Evaluation Of Innovative Techniques for Sustainable Construction Practices in The Philippines: A Comparative Study of Coal and Municipal Waste Beneficiation Methods

Abstract

Over the years, the term sustainability has made significant importance towards global development. It is a key aspect to ensuring the achievement of progress without compromising the resources for future generations. It has been a common notion that sustainability only deals with the environmental threat of doing things but as the United Nations puts it, it also includes the social and economic aspects.   The construction industry is known to be one of the industry sources of global carbon emission and worldwide energy uses. A transformative shift to sustainable construction has been adapted globally to combat these adversities. Sustainable construction is defined as the usage of sustainable methods such as utilizing recyclable and renewable materials in construction projects that lowers energy usage and harmful waste production. This paper aims to discuss a comparative analysis of the coal and municipal waste beneficiation techniques used for sustainable construction practices in the Philippines and the effect of using these upcycled and alternative materials in terms of embodied energy and carbon emission to the construction of a typical Philippine 49 square meter residential unit. The results showed that there is a significant reduction in carbon emission and embodied energy using sustainable materials as opposed to conventional ones. Using concrete with 30% fly ash replacement versus Average CEM I Portland Cement, 94% Clinker alone can reduce the embodied energy and carbon emission to 98% and 94%, respectively.