Building Material
Building material is any material which is used for a construction purpose. Just about every type of available material has been used at one time or another for creating various human and animal homes, structures, and technologies. This reference deals with habitats and structures including homes.
Living spaces and their related structures have been created using myriad materials, from mud to metal, and from plastic to grass. Today the production and assembly of various building materials is a multi billion dollar industry, and environmental concern has recently surfaced about the effects of such a massive resource extraction on a global scale
Building Materials Choices
Building materials choices are important in sustainable design because of the extensive network of extraction, processing and transportation steps required to process them. One of the most effective strategies for minimizing the environmental impacts of material use is to reuse existing buildings. Rehabilitation of existing building shells and non-shell components reduces solid waste volumes and diverts these waste volumes from landfills. It also reduces environmental impacts associated with the production and delivery of new building products. Reuse of an existing building minimizes habitat disturbance and typically requires less infrastructure such as utilities and roads.