Energy efficiency and building construction in India

Abstract

The energy conservation has become an important issue in building design, it is logical to apply the principle of energy costing to building projects, and to look for ways to minimize the total energy consumed during their lifetime. Even though the total quantity of energy consumed in a building during its lifetime may be many times than that consumed in its construction, there are number of reasons why the energy use in the construction process, and in particular in the building materials used, should be treated as a matter of importance in looking for ways to minimize energy use in the built environment as a whole. In this paper the energy costs of alternative construction techniques using an optimization framework are assessed and compared. The techniques of construction evaluated in this paper are commonly used pucca techniques as well as low-cost construction techniques. Energy consumption and resource requirements due to the use of alternative techniques of construction for a representative room of size 3.5 m×3.5 m×3.14 m are evaluated. An assessment of the magnitude of energy consumption, if housing shortages have to be met, shows that a huge amount of energy would be consumed in housing sector alone. The associated levels of carbon dioxide emissions associated with this construction would also be prohibitively high. Finally the paper concludes with recommendations for structural changes in the energy and construction policy in India to minimize energy consumption in building construction.