consider to be the emission of carbon. In order to make the implementation process of the redesigned homes, there needs to be an overview of the process of implementation. On the other hand, the need for change management should not be underestimated at any cost (Ciribini 2016).

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