The objectives of this proposed course are:

i) to provide necessary knowledge about sustainability, green materials, and sustainable construction practices,

ii) to further the students understanding of the environmental and energetic impacts of construction materials,

iii) to introduce methods to assess how green materials, buildings, and construction processes and to improve communication skills of the students.

Students taking this course are expected to be able to:

- identify criteria essential to determining what makes a building material truly “green”,

- demonstrate concepts of life-cycle analysis including economic and sustainability aspects and apply these concepts to green building materials,

- extend their conventional knowledge of design, for forces acting on structures, to the interaction with the environment in which the materials are put into place.

The objectives relate and contribute to the educational objectives of the department by: adding to the much needed breadth courses, increasing the ability of the students to communicate.