ISSN: 2395-0560

International Research Journal of Innovative Engineering

www.irjie.com
Volume1, Issue 3 of March 2015

Environmental Performance Evaluation of Institutional

Building Through LCA Model
S V Dewalkar1, A. R. Tembhurkar2 , D W Gawatre3
1

Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Sinhgad Academy of Engineering, Pune, 411048, India.
Associate Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology, Nagpur, 440010, India.
3
Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Sinhgad Academy of Engineering, Pune, 411048, India.

Abstract The assessment of environmental quality is emerging as a new concept of assessment in construction industry
with advent of ISO 14000. Developed countries are now evaluating their entire new construction project through LCA
model as suggested in ISO 14000. Augmentation and remediation of existing infrastructure project are also recently being
evaluated through LCA model. Evaluation of environmental quality in construction has attempted in recent past. While, in
India, very few infrastructural projects have done the evaluation. But, the concept and methodology adopted is from aboard
without considering the local requirement. Importance of critical evaluation of existing and new infrastructural project from
environmental aspect is deeply felt among leading construction professionals in India. Therefore development of LCA
model to evaluate environmental quality of existing or new infrastructure is considered to be a need of an hour.
An attempt is therefore made in this study to develop a LCA model suitable for evaluation of environmental quality of
any institutional building in India. As LCA is consider a complex scientific method, this study was conducted with the
purpose of clarifying LCA by explaining the basic underlying fundamentals and identifying occasions for use of LCA in
design practice. Thus the study aims to provide a primer on LCA to clear the existing confusion; Identify the opportunities for use of LCA at present in the building industry; developing LCA based model for Indian condition; propose guidelines for integrating LCA in building design; Identify future prospects and recommend future research opportunities.

Keywords Institutional Building LCA, CO2 Emission, Environmental Impact.

1. Introduction
The building sector is a vital part in the progress towards environmental sustainability, because of its high potential to
decrease the environmental impact. However, the building industry remains one of the most critical industries for the adoption of environmental sustainability principles, because of several unique characteristics in terms of e.g. long-lived product
involved. Environmental assessment methodology such as Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) have an important role to play in
implementing environmental sustainability in the building sector, as they provide a clear declaration of what are considered
the key environmental considerations and also provide a way of communicating these issues. LCA is the broadest indicator
and an internationally standardized method (ISO 14040 and ISO 14044) .LCA method is used to evaluate the life cycle
carbon footprint of a different product such as building. A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a crucial first step in taking
carbon out of the systems because it provides a baseline measurement and helps identify areas for improvement.

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ISSN: 2395-0560

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Volume1, Issue 3 of March 2015

2. Objectives and Scope of the Work

The major objective is to conduct environmental performance evaluation of institutional building through LCA model so
as to find out gaps and deficiency from environmental point of view and to develop a LCA model to critically evaluate and
suggest a plan to improve the environmental Aspect and the utility of building. The Scope of work mainly includes Identification of study area; Establish baseline information at study area; Identify critical attributes contributing to environment
quality; Conduct preliminary study and survey to collect data; Arrive at important contributing parameter and understanding
interrelationship develop suitable LCA Model for environmental performance evaluation for institutional building; Suggest
remedial measures, strategies, policies for overall improvement of environmental quality.

3. Methodology
Model developed in the present study for the life cycle assessment of institutional building is based on determination of the
total environmental impact caused by the building. A carbon footprint is estimated to determine the total environmental
impact to assess the life cycle perspective for environmental appraisal of the building. The end of the life in building is
considered up to the last retro fraction which is usually taken as 50 years in the Indian condition. The estimation of carbon
footprint is done by considering the energy and resource consumption during the life span of building. The Building LCA
Model for assessment of institutional building is divided into two major components. The first module covers the calculation
of carbon footprint of material used for the construction; second module covers the calculation of carbon footprint of electricity consumption for building facility. The measurement of total carbon emission is only considered as a measure for
evaluating the total environmental impact of building. Since this is one of the major component leading to several adverse
environmental impact. The carbon footprint estimation is then compared with the carbon footprint of other similar buildings
to assess its relative impact on the environment. This generic model can applied for all types of building usually found in
educational institutional campus, because every building can be assess by this two common modules.
i) Volume of CO2 discharged in a life cycle of building materials =
Total CO2 Emitted
(MT) =

(total quantity of
Construction Material)

(Unit Weight
of material)

(1)
(Embodied Tone of CO2 Per
Tone of Material)

