sustainability Article Environmental Profile on Building Material Passports for Hot Climates Amjad Almusaed 1,* , Asaad Almssad 2 , Raad Z. Homod 3 and Ibrahim Yitmen 1 1 Department of Construction Engineering and Lighting Science, Jönköping University, 551 11 Jönköping, Sweden; [email protected] 2 Head of Building Technology, Karlstad University Sweden, 651 88 Karlstad, Sweden; [email protected] 3 Department of Oil and Gas Engineering, Basrah University for Oil and Gas, Garmat Ali Campus, Basrah 61004, Iraq; [email protected] * Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +46-70-045-1114 Received: 20 March 2020; Accepted: 27 April 2020; Published: 4 May 2020 Abstract: Vernacular building materials and models represent the construction methods and building materials used in a healthy manner. Local building materials such as gravel, sand, stone, and clay are used in their natural state or with minor processing and cleaning to mainly satisfy local household needs (production of concrete, mortar, ballast, silicate, and clay bricks and other products). In hot climates, the concept of natural building materials was used in a form that can currently be applied in different kinds of buildings. This concept depends on the proper consideration of the climate characteristics of the construction area. A material passport is a qualitative and quantitative documentation of the material composition of a building, displaying materials embedded in buildings as well as showing their recycling potential and environmental impact. This study will consider two usages of building materials. The first is the traditional use of building materials and their importance in the application of vernacular building strategies as an essential global bioclimatic method in sustainable architecture. The second is the affordable use of new building materials for their availability and utilization by a large part of society in a way to add more detail to research. The article aims to create an objective reading and analysis regarding specific building materials in order to generate a competent solution of materials that is suitable for building requirements in hot climates. This study evaluates the most suitable Building Material Passports needed in hot climates, where the environmental profile must be analyzed to confirm the use of natural materials. Keywords: building materials; vernacular building; environmental design; ecological building materials 1. Introduction The quality of today’s architectural elements is influenced by the choice of building material from which the structures are made and the premises are finished. Buildings have a huge impact on the environment, and building materials generate environmental effects at their various life stages: during the manufacture of the materials, the construction phase, use and maintenance of the building, and the disposal or demolition phase. These environmental effects can take many different shapes [1]. The rapid development of our civilization has had a negative effect on our environment. The idea of sustainable development was proposed to help new generations [2]. All building materials are either environmentally friendly or emit some harmful substances. Environmental requirements, first of all, correspond to natural materials, such as stone and wood, used by humans since ancient times. These materials are safe for human health while creating a favorable indoor microclimate. Environmental building materials are raw and processed nature-based materials used in the construction of the built environment. These materials are extracted from the biological Sustainability 2020, 12, 3720; doi:10.3390/su12093720 www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability Sustainability 2019, 11, x FOR PEER REVIEW 2 of 21 Environmental requirements, first of all, correspond to natural materials, such as stone and wood, used by humans since ancient times. These materials are safe for human health while creating a favorable indoor microclimate. Environmental building materials are raw and processed nature- Sustainability 2020, 12, 3720 2 of 20 based materials used in the construction of the built environment. These materials are extracted from the biological cycle to serve technical purposes, and their production and processing result in low cycleenvironmental to serve technical impacts purposes, in terms and of theirmeasures production such andas processingembodied resultenergy in and low environmentalcarbon, water impactsconsumption, in terms and of the measures use of suchharmful as embodied chemicals energy [3]. 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