An analytical hierarchy based optimization framework to aid sustainable assessment of buildings

Abstract

Buildings are a significant consumer of energy and resources, thereby urging the designers, architects, and policymakers to place a great deal of effort in achieving and implementing sustainable building design strategies. Energy conservation codes and green building rating systems help a great deal in this by measuring the effectiveness of these strategies and thereby enhancing overall building sector performance in social, environmental, and economic perspective. However, for a developing country such as India, the steadily growing population and the rapid rate of urbanisation impose a burden on the country's limited and continuously decreasing resource base, including the land available for construction. The number of sustainable rated or buildings compliant to energy standards is minimal in India, primarily due to the complexity and obstinate nature of the assessment systems/regulations that restrict the stakeholders and designers in proper implementation and utilisation of these rating systems. This study, therefore, aims to introduce a data-driven and user-friendly framework that cross compares the green building rating systems and energy conservation codes predominant in India. Subsequently, it helps the users to evaluate their proposed building design based on various sustainability-driven preferences. This framework utilises the information collected from the user to generate code-compliant building design strategies by employing the Analytical Hierarchy Process that considers the building's current sustainability level and incorporating the user's preferences in improving the overall sustainability of the buildings. The proposed framework has prospects to encourage users to test the efficiency of various sustainable construction practices and promote more sustainable buildings in the country.