Sustainable construction in South Africa: Theoretical and practical analysis of sustainable infrastructure in the case study of the Hawequas Straw Bale Accommodation

Abstract

The concept of sustainable development has to be understood in the context of the local situation and environment. This study examines the concept of sustainable construction before the South African background and compares it to the European understanding. The theoretical analysis is completed by the practical implementation of sustainable construction, in the actual construction of load-bearing Straw Bale houses in South Africa by the author as the construction manager. The building sector has a major influence on resource use and energy consumption; so has transport and mobility, but in what mutual relation? A Life Cycle Assessment is carried out for the mentioned building project, examining the environmental performance of said Straw Bale construction in terms of embodied energy, using Inventory Tables mostly from Switzerland, corrected with the energy intensity of the national economies. All life cycles from material extraction to building demolition are considered, with a detailing on the construction process and the utilisation stage. The Straw Bale construction is compared to a conventional brick design to assess the influence of this natural building technique. The impact of the building is then compared to the different transport processes to find an order of magnitude for that relation.