IIT Madras researchers study increasing CO2 emissions from buildings

New Delhi: To address the issue of rising carbon dioxide emissions brought on by the development of buildings, researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras undertook a quantitative analysis. The researchers hypothesised that transitioning to renewable energy sources for building operational needs would aid in lowering emissions.

Researchers from IIT Madras anticipated that due to rising urbanisation, Chennai might collectively produce 231.9 million tonnes of CO2 by the year 2040 solely from the construction and operation of buildings.

Researchers from the IIT Madras Centre for Technologies for Low Carbon and Lean Construction and the Indo-German Centre for Sustainability (IGCS) conducted the study. They included professor Ashwin Mahalingam from the Department of Civil Engineering and former IIT Madras student Pokhraj Nayak.

The study was conducted by the researchers in three stages:

• The team leveraged geo-spatial modelling techniques to simulate how Chennai would look in 2040.
• The researchers used Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) techniques to understand the extent of carbon emissions that Chennai would accrue due to urbanisation.
• The team developed several scenarios where alternative building materials and energy sources are used in Chennai’s development to evaluate technologies that could lead to the largest reduction in emissions.

Methods for lowering CO2 emissions

Three strategies to lower carbon emissions were proposed by the research team:

• Replace traditional cement with low-carbon cement
• Reuse of demolition waste for future construction
• Switching to renewable resources to meet the energy requirements of operating buildings.

Researchers from IIT Madras discovered that switching to alternative energy sources was the single biggest factor in lowering emissions. "Using sustainable energy sources to meet 50% of a building's operational energy requirements was also expected to reduce CO2 emissions by up to 115 million tonnes between 2019 and 2040. According to IIT Madras, switching from traditional cement to low carbon cement has less of an impact on lowering emissions.

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