Bridging The Housing Deficit In Nigeria: Energy And Co2 Emissions Implications

Affordable and decent housing constitute an important component of the urban infrastructure of any nation. In Nigeria, the housing deficit was estimated in the year 2012 to be about 17 million. Understandably, the huge financial and complex logistical implications of bridging the deficit appear to have dominated academic discussions on the subject matter. This paper attempts to address the energy and CO2 emissions implications of mitigating the huge housing deficit. Using a predominant urban social housing typology in the highly urbanized city of Lagos as a basis, the paper estimated the embodied energy and CO2 emissions associated with providing the additional housing units needed to bridge the deficit. The life cycle energy analysis framework was adopted for the study with the Inventory of Carbon and Energy (ICE) as the main source of embodied energy and CO2 coefficients. It was found that given a housing unit footprint of 120m2 and a building life span of 50 years, the embodied energy and CO2 emissions intensities for the prototype were 7378MJ/m2 and 589kg/m2 respectively. For the additional housing units, the above intensities translated to about 15.x 1012 MJ of embodied energy and 1.2 x 1012kg of CO2. With respect to the building components, the largest contributors to the embodied energy and carbon profile were the substructure, frame and upper floors as well as internal and external walls and the key materials for the components were cement and steel reinforcement. In order to reduce the estimated embodied energy and carbon impact of providing the additional housing needs, the targets for mitigation should be the concrete, steel reinforcement and envelope/partition materials of the building

De-carbonizing the Nigerian Housing Sector: The Role of Life Cycle CO2 Assessment

Carbon in the form of carbon dioxide (CO2) is the most important chemical compound in the climate change process as it is the main causative agent of global warming and climate change. International efforts aimed at arresting climate change are all directed at carbon elimination or reduction. Buildings especially residential buildings have been found to contribute substantially to climate change through the carbon emitted to the environment in the process of building procurement and use. This paper aims at tracking the CO2 content of the various activities and processes involved in building procurement and use in a Nigerian context with a view to indentifying the target areas for decarbonization. This is done by applying the life cycle CO2 assessment (LCCO2A) approach to a typical urban residential apartment building in Lagos, Nigeria’s most populous and urbanized city. In this respect, the ICE database and the activity based method were used to estimate the embodied and operational CO2 emissions associated with the case building. The study found that the embodied and operational emissions were significant when compared with baseline scenarios in other countries. Hence the paper concluded that de-carbonization strategies should be targeted at both the embodied and operational carbon emissions of buildings. The best result will be achieved if the de-carbonization efforts are combined with natural and active carbon sinks that exist in the study contex

EMPLOYEE PARTICIPATION IN DECISION-MAKING IN ARCHITECTURAL FIRMS

In this study, the participation of employee architects in decision making in architectural firms is investigated. This is with a view to identifying the organisational contexts that enhance employee participation in decision making. The impact of such participation on the performances of the firms was also assessed. This study was carried out through a questionnaire survey of employers of architects in Nigeria. In agreement with findings of previous studies, participation of the employees of the architectural firms in the study in decision making is low. Employee participation in decision making in the firms was dependent on the staffing strategy and proportion of junior staff in many cases. The positive impact of employee participation in decision making on firm performance varied with the nature of the decision. This study concludes that there is need for employers in architectural firms to identify the categories of decision that employees should be involved in and to modify their firm contexts to encourage participation where desired

BRIDGING THE HOUSING DEFICIT IN NIGERIA: ENERGY AND CO2 EMISSIONS IMPLICATIONS

Affordable and decent housing constitute an important component of the urban infrastructure of any nation. In Nigeria, the housing deficit was estimated in the year 2012 to be about 17 million. Understandably, the huge financial and complex logistical implications of bridging the deficit appear to have dominated academic discussions on the subject matter. This paper attempts to address the energy and CO2 emission implications of mitigating the huge housing deficit. Using a predominant urban social housing typology in the highly urbanized city of Lagos as a basis, the paper estimated the embodied energy and CO2 emissions associated with providing the additional housing units needed to bridge the deficit. The life cycle energy analysis framework was adopted for the study with the Inventory of Carbon and Energy (ICE) as the main source of embodied energy and CO2 coefficients. It was found that given a housing unit footprint of 120m2 and a building life span of 50 years, the embodied energy and CO2 emissions intensities for the prototype were 7378MJ/m2 and 589kg/m2 respectively. For the additional housing units, the above intensities translated to about 15.x 1012 MJ of embodied energy and 1.2 x 1012kg of CO2. With respect to the building components, the largest contributors to the embodied energy and carbon profile were the substructure, frame and upper floors as well as internal and external walls and the key materials for the components were cement and steel reinforcement. In order to reduce the estimated embodied energy and carbon impact of providing the additional housing needs, the targets for mitigation should be the concrete, steel reinforcement and envelope/partition materials of the building

Mitigating the environmental impact of residential buildings through the use of alternative building materials: A review.

