Building Materials in a Green Economy:
Community-based Strategies for Dematerialization
Brian Milani
University of Toronto Institute for Environmental Studies (IES)
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, AECDCP
Chapter 1.
The Problem :
Materials Use and Sustainability
The Purpose of This Study
Personal
Background and Context
Economics, Efficiency and Invisibility
in Industrial Capitalism
Economic
Growth and the River Economy
Key Sectors: Extraction Industry and
Petrochemicals
Bad Rules and Wrong Signals
Changing the Rules: the Ecological Service Economy
Economic Biomimicry:
the
Priorities for Dematerialization and Detoxification
Building Materials in a Green Economy
Chapter
2: Evaluation
The Value Revolution:
Information & Service in the Building Industry
[…or What is a
Green Material?]
Introduction
Quality, Information and Design
Extended Producer Responsibility
The Life-Cycle Approach
Forms and Criteria of Evaluation: What is a Green Material?
Life-Cycle Assessment: the Holy Grail
of
Objectivity and Purpose
LCA Challenges
Macro-Scale LCA
Building Assessment & Certification
Systems
Eco-Labelling
Wood Certification
Product Guides and Directories
Chapter
3: Production
Materials In Green Industrial Strategy
Introduction
The Form of Service
Eco-Industrial
Development
Detoxifying Production
Design Strategies for Clean
Production
The
Carbohydrate Economy
Challenges and Pitfalls of Plant-based Production
Strategic Issues in
Building Materials Production I:
Engineered Wood Products
Strategic Issues in
Building Materials Production II: Cement
and Concrete
Strategic Issues in Building Materials
Production III: Plastics in Construction
Strategic Issues in Building Materials
Production IV: Indoor Air Quality
Chapter 4: Recycling, Reuse and Deconstruction
Introduction
Buildings: Time, Use and Change
Building Use and Adaptation: Shearing
Layers
Design for Recycling, Reuse and
Disassembly
Deconstruction
Recycling and Community Development
Challenges in Closing Material Cycles
Chapter 5:
Alternative Materials
Introduction
Building with (the) Earth
Rammed Earth
Adobe and Compressed Earth Blocks
Cob
Light-Clay
Straw Bale
Earthships
Timber Frame and Stone
Cordwood Masonry
Bamboo
Earthbags and Papercrete
The Future of
Chapter 6: Consumption:
Green Consumerism, Local
Markets and Bioregionality
Regenerative Consumerism
Information, Isolation and the Limits
of Private Consumerism
Community Consumerism: the Green
Communities Initiative
Information, Value and Green Markets: the
SPPC
Building Supply Retailing
Building Centres as Conservation
Utilities
Green Procurement
Grassroots Regulation: Information,
Value and Green Markets
Chapter 7:
New Rules and
Regulation: EPR, Service and the State
Regulation and Development
The Corporate Attack on Regulation
The Design Perspective on Regulation
Postindustrial Trends in
Regulation
Integrated Product Policy
Transforming Markets with EPR
Horizons for EPR: Intelligent Products and
Product-Service Systems
Substance Bans and Phaseouts
The State,
Taxes and Subsidies
Development
By-Laws and Building Codes
The State
as Coordinator
Chapter
8: Conclusion
Building Materials in a
Post-Materialist Transition
Introduction
Knowledge and Value
Transforming Consumption
Labour, Materials and Invisibility
Development Strategy
