Engineering-Architecture

Considerable amount of energy is spent in the manufacturing processes and transportation
of various building materials. Conservation of energy becomes important in the context of limiting of
greenhouse gases emission into the atmosphere and reducing costs of materials. The paper is focused
around some issues pertaining to embodied energy in buildings particularly in the Indian context.
Energy consumption in the production of basic building materials (such as cement, steel, etc.) and
different types of materials used for construction has been discussed. Energy spent in transportation
of various building materials is presented. A comparison of energy in different types of masonry has
been made. Energy in different types of alternative roofing systems has been discussed and
compared with the energy of conventional reinforced concrete (RC) slab roof. Total embodied
energy of a multi-storeyed building, a load bearing brickwork building and a soil–cement block
building using alternative building materials has been compared. It has been shown that total
embodied energy of load bearing masonry buildings can be reduced by 50% when energy
efficient/alternative building materials are used.

The paper reports on an investigation of the structural behavior of a sustainable green concrete material developed in recent research works that were conducted at the American University of Beirut and were reported in the literature. The strength and thermal properties of the green hemp-reinforced concrete with coarse aggregate reduction were determined in previous studies. Eighteen structural beam specimens were prepared and tested to fail in flexure, shear, and bond splitting modes. A control mix and two hemp-concrete mixed with hemp fibers but less coarse aggregate content were adopted. The objective was to investigate the synergetic performance of hemp-concrete material when cast in reinforced concrete members. The results indicate that regardless of the mode of failure, hemp-concrete beams prepared with hemp fibers and less coarse aggregate had similar peak loads as the control beams. Also, hemp-concrete beams exhibited better load-deflection ductile behavior after the peak load.

Community-based early warning systems (CBEWS) is a "people-centered" system and empowers individuals and communities threatened by hazards to act on sufficient time and in an appropriate manner to reduce the possibility of personal injury, loss of life, damage to property, environment and loss of livelihood. These things lead to the development of the device necessary for the protection of the community against flood hazards as it allows people to get prepared with sufficient time. An alarm system was developed to monitor the water level on Salog River that overflows during heavy rains. The water level sensors were submerged in a canal of water to test the functionality of the device before its installation. Computer programs were created to enhance the monitoring of water level: the River Monitor Software and the Water Level Monitor. The LED arrays emit light according to water level; green for low, orange for medium, and red for high. A siren also alarms with different intervals (30 seconds for low, 15 seconds for medium, and a continuous alarm for high). Automatic emergency lighting was integrated in the design and lights up during power outages powered by rechargeable sealed battery that charges when ac power is supplied to the device. Levels were established based on available data; low water level means awareness; medium water level means preparedness and high water level means immediate response is necessary.