Sustainable engineering

Book asserts that technological innovation is key for the sector to become sustainable.

By Fábio de Castro

Agência FAPESP – Technological innovation is essential in order for the civil construction sector to contribute to a more sustainable society. This is one of the main conclusions of the book The Challenge of Sustainability in Civil Construction (Desafio da Sustentabilidade na Construção Civil), which was released on August 4, 2011 in São Paulo.

Discussing sustainable development in civil construction from the purview of the   production chain is the main objective of the book penned by Vahan Agopyan and Vanderley John, both professors at Universidade de São Paulo’s (USP) Polytechnic School.

The book is volume 5 in the Sustainability Series edited by José Goldemberg of USP’s Electrotechnic and Energy Institute, which will be launched at the 4th Brazilian Symposium on Sustainable Construction, promoted by the Brazil Council on Sustainable Construction.

According to Agopyan, the book systemizes knowledge collected over more than a decade of research and debates on the topic. The work began in an international congress held in 1998 by the International Construction Council, in which the author is a member. 

Sustainable construction is one of the Council’s banner issues and during the event, it elaborated the premise of Agenda 21 for this area. On the occasion, Agopyan and John invited the council’s main representatives to participate in the first Sustainable Construction congress in Brazil held in 2000.

“Later, we participated in a work group that adapted the Agenda 21 for Sustainable Construction to suit developing countries, including researchers from China, India and South Africa. Now, with the book, we had the opportunity to systemize everything that has been worked on in the last ten years in the area,” Agopyan told Agência FAPESP.

The book seeks to explore topics related to sustainable building that still have not been discussed sufficiently by the scientific community, foregoing a focus on energy and water, which are well-explored.

“We expect to outline a history of concepts and the global and Brazilian sustainable building movement, bringing up subjects that are outside the conventional agenda, like the relationship between civil construction and climate change, the issues of durability, interdisciplinarity and informality as related to sustainability,” says Agopyan, who is Provost of Post-Graduate Studies at USP and member of FAPESP’s board of trustees.

In every chapter, the authors highlight opportunities for innovation related to each of the challenges for sustainable building. “Innovation is one of the essential tools and attaining sustainability in civil construction is impossible without it,” he affirms.

One of the topics dealt with is “green buildings” and the list of solutions and green materials that are frequently seen as a panacea to resolve any and all problems. The authors seek to demystify the topic.

“We sought a more complex and systemic approach to the technological and political challenges involving green building. We tried to discuss the correct use of certifications, showing that they are not a panacea, but rather an important tool that should be discussed in depth,” Agopyan.

The books covers the topics of materials and components, highlighting the limits of lists and recommendations of green materials, conducting a systemic analysis of the sector with the objective of identifying the real problems, the demands from sectoral policies and opportunities for innovation.

“We also focused on tools and multidimensional metrics, both in simplified analysis of the life cycle to facilitate quantification of environmental impacts and social impacts,” explains the author.

Climatic impacts

According to Agopyan, civil construction  has a major impact on climate change due to the large volume of materials that the sector consumes and interference of these activities in the environment. The authors approached this topic from a regional perspective.

“We underscore that countries like Brazil should not be married to international models on the climatic impacts of civil construction. Our case is different when it comes to carbon dioxide emissions. Unlike Europe, for example, where these emissions are predominantly linked to the use of buildings, in Brazil these emissions are more often linked to the production of new buildings because of the overheated market. For this reason, the common fads in the sustainable construction area are not really applicable in the country,” he adds.

One of the focuses of The Challenge of Sustainability in Civil Construction is the issue related to informality and social sustainability.

“Informality is a critical question in the civil construction sector, both in relation to material acquisition and do-it-yourself constructions. This informality is one of the main bottlenecks for sustainable construction because it makes us move away from the precepts on sustainable development,” says Agopyan.

The Poli-USP professor says that the book is for the general public. “Civil engineers and architects are naturally the preferred audience, but we try to avoid technical jargon and adopt language that is understandable for the diverse actors involved with the topic, like investors and developers,” he said.

The book was launched during the 4th Brazilian Symposium Brazilian Symposium on Sustainable Construction on August 4 at the World Trade Convention Center in São Paulo.

Desafio da Sustentabilidade na Construção Civil
Authors: Vahan Agopyan and Vanderley John
Release: 2011
Price: R$ 35.90
Pages: 144
More information at: www.blucher.com.br