Building Materials and Sustainable Construction: A Study of Material Selection, Transportation and Maintenance

The construction industry is one of the major contributors to pollution and greenhouse gas emissions and building materials play a very important role as they significantly impact energy efficiency. This paper aims to analyse the role of building materials on energy efficiency in sustainable construction. This paper will cover three major factors in sustainable building materials practices and adaption which are building material selection, transportation of building materials and maintenance of building materials. These factors can be enhanced with the help of two supporting elements which are organizational resilience and use of renewable building materials. To achieve energy efficiency in sustainable construction there are two negative elements which act as barriers which are financial constraints and lack of availability of materials. This research has been done using the mixed methods of research where qualitative research was done using panel interview and quantitative research was done using questionnaire survey. The panel consisted of seven individuals who have previously worked in or are currently working in the construction industry. The participants for the questionnaire survey are professionals who have previously worked in or are currently working in the construction industry. Around four hundred participants took part globally with the help of snowball sampling. The data analysis for the quantitative research was done by doing Reliability Analysis by Cronbach’s Alpha, Construct Validity, Convergent Validity, Exploratory Factor Analysis, Correlation Analysis and Hierarchical Multiple Regression Analysis in SPSS and Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Structural Equation Modelling in AMOS. Through these results it was found that sustainable building material practices play an important role in achieving energy efficiency. Financial constraints and lack of availability of materials play a moderating role in sustainable building material practices and adaption in achieving energy efficiency. This paper offers a thorough analysis of the crucial contributions that building materials make to the promotion of energy efficiency in sustainable construction. This paper has offered useful recommendations for promoting the implementation of sustainable building material practices for industry professionals, students and researchers, and government officials and lawmakers.