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OPINION »
 

Issues of Sustainable Building Material

By Muammar Vebry* 

In rehabilitation of Aceh, supplies of building material and its consequences to the environment quality are important to be discussed. Problem solving is required in order not to make the reconstruction process become a “time-bomb” that will bring the people into suffering condition particularly related to environment quality.

There are several ideas offered on the use of sustainable building material. In the construction process, sustainable development can be implemented when the use of four major sources under the project can be minimized.

The four major sources covering water, energy, building material, land use/building site in each construction phase and life cycle of a building. The purpose is to minimize the use of natural resources from excessive and unsustainable practices.

A major principle in the selection of building material is maximizing the use of renewable sources and recycling materials. It is intended to minimize the waste and to decrease the ‘landfill’ areas for the garbage dump, also to minimize the use of raw material.

Type of alternative building materials has been a discussion topic. However, does the building material claimed as a sustainable material is really sustainable? Can building materials be categorized as a sustainable building materials when they come from sustainable sources?

For example, building material made of bamboo composite and soft-wood is considered to be environmental-friendly materials. The composite can be produced in wood industries for replacing plywood, so it can be a solution to avoid the trouble in plywood industries due to scarcity of woods.

The intended industries also have prospect to support the growth of people’s business in planting bamboo. If it viewed as alternative solution for replacing wood as a major source of plywood production, it is very interesting! However, it is not complete from the production aspect and insecure sustainability of the nature’s quality.

The production of similar building material will disturb the growth of local economic when using this approach, because the intended building material is not produced in Aceh. In the mean time, establishment of local industries is important for rehabilitation and reconstruction in Aceh. Major principle of sustainable development is economic development, improvement of environmental quality and social welfare. 

Alternative building material in the form of composite building material made of plaited bamboo, fiber of coconut tree and mud that has been done in India become an interesting topic to trace.

The advantages covering heatproof and waterproof wall that can absorb high humidity, not poisonous and nice final plastered-wall-like appearance seem to be great. This concept is incredible if it viewed from the concept of alternative building material.

However, this concept is unsound from the aspect of efficiency of time. It requires longer time in its implementation. Because this is a new approach that needs time for dissemination to the community and requires training process of skilled workers to be able to produce it.

The current condition, that is tsunami victims have been waiting nine months for reconstruction of their houses. It means that the selection of familiar building material, that is easy to disseminate, does not disturb the environment and can be produced rapidly through the local community-based industries should be the better option.

Meanwhile, the prospect of using bamboo and other environment-friendly materials to replace the wood construction is continuously considered as best alternative material. Bamboo can grow rapidly and has proven strength for housing construction.  

In general, bamboo has many advantages that can replace other kinds of building material. However, it raises some questions as follows: is bamboo available in large quantity in Aceh? Is it possible to start mass plantation of bamboo? The answers are certainly not. As well as supplying bamboo from outside Aceh? The answer is also not. Another sustainable development principle is to use local building material as much as possible.

Coconut tree also has advantage from its structural strength aspect, but with limited life time (central section of the coconut tree can deprave easily). Sustainable building material is not only friendly to the environment, but must also be durable, inexpensive from the maintenance aspect and can be recycled. Building material used in the reconstruction process in Aceh must have major characteristics such as durable, reliable and functional.

Bamboo and coconut tree must be preserved in order to be durable. On the other side, does the process of bamboo or coconut tree preservation using salubor or kinds of oil that is friendly to the environment? Remember that the usage of sustainable building material must result in healthy environmental and not of the poisonous material through the management of dangerous wastes inside or outside the buildings.

It is related to minimization of using preservation substances that are dangerous to the environment and health such as solvent-based finishes, adhesive carpeting and particle board which release formaldehyde substance and other dangerous substances on the air that can disturb the health of workers and users of the intended buildings.

Several things can be learned from the construction of Rumoh Aceh (Acehnese traditional house), one of them is the tradition of owner candidate who preliminary plants the tree that will be used for constructing his house. Usually, the tree with good quality that will be the basic material is intentionally planted and selected.

Moral learning exists here, where the Acehnese traditional people love the nature very much, and prepare the building material by planting it for used in the next 10 to 15 years without illegal deforestation. This is a strong basic for performing reforestation process when the use of wood cannot be avoided.

Idea for using ex-tsunami building materials becomes an interesting topic now. This concept can slightly minimize the requirements of new building material supply such as bricks from the building ruins for foundation of floor also scrap-irons that can be used for concrete column, and the remaining timber that can still be used.

However, its effectiveness is not proven yet from both architectural and structural aspect. Even though the issues of reusing building material has been a discussion topic in many developed countries, but it is still considered to be unable to meet the large scale requirements of building material for reconstruction process in Aceh.

The solution, therefore, is that building material must be produced massively and rapidly, but it should use as much as possible local building materials, run the community’s local industry, use efficient technology, e.g. durable, easy for maintenance and modification, also easy for replacement of broken parts.

The approach that can be implemented is by using alternative building material such as lightweight concrete or concrete bricks. Its advantages are cheaper, easy to produce, and does not require specific skill, also inexpensive equipment requirements.

In addition, Acehnese people have generally been familiar with concrete-house construction. Moreover, lightweight concrete material can replace the function of bricks of which production has bad impacts including air pollution and excessive use of timber for fuel that can also damage the environment.

There is no problem in reusing the building material of those gently used. Housing developers who use timbers should perform reforestation by planting five trees for each house they are building as a compensation of timbers used for constructing the intended houses.

Building materials used should be able to recycle, while other non-recycled materials must be the ones that are easy to destroy. Avoid using plastic material that is difficult to destroy.

Building material should be easy to repair, not require too much maintenance, and durable. Building material should also be renewable resources, inexpensive, and used wisely. Furthermore, building material should not contain poisonous substance that can cause various diseases in the form of SBS (Syndrome of Building Sickness) or BRI (Building Related Illness).

*Muammar Vebry is a researcher at Aceh Institute and a program officer of UN-Habitat working in Aceh.