Thus, the summation of environmental impact of building materials gives the total environmental impact.
Total emission (TE) = TE 1 + TE 2 + TE 3 + .TE n
ii) Volume of CO2discharge from operation of building facility=
Emission kg of CO2 =

(electricity
consumption in Kwh)

(2)

(Emission factor Kg
CO2 eq./kwh)

Thus, the calculation of environmental impacts from electricity consumption is evaluated

Total emission (TE) = TE 1 + TE2 +TE3 +TE4 + TE5TE n
Total Environmental Impact (TEI) caused due to these components and is given as follows:
TEI = Total environmental impact from building material + Total environmental impact from building facility

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Volume1, Issue 3 of March 2015

4. Execution of Model
A soft tool is developed as BUILDING CO2.xls to estimate the total environmental impact of the institutional building.
The output data is obtained in the form of carbon emission expressed as kg CO2 eq. or Tone CO2 eq. For the Application of
model, soft tool developed for the carbon footprint calculation is now applied to the institutional building .The result is then
compared with the other buildings whose carbon footprint has already calculated elsewhere.
Table 1. Building Description
Name of the site

Chemical engineering department VNIT, Nagpur

Year of construction

2010

Building Area

5475 m2

Building Type

Educational high rise building

Number of floors

G+2 floors

4.1. Data Collection

There are two types of data that are necessary for the calculations, building specific data such as amounts of building
materials and energy use; and emissions related to the production of the building materials and energy. The amount of carbon
dioxide generated by direct emissions can be calculated through the use of emissions factors. In the present study, standard
IPCC emission factors are taken for calculation of carbon footprint. The data of building material, energy use estimated as per
the records is obtained from the estate maintenance department.
4.1.1. Estimation of Carbon Footprint from Building Material
From a material perspective a building become a very complex system and it is often not immediately clear which material
or combination of materials provide the best environmental performance. The vast majority of buildings use a large number
of different materials, from a variety of sources. Many modern building tend to make extensive use of building material in
construction all of which can be energy intensive to produce, via process that have a potential to cause adverse environmental
impacts and give rise to CO2 emissions. The details of materials used in the construction of the institutional building and their
carbon footprint calculation using equation (1) are given in the Table 2.
4.1.2. Estimation of Carbon Footprint from Electricity Consumption
The total effective carbon footprint (CO2 emitted / unit of electricity generated) includes the resource extraction, power
plant and equipment manufacturing and construction, and power production operations. For the Indian condition the carbon
emission factor from the electricity generation is 0.87 Kg CO2/ kwh (Carbon dioxide emissions from coal based power
generation in India, 2005). To determine the carbon footprint associated with the use of electricity, the amount of electricity in
Kwh used by the institutional building is measured and is multiplied by the CO2 emission factor for electricity. Here, Result
of carbon footprint of building electricity consumption calculation using equation (2) is given in Table 3.
4.2. Data Integration
The volume of CO2 discharge from operation building facility which is calculated to be 4246.8 tone and the volume of CO2
discharge during the life cycle of building material which is calculated to be 13585.56tone, both causes the impact on the.
Hence the total carbon footprint of this educational high rise building is calculated as 17832.36 tone of CO2 eq.
Table 2. Result of Carbon Footprint of Building Material
Sr.

Construction Material

Total CO2 emitted in

concrete

2964.22

Steel

1853.84

Brick masonry

796.18

Plaster

310.61

No.

tone

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5

P O P Putty

214.02

Timber

88.62

NCL doors ,windows,

430.39

ventilators
8

paint

6754.41

granite

15.39

10

marble flooring

1.32

11

Ceramic Tiles

6.81

12

limestone

20.08

13

G.I. pipes

4.25

14

C.C. Pipes

0.45

15

RCC pipes

10.10

16

C.I pipes

100.95

17

PVC pipes

13.01

total=

13585.56 tone CO2 eq.

Table 3. Result of Carbon Footprint of Building Electricity Consumption

Sr.

month

CO2 emission in kg

January

6056.07

February

7102.68

March

8285.88

April

8847.03

May

8989.71

June

6587.64

July

6009.96

Aug

Sept

9504.75

10

Oct

9038.43

11

Nov

7381.08

12

Dec

5892.51

no.

