Essay on Sustainability of Buildings

Environmental sustainability plays an integral role in the far-reaching construction industry. Besides the imperative significance of building maintenance in these realms, there is an additional problem; the environmental effects of a building's lifecycle. In these regards, life cycle assessment (LCA) mirrors the outset of sustainability. Furthermore, extensive research depicts the primary objective of sustainable building as the reduction of the building impacts on the environment throughout the building's lifecycle. The decline of these effects can be achieved through the utilization of efficient environmental technologies. Subsequently, this research endeavor uses an integrated method based on LCA and Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) to explore alternatives and identify the best and most sustainable building alternative.

Today, in light of the heightened globalization and dynamic innovations the modern global challenges necessitate multi-criteria and multi-faceted approaches. Globalization and efficiently turning the world into an environmentally and economically sustainable place seems to be the order of the day CITATION MJa08 \l 1033 (Jarrar & Zoabi, 2008). Moreover, buildings have coordinate environmental effects, extending from the utilization of the underlying raw materials to the exploitation of natural resources, and ultimately the release of hazardous substances CITATION NWa10 \l 1033 (Wang, Chang, & Nunn, 2010). As such the construction of the building should take into account the environmental and economic impacts encompassed in the design and development processes.

In scientific literature, MCDA methods have turned out to be progressively well known in significant planning for sustainable energy. The use of MCDA methods is bolstered by the multi-dimensionality of the sustenance objective and the intricacy of financial and biophysical frameworks. Feasible planning of sustainable buildings, therefore, necessitates the consideration of the essential plan parameters keeping in mind the end goal to all the more productively create substitute design arrangements or reach advanced design measures CITATION Mil11 \l 1033 (Medineckiene & Turskis, 2011). Also, a choice conferencing offers a pragmatic way to deal with sustainable improvement plans in light of a multi-criteria display. The coordinated model is exhibited and connected to a feasible advancement planning exercise in an underdeveloped nation. The outcomes demonstrate that various ecological factors are sensitive to the ultimate result. The planners, therefore, must recognize these parameters and accord careful consideration, paving the way for plausible and sustainable building plans.

Be that as it may, the application of these methods and their efficiency in real-life contexts is subject to possible barriers. These political, economic, and social obstacles are likely to limit the particular implementation solutions that these methods are primarily intended to achieve. Diverse political structures are bound to define the implementation solutions of various methods in light of the underlying construction and regulations. For instance, the construction industry in the European Union is prone to direct influence from Construction Products Regulation (CPR) which regulates all the member states. In these regards, such policies could contain administrative barriers hence hindering implementation in real-life contexts. Another possible limitation is economic or market barriers. In some regions, there are market limitations that prevent the implementation of solutions that promote efficient energy consumption. Principal among these market factors includes but are not limited to market cap regulations, cost-oriented policies, fiscal policies, and financial objectives. Some of these systems and decisions are geared towards achieving different political and market goals at the expense of environmental sustainability hence limiting the efficiency of sustainability methods.

In conclusion, environmental sustainability is a multi-faceted and complex concept that necessitated a combination of relevant methods. Theoretically, life cycle analysis and multi-criteria decision analysis tools can be used to evaluate the problems of environmental sustainability such as those depicted in the sustainability of buildings. However, the efficiency of these solutions and methods is subject to various market and political limitations such as regulations, fiscal policies.

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY Jarrar, M., & Zoabi, A. Y. (2008). The applicability of sustainable city paradigm to the city of Jerusalem: Criteria and indicators of efficiency. Building and Environment, 550-557.

Medineckiene, M., & Turskis, Z. (2011). Life-Cycle Analysis of a Sustainable Building. Environmental Engineering, 957-960.

Wang, N., Chang, Y., & Nunn. (2010). Lifecycle assessment for sustainable design options of a commercial building in Shanghai. Building and Environment, 1415-142.