Energy-efficient materials: Route to sustainability in green buildings

Over exploitation of land, water, air and energy resources, as part of the urbanization and industrialization has forced the imbalance of the natural ecosystem. Millions of tonnes of various industrial wastes accumulated at different sites due to rapid industrialization cause severe damage to environment. Further, demolition wastes from constructed facilities also generate huge amount of wastes which include sand, gravel, concrete, stone, bricks etc, in India. Recycling of aggregate materials from construction and demolition waste and use of industrial wastes for production of useful building materials can fill part of the demand supply gap. This paper focuses the approach of recycle and reuse, wealth out of waste, for appropriate use of waste in the manufacture of building materials and how the industrial wastes like fly ash (from thermal power stations), blast furnace slag (from iron industry) and stone dust (from construction industry), rubber chips (tyre wastes) can be used in a passive way to the construction activity. This paper also presents zero energy approaches like, stabilized mud block for masonry, rammed earth wall, low intensity floor and roofing systems, construction and demolition waste as aggregate in concrete (recycled aggregate) to emphasis the green energy concept that can be adopted in construction industry and to overcome the energy crisis, a country like India is facing presently and forecast in the coming decade.