9220.26

TOTAL = 92916 Kg CO2 eq./year

=4246.8 tone CO2 eq. throughout life span

5. Benchmarking
Construction sector is important sector from the material consumption point of view. Significant CO2 emission can be
contributed to the production of these materials. In the construction of building in Western Europe, the carbon emission range
from the 275 Mt CO2 per year to 415 Mt CO2 per year. The material used for the construction of building, in which steel emits
42.5 Mt CO2 per year, bricks emits 13.3 Mt CO2 per year, timber emits 17.5 Mt CO2 per year and PVC emits 1.1 Mt CO2 per
year in European environmental condition [2]. In the present study carbon emission from the building material is calculated to
be 271.7 Mt CO2 per year ,in which the steel contributes 37.06 Mt CO2 per year, bricks contributes 15.92 Mt CO2 per year,
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Volume1, Issue 3 of March 2015
PVC contributes 0.3 Mt CO2 per year in Indian environmental condition. In the case study of Helsinki metropolitan area
(HMA) in Finland, having area of building 70,000 m2 and 50 year life span. The building material carbon emission is 274
tonnes per 100 m2 and building services energy consumption emits 102.42 tonnes per 100 m2 carbon emission [1]. In the
present study the building material emits 248 tons of CO2 per 100 m2 and the building service emits 84.9 tons of CO2 per 100
m2. The detail comparisons of three major construction materials i.e. concrete, steel and masonry of building situated in
Helsinki metropolitan area, Finland and the present study is done in following table 4. The Beijing case study ,the residential
building having area 30,000 m2, the total life time energy consumption by building is 900000 GJ (250000000 kwh ) which
causes the total life time emission as 70000 tone CO2. Thus it emits 0.028 tones CO2 per 100 kwh in their respective environmental condition [3]. In present study, the total life time energy consumption is 5340000 kwh and the CO2 emission is
calculated to be 4645.8 tone thus it emits 0.087 tone CO2per 100 kwh as per Indian condition.
Table 4. Building Situated In Helsinki Metropolitan Area, Finland and the Present Study Comparison
Construction material

Building situated in Helsinki metropolitan

area ,Finland

Chemical department of VNIT campus ( present

study)

Concrete

45.70 tone CO2/ 100 m2

54.13 tone CO2/ 100 m2

Steel

26.42 tone CO2/ 100 m2

33.51 tone CO2/ 100 m2

Masonry

23.2 tone CO2100 m

14.53 tone CO2/ 100 m2

6. Scope of Future Work

The total environmental impact can be better represented by considering the end of life up to construction or the end of life
up to demolition. An integrated model including various components such as CO2, NOX, CH4, SO2 etc. can be developed to
get the complete view of environmental impact through life cycle assessment. Studies should be conducted to specifically
evaluate the emission factor for different based on the Indian condition. An integrated calculator involving the major components responsible for the carbon footprint should be developed including the building not only suitable for institutional
campus but also the other types of buildings. The analysis should be conducted to evaluate all environmental impact categories viz. global warming, Eutrophication, acidification, ozone layer depletion etc.

7. Conclusion
The focus is on the carbon footprint and the results indicate that the building construction material has the largest contribution to this impact which is 76 %, while building facility contributes 23 % carbon impact. The results also highlight the
opportunities for reducing the carbon dioxide impacts on the building Carbon foot printing can help to identify key construction materials with high-embodied carbon and promote low-carbon alternatives. It has been seen that the materials with
the greatest carbon footprint on the project were steel, glass and concrete, which were responsible for over half the buildings
embodied carbon they make up almost 90 percent of the building embodied carbon. In order to reduce the carbon footprint of
these construction materials, the use of fly ash concrete, this could have reduced total embodied carbon by around 8 percent
by replacing half the Portland cement with fly ash. All metal, with the exception of steel tubing, was manufactured from local
scrap steel, which has lower embodied carbon content than newly cast steel. For example, the carbon emissions from the
manufacture of steel screens were reduced by 9 percent, compared with an average steel supplier, by increasing the recycled
content from 54 percent to 99 percent. A buildings carbon footprint can be reduced by sourcing its operational energy from
environmentally responsible sources, or by generating renewable energy on site enhances the efficiency through the use of
machineries so as to reduce energy consumption. Also the clean producing and reduce the loss of materials in the construction
processes. In the designing process, appropriate energy-saving measures should be taken into consideration, such as temperature insulation, shading, natural ventilation technology can be used in outer protective structure, improve residents
awareness of energy conservation, in order to reduce energy consumption as well carbon emissions during operational phase
of the building.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The Authors thankfully acknowledge to Dr. Mrs. M. V. Latkar Asstt. Prof., Incharge of Environmental Chemistry Laboratory, Department of Civil Engineering, VNIT, Nagpur for their support, comments and valuable suggestions.

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