SUSTAINABLE ARCHITECTURE

Materials and Resources - V

DR AVLOKITA AGRAWAL
DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE AND PLANNING

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Rapidly Renewable Materials

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 Rapidly Renewable Materials
• Rapidly renewable building materials and
products are made from agricultural
products that are typically harvested
within a 10-year or shorter cycle.
• That includes bio-based products made
from plants harvested on a 10-year (or
shorter) cycle.
• The goal of using rapidly renewable
content is to reduce the number and
quantity of products made from fossil-
fuel derivatives.

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 Rapidly Renewable Materials
• These materials are often used in green
building products, bamboo flooring and
plywood,
– cotton batt insulation,
– linoleum flooring,
– sunflower seed board panels,
– wheat-board cabinetry,
– wool carpeting,
– cork flooring,
– bio-based paints,
– geotextile fabrics such as coir and jute,
– straw bales.

Eucalyptus Flooring

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 Environmental Issues
• Many conventional building materials require large inputs of land,
natural resources, capital, and time to produce.
• Conversely, rapidly renewable materials generally require fewer of these
inputs and are likely to have fewer environmental impacts.
• Rapidly renewable resources are replenished faster than traditional
materials—they are planted and harvested in a cycle of 10 years or less.
• Sourcing rapidly renewable materials reduces the use of raw materials
whose extraction and processing have greater environmental impacts.
• A common example is the use of agricultural fiber such as wheat in
composite panels as a substitute for wood products, reducing the overall
consumption of wood.

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 Environmental Issues
• Irresponsible forestry practices cause ecosystem and habitat destruction, soil
erosion, and stream sedimentation
• Replacing wood products with rapidly renewable resources reduces a product’s
overall environmental impact.
• Because of their intensive production and shorter growing cycles, rapidly
renewable crops also require significantly less land to produce the same amount of
end product; some are by-products that are otherwise considered waste.
• Bio-based plastics (e.g., from corn starch) and other rapidly renewable resources
are beginning to provide alternatives to some petroleum-based plastics.
• Many products made from rapidly renewable materials have interesting visual
qualities.

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 Economic Issues
• Land saved by the use of rapidly renewable
materials will be available for a variety of
other uses, including open space and food
crops Because rapidly renewable resources
can be harvested more quickly, they tend to
give faster payback on investment for
producers.
• Although rapidly renewable materials can
carry a price premium over their
conventional counterparts, as demand
increases, they are expected to become cost-
competitive with conventional materials.

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 Compliance criteria
• To reduce the use and
depletion of finite raw
materials and long-cycle
renewable materials by
replacing them with rapidly
renewable materials.

• Use rapidly renewable

building materials and
products for 2.5% of the total
value of all building materials
and products used in the
project, based on cost.
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Rapidly Renewable Materials - Process
• Establish a project goal for rapidly
renewable materials, and identify
products and suppliers that can
support achievement of this goal.
• Consider materials such as bamboo,
wool, cotton insulation, agrifiber,
linoleum, wheatboard, strawboard
and cork.
• During construction, ensure that the Wood made of Bamboo

specified renewable materials are

installed.

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 Timeline and Team
• Run preliminary calculations during the early design phase, as soon
as a project budget is available, to determine the feasibility of
achieving this credit and identify the quantity of material (by cost)
that must be purchased to meet the 2.5% threshold.
• Research the availability and cost of rapidly renewable materials.
• The architect should specify these materials.
• During construction, the general contractor should ensure that the
specified rapidly renewable materials are properly installed and
collect product documentation from manufacturers to give to the
project team.

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 Calculations

• Assembly Rapidly Renewable Content

• Assemblies are products made of multiple materials, either in their formulation
(e.g., particle board), or in their manufacture (e.g., workstation components). For
assembly rapidly renewable content, the fraction of the assembly that is
considered rapidly renewable is determined by weight. That fraction is then
applied to the materials cost to determine the rapidly renewable materials cost for
that assembly.

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 Calculations
Example: Sample Calculations for Rapidly Renewable Material
• The total construction cost for a
school building is ` 60,00,000.
Using the default materials
calculations, the total cost of
materials (excluding labor and
equipment) is ` 60,00,000 x 0.45 =
` 27,00,000.
• In this example, the total
percentage of rapidly renewable
content to total cost of all
materials is 4.86%.

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 Operations and Maintenance Considerations
• Some rapidly renewable materials may require different
maintenance practices.
– For example, bamboo and cork generally should not be exposed to
excessive moisture from damp mopping and other common janitorial
or maintenance activities.
• When sourcing rapidly renewable products, request maintenance
recommendations from the manufacturer and give this information
to the operations team.
• The duplication, replacement, and repair of rapidly renewable
materials will be easier if information about the installed products
has been maintained.

