Energy efficiency and building construction in India

The energy conservation has become an important issue in building design, i t 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 li fetime. Even though the total quantity of energy consumed in a building dur ing 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 m atter 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 cons truction techniques using an optimization framework are assessed and compar ed. The techniques of construction evaluated in this paper are commonly use d pucca techniques as well as low-cost construction techniques. Energy cons umption and resource requirements due to the use of alternative techniques of construction for a representative room of size 3.5 m x 3.5 m x 3.14 m ar e evaluated. An assessment of the magnitude of energy consumption, if housi ng shortages have to be met, shows that a huge amount of energy would be co nsumed in housing sector alone. The associated levels of carbon dioxide emi ssions 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. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserve d.