Â鶹ƵµÀ

Miss Nwakaego Chikaodinaka Onyenokporo

Job: PhD researcher

Faculty: Arts, Design and Humanities

School/department: Leicester School of Architecture

Address: Â鶹ƵµÀ, The Gateway, Leicester, LE1 9BH

T: N/A

E: p16197505@my365.dmu.ac.uk

 

Personal profile

I am currently a PhD researcher at Â鶹ƵµÀ, Leicester. I was awarded a High Flyer Scholarship by the Doctoral College to undertake this PhD research. My current research is focussed on the evaluation of cost and energy performance of buildings incorporating rice husk ash blended masonry blocks. It encourages the use of innovative and sustainable construction materials to reduce the negative impact of the building industry on the environment thereby fostering sustainable communities.

Research group affiliations

Publications and outputs

  • Low-cost retrofit packages for residential buildings in hot-humid Lagos, Nigeria DOI: 10.1108/IJBPA-01-2018-0010
  • Onyenokporo, N. and Ochedi, E. (2019), "Low-cost retrofit packages for residential buildings in hot-humid Lagos, Nigeria", International Journal of Building Pathology and Adaptation, Vol. 37 No. 3, pp. 250-272.

Research interests/expertise

My research interest is on sustainable development and deploying energy efficiency through affordable means to address issues of climate change. My current research is on the use of innovative and sustainable construction materials to reduce the negative impact of the building industry on the environment and also encourage sustainable communities.

Qualifications

BSc Architecture
MSc Architecture and Sustainability
PhD in view

Honours and awards

High Flyer Scholarship Award from the Doctoral college at Â鶹ƵµÀ, Leicester

PhD project

PhD title

Investigation into the use of rice husk ash for concrete masonry block production to improve cost and energy performance of buildings

Abstract

This research seeks to reuse waste materials, which are usually dumped in landfills and constitute environmental pollution, to partially replace Portland cement for the production of concrete masonry blocks. Cement manufacture presently contributes to 7% of global anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) production. The need for sustainable materials is therefore important because of the growing concerns for the environment resulting from the constant and excessive use of cement. Nigeria currently suffers from a deficit of housing that is projected to reach 40 million by 2020.

With over 190 million residents, 60% of Nigeria’s population resides in urban areas. Most of these people require housing to survive and cannot get it due to the high cost of buildings. In addition, the use of sandcrete blocks contributes in a major way to the cost of buildings as they make up the walling materials in many countries like Nigeria.

The scarcity of affordable housing has led to a proliferation of homeless people, slums dwellings and increased levels of poverty as the major percentage of the population of the country is in the low-income group. Furthermore, Nigeria is presently the 13th largest rice producer in the entire world and the top rice producer and consumer in Africa with 9.8 million tonnes produced in 2017.

The use of rice husk ash in construction will not only reduce the amount of cement being utilized for building, it could invariably reduce landfill wastes from rice mills and also reduce the cost of buildings, which is beneficial to developing countries like Nigeria with high cost of cement, and reduce carbon dioxide emissions from cement production. This will, therefore, promote sustainable development and encourage the proliferation of sustainable communities.

Nwakaego Onyenokporo