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Vol.3 , No. 2, Publication Date: May 10, 2018, Page: 37-42
| [1] | Ahmed Khaled Mohamed Abd El-Hameed, Department of Architecture, Faculty of Engineering, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt. |
Egypt is ranked as a country with extreme water stress in several indexes, being predicted to face a more severe shortage due mainly to the accelerating Climate Change and population in the future, with a per capita share predicted to reach “absolute water scarcity” in 2025. Egypt has basically reached a situation where the available water amount is limiting its national urban and economic growth. Construction industry utilizes massive quantities of water-consuming materials. Previous studies proved that the construction demands surpass the operational demands in housing case studies, highlighting the importance of water efficiency measures during construction. Choosing building materials of high embodied water results in a high initial level of water consumption in building construction. This paper summarizes a comparative analysis for water demands of building materials, aiming to deepen the knowledge of water footprint for building materials and providing recommendations for selection decisions. The study proves that the water footprints of common building materials can be considerably reduced by promoting the best water-efficient alternatives, and concluding guidelines for both manufacturers and architects. This would stimulate competition between manufacturers to adopt additional standards to enhance the water footprints of their building products, introducing water-efficient alternatives declared using environmental certifications.
Keywords
Water Efficiency, Water Footprint, Building Material, Manufacture, Egypt
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