Environmental Impacts & Policies

Environmental Impacts and Policies of Building Sector

[Name of the Institute]

Abstract

This research report focuses on the environmental impacts of the sector of buildings. Buildings emit carbon dioxide gas, generate waste products in enormous amounts and cause air pollution indoors. In this way, they cause threats to environment. In order to deal with these threats, policies have been formulated. The policies are discussed in this report along with an emphasis on the significance of stability of these policies.Contents

Introduction2

Environmental Impacts of the Building Sector2

Energy Use and Carbon dioxide Emissions3

Waste Generation4

Indoor Air Environment5

Environmental Policies for Building Sector6

Policies for reducing Carbon dioxide emissions from buildings6

Policy for minimizing C&DW8

Stability in Policies9

Conclusion9

References11

Appendix13

Environmental Impacts and Policies of Building Sector

Introduction

Sustainability is an issue that holds great significance for the sector of building and society. Environmental concern with respect to construction, operations and demolition of buildings is a rising topic these days. Sustainable buildings reduce the harmful impacts of the buildings and their constructions on the environment. This report discusses the environmental impact of the sector of building and the environmental policies regarding it. Buildings cause enormous emissions of carbon dioxide gas. Besides that, buildings generate large amounts of wastes during their construction and demolition process. Another important aspect is the air pollution that these buildings cause indoors. These factors cause serious problems to the environment. They need to be dealt with in a professional ways. The policies discussed in this report need to be properly implemented in order to minimize the environmental effects of these buildings.

Environmental Impacts of the Building Sector

The building sector of a country is one of the major sources of economy. While building development offers uncountable advantages to the society, they also carry enormous health and environmental impacts with them. The impact of the building sector is not just limited to the economic sphere; it also has a great effect on material and energy use, as well as on the health of human beings. Enhancing buildings` and their activities` environmental performance can play a part in minimizing the environmental impact of the sector. One of the several causes for the threatened environment is the enormous mass flow. Above 50% of material resources extracted from nature are related to building (http://www-cenerg.ensmp.fr, p. 1). Besides that, above 50% of total waste production is due to the sector of building. Buildings cause 40% of the total energy consumption of the world. Buildings are responsible for 24% of Carbon dioxide emissions of the world (Noailly, 2012, p. 795). Due to this, bringing improvement in the energy efficiency of buildings is becoming the topmost priority on the policy agendas of various countries and of the international community.

Energy Use and Carbon dioxide Emissions

In the operation of buildings, an enormous amount of energy is utilized. The sector of building accounts for around 25 to 40% of the total consumption of energy in majority of the countries (Khasreen et.al, 2009, p. 675). Energy consumption by the building sector has vastly increased in the past couple of ...