A multi-criteria approach for CO2 reduction through climate-friendly material selection: Housing construction in the Volta Basin, Ghana

• Published in: Natural Resources, Socio-Ecological Sensitivity and Climate Change in the Volta-Oti Basin, West Africa pp. 39 - 59
• Main Author: Sarpong-Nsia, G.
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: United Kingdom CRC Press 2021; Taylor & Francis Group
• Edition: 1
• Subjects: Housing Construction Industry; Life Style; Multi-Criteria Decision Process; Recycled Building Materials; Combretum Glutinosum; Analysed Decision Factors; Pairwise Comparisons; Earthen Wall; AHP; Ivory Coast; Multi-criteria Decision Support System; Material Compatibility; Pair-wise Comparison; Potential Climate Change Impact; Environmental Building Assessment Method; Carbon Dioxide Emissions; UK Building Regulation; African Development Bank; Environmental Issues; Material Selection Process; Holistic Assessment Tool; SRTM; Material Selection
• ISBN: 9780367618223; 0367618214; 9780367618216; 0367618222
• DOI: 10.1201/9781003106708-04

Drawing on the concept of Sustainability in Environmental Development (SED), building stock makes a significant contribution to CO2 emissions. The feasibility of SED lies in rethinking Locally Sourced and Recycled Building Materials (LSRBMs) selection decision making, in bringing cultural issues to the attention of civil engineers and designers in mainstream housing development, towards the wider use of Recycled Laminated Wood Flooring (RLWF) which is 55%, in CO2 emission, as good as Fly Ash Cement Concrete Floor Slab (FACCFS). Decisions involve sociocultural factors need to be traded off. To do that, they have to be measured alongside sustainability principle indicators impacting the selection of building materials whose measurements must also be evaluated as to, how well, they serve the selection of LSRBM with the least CO2 emissions. The analytical hierarchy process is a concept of measurement through pairwise comparisons to derive priority scales. These scales measure intangibles in relative terms. This explained a 15.9% cut back in CO2 emissions for selecting Bamboo XL Laminated Split Paneled Flooring (BXLLSPF) instead of selecting FACCFS, the lack of informed knowledge in the wider use of BXLLSPF and RSLWF and in the Ghanaian context towards climate change mitigation in the countries situated in the Volta Basin. Rapid population growth and industrialization throughout the world together with increasing living standards have turned the creation of the built environment into a rising peril to the natural environment. A multi-criteria decision support system for quantitative cost analysis proposed by Mahmoud et al. provides information to aid the designer with material decision-making. However, no specific information on the methodology for evaluating such materials is given. Comprehensive Environmental Performance Assessment Scheme for Buildings is a holistic assessment tool for various building types with clear demarcation of the entire building life cycle that covers the pre-design, design, construction, demolition and operation stages. It employs an additive/weighting approach, which introduces and organizes performance criteria make a clear distinction between "human" and "physical" performance issues as well as "building" and their "surroundings. Carbon dioxide emission in the construction industry is very noticeable. This rate can be measured and quantified, both in energetic terms and in terms of carbon emissions.