Volume 20, Issue 54, July - December, 2023

Carbon footprint analysis in a green building

Lalitha Sree S^1♦, Soundhirarajan K², Harsha Vardhana Balaji M³, Arunachalam S⁴

¹Master of Engineering Student, Department of Civil Engineering, Gnanamani College of Technology, Namakkal, Tamil Nadu, India
²Master of Engineering, Head of the department, Department of Civil Engineering, Gnanamani College of Technology, Namakkal, Tamil Nadu, India
³Doctorate of Philosophy, Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Sona College of Technology, Salem, Tamil Nadu, India
⁴Master of Engineering, Environmental Engineer, Safe Structures, Salem, Tamil Nadu, India

^♦Corresponding author
Master of Engineering Student, Department of Civil Engineering, Gnanamani College of Technology, Namakkal, Tamil Nadu, India

ABSTRACT

Construction industry is one of the major sectors causing environmental impacts and consequently impacts on the climate. More than one third of global energy-related carbon dioxide (CO₂) is emitted by the construction sector and one of the industries that is largest in terms of the volume of raw materials or natural resources consumed and the volume of construction products manufactured is the Indian construction industry. Energy consumption in the production and procurement of construction materials has the link with GHG emissions and its environmental consequences. Hence, this paper analyzes the carbon emissions caused by the Green building by its electricity consumption (using guidelines of ISO standard and US EPA) during its operational phase from various activities involved in the operation of the building, out of the other carbon emissions from different other energy uses like fuel consumption such as in the form of petrol, diesel for commutation, diesel consumption for generator, LPG consumption for pantry works etc, since electricity plays a major role comparatively. Here, the source building, a Green building in Salem locality with all utilities is considered that could ease the process and arrive at results. The carbon emissions of the electricity is checked so that the options for reducing as well as offsetting can be analyzed and mitigation measures to control those emission can be determined and also the revealing future scope of carbon efficient buildings, which could not only be energy efficient but also could emit less carbon, thereby making it environmentally responsible over the lifetime.

Keywords: Buildings Carbon foot print, Green Buildings assessment, Greenhouse gas, Environment sustainability, carbon emissions mitigation measures

Indian Journal of Engineering, 2023, 20(54), e34ije1665

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.54905/disssi/v20i54/e34ije1665

Published: 15 July 2023