According to a study done at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras, Chennai will collectively produce 231.9 million tonnes of Carbon Dioxide (Co2) by 2040 from the development and operation of buildings alone. According to IT Madras experts, the building sector alone is thought to be responsible for around a quarter of all CO2 emissions in India.
To reduce emissions from Chennai, a group of researchers from the Centre for Technologies for Low Carbon and Lean Construction and Indo-German Centre for Sustainability (IGCS), IIT Madras, led by Prof. Ashwin Mahalingam and including former student Pokhraj Nayak, recommend switching to renewable energy for building operational needs.
In describing the importance of this study, Prof. Mahalingam of the Department of Civil Engineering stated, "In order to attain our emissions targets, we need to benchmark what our 'business as usual' emissions are likely to be in the future and work backward. This study is the first step in solving this issue quantitatively”.
Reduced Carbon Emissions Techniques
According to researchers, roughly 25% of India's total CO2 emissions are attributed to the building sector alone. This is primarily caused by emissions that result from the manufacture of raw materials (such as cement and steel), their transportation to construction sites, energy used during construction, and most crucially, the energy needed during operation of buildings, the statement reads.
Three strategies to lower carbon emissions were proposed by the research team:
According to the experts, switching to a different energy source will have the biggest impact on cutting emissions. Supplying 50% of a building's operating energy needs with sustainable energy will probably result in a decrease of up to 115 million tonnes in total CO2 emissions between 2019 and 2040. They highlighted that switching from conventional cement to low-carbon cement would have less of an impact on decreasing emissions.
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Technology is a useful servant, but a dangerous master, it was rightly said. Electronic devices have grown into an inevitable part of our daily lives.
