Building Industry

Context:

• Building and housing projects are growing exponentially, thanks to rapid urbanisation, population explosion and economic expansion.
• Throughout the life-cycle of a building, the sector consumes a significant amount of energy.
• Therefore, increased participation and coordinated action from stakeholders in the entire value chain are imperative to effectively de-risk the industry from climate hazards while continuing to innovate and provide a sustainable environment.

About building industry:

• The building and construction industry accounts for around 6.5 per cent of the India’s GDP.
• Embodied carbon is all the carbon dioxide (CO2) released during a building’s construction as opposed to operational carbon, which is carbon released during the building’s operations in terms of lighting, heating, air-conditioning, use of elevators, etc.

• The total building floor area is expected to increase from the 2015 baseline of 15.8 billion m2 to around 30 billion m2 by 2038.
• This will significantly escalate the demand for embodied carbon-intensive construction materials like cement, steel, bricks, glass, etc.

Challenges:

• The decarbonisation initiatives in the country’s building and construction sector are focused mainly on tackling operational carbon, with little attention paid to the life-cycle approach, including embodied carbon.
• India lacks a well-defined set of standards for appropriate material use in buildings, inhibiting thereby the exploration of alternative materials and their demand optimisation through economies of scale.
• India spends 0.65 per cent of its GDP on R&D, which is very low compared to that of major economies like China (2.4 per cent) and the US (3.06 per cent).
• There is a lack of commitment from customers and suppliers of building materials to embrace low-carbon approaches. Only a few cement producers and construction companies have committed to net-zero operations.
• The lack of reliable, high-quality data from life cycle assessments (LCAs) and environmental product declarations (EPDs) makes setting benchmarks and establishing targets challenging.
• This is made worse by the dearth of affordable technological options to support the development and application of embodied carbon reduction initiatives.
• Although technologies like carbon capture and hydrogen-based production of iron for steel have been explored, their commercialisation is yet to happen.

Suggestions:

• The government initiatives measure energy performance based on the operational usage of the building, but ignore the structure’s embedded carbon. This must be addressed.
• A building’s life cycle can be increased and demolition waste reduced by utilising the built space for adaptability, disassembly, and reuse. The 4Rs — reduce, replace, recycle and reuse — benefit communities, owners, tenants, the economy, and the environment.
• The decarbonisation of the industry would require a significant expansion in renewable energy capacity.
• Building design professionals are discovering new opportunities that can decrease environmental consequences, conserve resources and cut costs. This will ensure material efficiency across the value chain of the construction sector.
• It is necessary to find, examine and evaluate the viability of best practices and technologies for decreasing embodied carbon emissions in the building and construction sector.
• Eco-Niwas Samhita by Bureau of Energy Efficiency provides tools to know a building’s energy performance and focuses on various measures like space cooling, population pressure, rate of urbanisation, etc.

Way forward:

• The Energy Conservation Building Code sets minimum energy standards for new commercial buildings without compromising on the comfort of the occupants.
• Therefore, increased participation and coordinated action from stakeholders in the entire value chain are imperative to effectively de-risk the industry from climate hazards while continuing to innovate and provide a sustainable environment.
• SDG 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities further stresses the importance of improving building infrastructure.