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Certified Wood

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 Terms and Definitions
• Chain-of-custody (COC) is a tracking procedure for a product from the point of harvest or extraction
to its end use, including all successive stages of processing, transformation, manufacturing, and
distribution.

• Chain-of-custody certification is awarded to companies that produce, sell, promote, or trade forest
products after audits verify proper accounting of material flows and proper use of the Forest
Stewardship Council name and logo. The COC certificate number is listed on invoices for non-
labeled products to document that an entity has followed FSC guidelines for product accounting.

• Sustainable forestry is the practice of managing forest resources to meet the long-term forest
product needs of humans while maintaining the biodiversity of forested landscapes. The primary
goal is to restore, enhance, and sustain a full range of forest values, including economic, social, and
ecological considerations.

• A vendor of certified wood is the company that supplies wood products to contractors or
subcontractors for on-site installation. A vendor needs a chain-of-custody number if it is selling FSC-
certified products that are not individually labelled; this includes most lumber.

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 Compliance Criteria
• To encourage environmentally responsible
forest management.

• Use a minimum of 50% (based on cost) of

wood-based materials and products that are
certified in accordance with the Forest
Stewardship Council’s principles and criteria,
for wood building components. These
components include at a minimum,
structural framing and general dimensional
framing, flooring, sub-flooring, wood doors
and finishes.

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 Environmental Issues
• The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)
standard incorporates many criteria that
contribute to the long-term health and
integrity of forest ecosystems.
• From an environmental perspective, the
elements of responsible FSC-certified
forestry include sustainable timber
harvesting preserving wildlife habitat
and biodiversity, maintaining soil and
water quality, minimizing the use of
harmful chemicals, and conserving
forests of high conservation value (e.g.,
endangered and old-growth forests).

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 Economic Issues
• As more developing countries enter world forest product markets and their growing economies
drive domestic consumption, the protection of forests will become a critical issue.
• Currently, the costs of FSC-certified wood products are generally higher than conventional wood
products, and availability varies by region.
• The price of FSC-certified wood products is expected to become more competitive with
conventional wood products as the forest industry adopts more sustainable business principles.
• Because irresponsible logging practices can have harmful social as well as environmental impacts,
the socioeconomic and political components of FSC certification include respecting indigenous
people’s rights and adhering to all applicable laws and treaties.
• Certification also involves forest workers and forest-dependent communities as stakeholders and
beneficiaries of responsible forest management.
• Responsible forest practices help stabilize economies and preserve forestland for future
generations.

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 FSC Certification
• FSC also accredits and monitors certification organisations. The certifiers
are independent, third-party auditors that are qualified to annually
evaluate compliance with FSC standards on the ground and to award
certifications. There are 2 types of certification:
– Forest management certification is awarded to responsible forest managers
after their operations successfully complete audits of forestry practices and
plans.
– Chain-of-custody (COC) certification is awarded to companies that process,
manufacture, and/or sell products made of certified wood and who
successfully complete audits to ensure proper use of the FSC name and logo;
segregation of certified and noncertified materials in manufacturing and
distribution systems; and observation of other relevant FSC rules

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 Calculations
• List all new wood products (not reclaimed, salvaged, or recycled) on the project
and identify which components are FSC certified.
• The cost of all new wood products, both FSC certified and not, must be tallied.
• Develop a spreadsheet to calculate the amount of new wood and the amount of
FSC-certified wood permanently installed on the project.
• Wood products that are not FSC certified and those that are identified on invoices
as FSC Pure and FSC Mixed Credit should be valued at 100% of the product cost.
• Wood products identified as FSC Mixed (NN)% should be valued at the indicated
percentage of their cost, For example, a product identified as FSC Mixed 75%
should be valued at 75% of the cost.

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 Assemblies
• In the case of manufactured products, such as windows and furniture systems that combine wood
and non-wood materials, only the new wood portion can be applied toward the credit.
• To determine the value of the wood component(s), calculate the amount of new wood as a
percentage of the total weight, volume, or cost, and the amount of FSC-certified wood as a
percentage of the total weight, volume, or cost.
• Multiply these figures by the total value of the product as invoiced to project contractors,
subcontractors, or buying agents.

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 Calculations
Sample Assembly Percentage Wood-Based Content

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 Materials and Resources Summary
Waste Management
•Construction Material Waste
•Post Occupancy Waste Management
•Organic Material Selection – Other Criteria
•Inorganic
Building Reuse Durability
•Structural
Ease of Maintenance
•Non Structural
Materials with Recycled Content Safety & Security

Recyclable Materials Energy Performance of Buildings

Local Materials Indoor Air Quality
Rapidly Renewable materials
FSC Certified wood materials

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Thank you

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