Buildings in general and residential buildings in particular impact on the environment through the energy and carbon embodied in the production and use of building materials. A number of studies have identified portland cement, portland cement cement-based products and steel reinforcement as major contributors to the embodied impact of residential buildings. Incidentally, these high impact materials constitute the bulk of the materials used in urban residential building construction in Nigeria. Also, there is considerable literature on alternative building materials which can be used to substitute high impact materials in Nigeria. Using the literature review approach, this paper examines the alternative materials that can be used to substitute the prevalent high impact materials with a view to making the buildings more sustainable by reducing their embodied energy. Relevant journal articles published between 2000 and 2015 and sourced from several databases were selected and studied. The materials were examined under the following headings: cement substitutes, mortar substitutes, concrete substitutes, steel reinforcement substitutes and substitutes for external and internal walls. The study found that in as much as substitutes exist for some high impact materials, there is the need to undertake further research especially for the purpose of codifying the materials for unhindered use in the building construction industry. In addition, adequate research-industry partnership is necessary for speedy adaptation, dissemination and use of research findings on alternative building material

Wall mouldings and motifs in contemporary Nigerian architecture: Case study of residential buildings in lagos

Vernacular architecture in Lagos, Nigeria crystallized from the fusion of traditional architecture and the Brazilian influence and is characterized by ornate walls, mouldings and motifs. The adoption of the international style architecture with its subsequent variants relegated the Brazilian influence to the background. However, through the eclectic approach currently being applied to architectural design, ornaments, mouldings and motifs are returning to the façade of many buildings in Lagos, Nigeria. This paper examines the resurgence of wall mouldings in contemporary Nigerian residential architecture using Lagos, Nigeria as a case study. The paper seeks to answer questions relating to types of materials and techniques used for the mouldings and motifs, as well as the craftsmanship associated with the work. Observations of on-going and completed buildings within selected medium- and low-density residential areas in Lagos. Content analysis was used to analyse the data. The results of the study shows that the mouldings, which often incorporated stone veneer finish include edge mouldings, mouldings around openings, horizontal and vertical wall mouldings, as well as eaves mouldings. The use of decorative columns is also evident. It was also found that architects’ involvement in the design of mouldings is limited. The implications of the above for façade composition by architects are emphasize

Residential Property Developers’ Satisfaction and Selection of Architectural Service Providers

Residential property developers often commission architects to provide services for their project. In selecting their architects, they use diverse criteria which may not have any bearing with their projects. Are clients who use some criteria more likely to be satisfied with services obtained? In this study, the correlations between the criteria residential property developers use in selecting architects and their satisfaction with services provided are investigated. A sample of residential property developers in Lagos, Nigeria were asked to fill a questionnaire, which elicited their views on a five-point Likert scale. The analysis of the data obtained revealed that there is correlations between the criteria used in selecting architects and the satisfaction of the residential service providers with services obtained by the residential property developers. The need for residential property developers to use objective criteria in selecting their architectural service provider for higher satisfaction is emphasized

ENTRY QUALIFICATIONS AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF ARCHITECTURE STUDENTS IN BUILDING STRUCTURES

A prerequisite for admission into higher education in Nigeria is meeting the criteria set by the National Universities Commission (NUC). Apart from obtaining acceptable scores in the unified matriculation examinations, candidates are also expected to obtain at least credit grades in some subjects at the end of their secondary school education. For architecture these prerequisite subjects include physics and mathematics. However, there have been debates in recent times as to the relevance of these prerequisites to students’ academic performance after admission. This has been necessitated by suggestions that university students’ performance do not always reflect their pre-admission academic performance. It is in the light of this that this paper examines the correlation between the scores of students of architecture in some admission prerequisite subjects (mathematics and physics) and building structures - a core course for the study of architecture in Nigerian universities. The study adopts a combination of primary and secondary data. Data were obtained through literature survey, archival retrieval of students’ records and augmented by discussions with course tutors and students. Quantitative data was analyzed using the SPSS (version17) while content analysis was used for qualitative data. This paper found that except for the second semester of the second year of architecture studies, there exists no correlation between admission qualification and academic performance of students. However, it found that female students outperformed their male counterparts in all the semesters. It is hoped that the outcome of this paper will inform university admission policy especially for architecture and ensure that the best candidates are given opportunity to study

GRADUATE RECRUITMENT IN THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY: WHAT IS IMPORTANT?

One often wonders why graduates with apparently good graduation grades do not get recruited, while some with lower grades get the good jobs. In this study, the attributes that employers consider in recruiting fresh graduate in the construction industry are investigated. The informants in the survey are employers in the architecture and estate management industries. A questionnaire was used to obtain the data for the study in a cross-sectional survey of owners and managers of firms. The results suggest that although graduation grades are important in the recruitment of these graduates, other attributes such as technical skills and personality are also considered. It is interesting to note that institution attended was also a factor considered by these recruiters. The findings suggest a need for the institutions that train graduates in these sectors to incorporate activities that develop these relevant skills into their programmes