McCormack, M; Treloar, G J; Palmowski, L and Crawford, R (2007) Modelling direct and indirect water requirements of construction. Building Research & Information, 35(2), pp. 156-162. ISSN 0961-3218
Abstract
Water consumed directly by the construction industry is known to be of little importance. However, water consumed in the manufacture of goods and services required by construction may be significant in the context of a building's life cycle water requirements and the national water budget. This paper evaluates the significance of water embodied in the construction of individual buildings. To do this, an input-output-based hybrid embodied water analysis was undertaken on 17 Australian non-residential case studies. It was found that there is a considerable amount of water embodied in construction. The highest value was 20.1 kilolitres (kL)/m2 gross floor area (GFA), representing many times the enclosed volume of the building, and many years worth of operational water. The water required by the main construction process is minimal. However, the water embodied in building materials is considerable. These findings suggest that the selection of elements and materials has a great impact on a building's embodied water. This research allows the construction industry to evaluate design and construction in broad environmental terms to select options that might be cost neutral or possibly cost positive while retaining their environmental integrity. The research suggests policies focused on operational water consumption alone are inadequate.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Australia; construction; embodied water; environmental impacts; key indicators; water; water consumption |
| Index terms: | case study, Australia, gross floor area, integrity, life cycle, environmental impact, building material, design and construction, construction process, option, key indicator, construction industry, water consumption, modelling |
| Subjects: | analytical methods, project delivery, contractual arrangements, building materials, environmental resource management, value management, environmental impact, data collection methods, industry analysis, decision analysis, building construction, building performance, health safety and environment, Geography |
| Topics: | Site Management, Design Practice, Procurement, Sustainability, Risk Management, Geographical Context, Project Management, Research Practice, Engineering Principles, Health and Safety |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTE |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here