Dynamic Accounting of Emergy Transitions in Construction Material Consumption and Their Implications for Ecosystem Services in Kerala, India (2009–2023)

The rapid growth of the construction sector has substantially increased the demand for natural resources, resulting in growing pressures on ecosystem services and resource sustainability. This study presents a dynamic emergy-based assessment of construction material consumption in Kerala, India, for the period 2009–2023, focusing on four major construction materials: steel, cement, river sand, and brick clay. Emergy accounting was employed to quantify annual material consumption, emergy per unit cost, ecosystem service deficits, economic losses associated with ecological degradation, and the contribution of recycling and material substitution. Temporal trends were evaluated using the non-parametric Mann–Kendall test and Sen’s slope estimator, while logistic (sigmoid) functions were fitted to characterize resource-use transitions and identify growth, transition, saturation, and overshoot phases. Steel and cement exhibited significant positive consumption trends (τ = 0.752 and 0.790, respectively), whereas river sand and brick clay displayed strong declining trends (τ = −0.891 and −0.638, respectively). Logistic modelling revealed that steel and cement remain in growth phases supported by recycling and material substitution, whereas river sand and brick clay exhibit characteristics of transition and ecological overshoot. Carrying-capacity assessments indicate that river sand and brick clay extraction exceeded sustainable ecosystem-support capacities, resulting in persistent ecosystem service deficits. The study demonstrates that recyclability plays a critical role in reducing transformity, delaying resource scarcity, and moderating ecological overshoot.