White cement has currently received increasing attention due to potential for use in sustainable concrete structures. Based on the U.S. Green Building Council certification practice, the LEED Green Building Rating System for New Construction and Major Renovation (LEED-NC) considers that the reflective quality of white surfaces may help to improve lighting efficiency and reduce temperature fluctuations, resulting in lower heating and cooling with reduction of related energy costs. In addition to the environmental impact, white concrete represents a valuable tool for the aesthetic acceptability of a structure, and can also offer important practical benefits in terms of safety (i.e., light reflection in the dark). In this thesis white concrete was combined with off-white rice husk ash and with a glass fibers reinforced polymer to obtain an innovative composite system able to: a) reduce the energy used for the production of the primary materials, b) decrease the temperature fluctuation in the building resulting in less energy needed for heating and cooling, and c) increase the life of the structure and thereby reduce energy usage for material disposal. It is evident that in applications where aesthetics is the driver, a great deal of attention needs to be devoted to the concrete mixture, but also to durability properties. To further improve the durability of white concrete, novel methodologies were introduced to study the corrosion mechanism of steel embedded in concrete and its effect on the color degradation of white surface. This study demonstrates the validity of the sustainable system made by white cement, OWRHA, and GFRP, and of the methodology introduce to evaluate corrosion and color degradation of reinforced concrete.

O conceito de construção verde não está atrelado unicamente à preservação do meio ambiente, visto que muitos pesquisadores empregam usualmente o termo construção sustentada, que é mais condizente com a proposta que prevê o desenvolvimento econômico, social e o respeito ao meio ambiente. Em relação a países em desenvolvimento como o Brasil, equilibrar esses três pontos é essencial para assegurar um crescimento econômico sólido e sustentável. Neste contexto, em decorrência da necessidade de construções menos impactantes ao meio ambiente, foi criado nos Estados Unidos o Conselho Nacional de Construções Verdes, órgão regulamentador das normas de construção e certificador daquelas que atendam as normas mundiais. Essa certificação foi criada buscando diminuir o consumo na fabricação de materiais, manutenção de prédios e gestão de resíduos. O presente estudo visa analisar e aprimorar os conhecimentos relativos à certificação das denominadas edificações sustentáveis no Brasil, analisando as suas características, vantagens para o meio ambiente e para sociedade presente e futura. Além disso, buscou-se apontar as etapas necessárias para se lograr êxito na certificação verde de um empreendimento no Brasil, levando-se em consideração os critérios estabelecidos pelo Green Building Council Brasil, órgão oficialmente credenciado a concedê-la àqueles que implementem os requisitos necessários. Essa demonstração foi feita por meio de estudo comparativo entre dois empreendimentos certificados: o primeiro, Eldorado Business Tower, obteve a certificação denominada Platinum (máxima), e o segundo, Edifício Cidade Nova, que obteve logrou a certificação verde denominada Certified (mínima). O resultado da análise demonstrou que, apesar dos obstáculos culturais e econômicos encontrados para a implementação de uma edificação certificada, a prática parece demonstrar que o resultado final é semelhante ao investimento em edificações convencionais. No entanto, a procura pelo selo vem aumentando exponencialmente a cada ano, demonstrando que os antigos paradigmas começam a ser derrubados, em benefício do meio ambiente, que possa garantir as presentes e futuras gerações. / Concept of construction green not is joined solely to preservation of environment, since many researchers usually use the term supported, that is more in accordance with the proposal that the development foresees economic, social construction and the respect to the environment. In relation the developing countries as Brazil, to balance these three points are essential to assure a solid and sustainable economic growth. In this context, in result of the necessity of less impacts constructions to the environment, it was created in the United States the National Advice of Green Constructions, prescribed agency of the construction norms and certifier of whom they take care of the world-wide norms. This certification was created searching to diminish the consumption in the manufacture of materials, maintenance of building and management of residues. The present study it aims at to analyze and to improve the relative knowledge to the certification of the called sustainable constructions in Brazil, being analyzed its characteristics, advantages for the environment and present and future society. Moreover, one searched to point the stages necessary to cheat success in the green certification of an enterprise in Brazil, taking itself in consideration the criteria established for the Green Building Council Brazil, officially credential agency to grant it those to it that implement the necessary requirements. This demonstration was made by means of comparative study between two certified enterprises: the first one, Eldorado Business Tower, got the called certification Platinum (maximum), and as, Building New City, that it got cheated the green certification called Certified (minimum). The result of the analysis demonstrated that, although found the cultural and economic obstacles for the implementation of a certified construction, the practical one seems to demonstrate that the final result is similar to the investment in conventional constructions. However, the search for the stamp comes exponentially increasing to each year, demonstrating that the old paradigms start to be knocked down, in benefit of the environment, that can guarantee the gifts and future generations.