Assessment of carbon foot print of Jaffna Town, Sri Lanka

Abstract

Jaffna town is one of the emerging urban centers in Northern Sri Lanka which attract more people, resources and activities in the post war scenario. This study assesses the carbon foot print of the town. Cities play a key role to top up greenhouse gases into the atmosphere worldwide which lead to global warming and consequent climate change and related impacts. The carbon footprint of Jaffna town has not been assessed yet and the awareness of low carbon development is not common in the development domain which are essential to make decisions to carry out development consistent with Sustainable Development Goals. The purpose of the research to assess the gross carbon emission of Jaffna town and sectoral composition of the emission. The study shows that the city emits 312,096,821 Kg Co2e per day. More emission comes from domestic activities which account for 60%and second largest emission comes from transport sector. Nearly 60 %of the commuters are using private vehicles that account for nearly 20%of the total emission. Among the domestic emission, light and ventilation consume more energy than other uses. Solid waste management also contributes to emit nearly 6-10 %of the emission of the city. More houses consume relatively higher energy for light and ventilation because of the poor design of house that do not utilize the natural light and ventilation. The study suggest that the building design must adhere to the low carbon building designs which is not present in Jaffna. Appropriate building design that minimize the energy consumption need to formulated and implemented. Use of centralized air conditioning system in public building will minimize the energy consumption compared to distributed system. Integrated waste management system and sanitary land fill facilities will minimize the emission from solid waste disposal. Suitable urban design will encourage walking and cycling of residents and commuters. Deliberate planning of routes and facilities of public transport will promote the use of public transport between Jaffna and other suburban towns in the Northern Region.