Embodied Energy Assessment and Comparisons for a Residential Building Using Conventional and Alternative Materials in Indian Context

Abstract

Building sector is responsible for 40 % of the primary energy use and 24 % of carbon dioxide emissions in India. The main source of green house gas emissions from buildings is due to energy consumption. This paper aims to assess the embodied energy index and environmental impact of a two storied residential building. The study proposes various alternative materials which can be used in day to day construction in order to mitigate the environmental impact and climate change due to construction activity in India. Two types of construction techniques have been considered for the study, namely load bearing and reinforced concrete framed construction. Embodied energy and carbon dioxide emissions of walling and roofing components using conventional and alternative materials has also been analyzed and compared. The comparison is done based on two parameters namely, embodied energy/m2 and CO2 emissions per unit of floor area. The study shows that bricks, cement and steel are the three major contributors to the energy cost of constructing a building by conventional methods. A conventional two storied load bearing structure is 22 % more energy efficient when compared to a reinforced concrete structure. It has also been observed from the study that use of alternative material in the building envelope gives embodied energy savings between 50 and 60 % for a two storey load bearing structure and 30–42 % for a two storey reinforced concrete structure. Hence a load bearing construction is certainly a better alternative to RC framed construction for up to two storied structures in terms of embodied energy and environmental impacts.