THESIS ABSTRACT

Abstract

Worldwide the construction industries are growing day by day and the industries have diversified their scope, design aspects, materials selection, construction purpose, construction duration, construction management, construction resources and construction researches. With the exponential increase of the construction activities, it has not only benefited the human kind and earth but also created negative impacts. The Global rising rate of the Embodied Carbon Emission is creating serious issues like Climate change, Global warming and ozone depletion. So the carbon emission from the construction sector need to be studied in very depth and seriously as well as immediate in nature. So this study is solely based on the carbon emission from the construction sector. In Nepal, the rapid growth of the construction activities is making rapid embodied carbon emission increment. Therefore this study is focusing on the residential home of a sample local level Dakshinkali Municipality with the quantification of the embodied carbon emission of Brick masonry of all the new registered houses in the municipality and is replaced by AAC Block Masonry, Hollow Concrete Blocks (HCB) Masonry and Compresses-soil stabilized Earthen Brick (CSEB) Masonry. The LCA method is used to estimate the Embodied Carbon Emission of the different masonry units. The order from higher to lower estimated carbon emission from LCA analysis is Traditional Fire Bricks Masonry, AAC Masonry, HCB Masonry and CSEB Masonry. Another objective of this study is to identify and examine the challenges for the implementation of alternative building materials (ABM). To achieve this, the potential challenges are identified with reliability and validity test. After that, a questionnaire survey was conducted among the BCWP pilot project municipality Engineers. Using principal component analysis (PCA), the research identified challenges were grouped into six factors: Regulatory and Insurance Challenges, Technological and Supply Chain Limitations, Maintenance, Recyclability and Adoption Challenge, Knowledge and Skill Gaps, Performance and Durability Barriers and Financial and commercialization Challenges. This study also helps to find the strategies to overcome the challenges for the implementation of alternative building materials. The findings are expected to aid the construction with the ABM for all the stakeholders and law makers.

Keywords

Climate Change, Alternative Building Materials, LCA, PCA Analysis, Challenges and Opportunities.