Page 70 - Shashwat - Restoring Green Economy

Cover Story

68

The handling processes at the end of increase performance requirements Graham, P. 2019. “Adopting
a building’s lifespan have multiple while maintaining the viability of the Decarbonization Policies in the Buildings
options as well. The building may policy (Graham 2019). & Construction Sector: Costs and
Benefits.” In www.globalabc.org
be demolished as an entity or
consciously dismantled for reuse or It must be noted that the calculation IEA. 2020. “Data & Statistics
recycling. While metals, wood, glass, of the required offset, with no regard – IEA.” Details available at
https://www.iea.org/data-and-
and plastics may be extracted for to the costs it comes at would be a statistics?country=INDIA&fuel=CO2
reuse and recycling, debris consisting study in isolation. This incremental emissions&indicator=FECI
cost for carbon offsetting also
of concrete, bricks, and tiles are needs to be put in perspective to Lucon O., D. Ürge-Vorsatz, A. Zain
typically landfilled. Only a handful the actual cost of the building. For Ahmed, H. Akbari, P. Bertoldi, L.F.
of cities in India, like Ahmedabad, instance, a study conducted by the Cabeza, N. Eyre, A. Gadgil, L.D.D. Harvey,
have a construction and demolition UK Green Building Council in early Y. Jiang, E. Liphoto, S. Mirasgedis, S.
(C&D) waste recycling facility. The 2020 explores the replacement of Murakami, J. Parikh, C. Pyke, and M.V.
emissions generated due to the use of material to compensate for embodied Vilariño. 2014. Buildings. In Climate
Change 2014: Mitigation of Climate
such a facility are rarely included in and operational carbon. The cost Change. Contribution of Working Group
the environmental impact assessment analysis reports that the incremental III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the
(EIA) of the building. However, a cost for an office building was only Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
cradle-to-cradle analysis necessitates 6%. These costs were reported to [Edenhofer, O., R. Pichs-Madruga,
the inclusion of these emissions. be relatively marginal and expected Y. Sokona, E. Farahani, S. Kadner, K.
Seyboth, A. Adler, I. Baum, S. Brunner, P.
to be recouped through associated Eickemeier, B. Kriemann, J. Savolainen, S.
The recent LCA studies in India have Schlömer, C. von Stechow, T. Zwickel and
dealt with the handloom industry, increases in rental and capital value J.C. Minx (eds.)]. Cambridge: Cambridge
(UK GBC 2020).
waste management options, rooftop University Press
solar PV systems, and so on. LCA Life cycle analysis and carbon Parkin, A., M. Herrera, and D. A. Coley.
studies for buildings have been quantification can simplify the road to 2020. Net zero buildings: when carbon
sparse and mostly based on foreign net zero carbon. Considering our rate and energy metrics diverge. Buildings
data sources. This is because LCA of emissions, absolute zero carbon and Cities 1(1):86–99. Details available at
is both data-intensive and should be the ideal target. However, https://doi.org/10.5334/bc.27.
data-sensitive. A methodology for with current building technologies, Schmidt, M., R. H. Crawford, and G.
carbon quantification is in place. It achieving that seems impossible. Warren-myers. 2020. Integrating life
is only a matter of finding and using In our existing situation, net zero cycle GHG emissions into a building’s
the right data sets. The quantification carbon needs to be the intermediary economic evaluation. Buildings and Cities
1:361–378
of carbon leads to the possibility of target. This target will also open up
compensation through carbon offsets. explorations on circularity in design UK GBC. 2020. Building the Case for
Net Zero: A Feasibility Study into the
and alternative materials. Design, Delivery and Cost of New Net Zero
While offsetting carbon is Carbon Buildings. Details available at
environmentally crucial, it is https://www.ukgbc.org/wp-content/
important to understand the References uploads/2020/09/Building-the-Case-for-
economic cost it entails. This is Adams, M., V. Burrows, and Net-Zero_UKGBC.pdf.
because the cost and benefits of S. Richardson. 2019. Bringing Embodied UNEP. 2020. 2020 Global Status Report
an absolute zero carbon building Carbon Upfront: Coordinated Action for for Buildings and Construction: Towards
accrue to different stakeholders the Building and Construction Sector a Zero-Emissions, Efficient and Resilient
during different phases of the to Tackle Embodied Carbon. Bringing Buildings and Construction Sector.
Embodied Carbon Upfront (35). Details
building’s lifespan. Many of these available at https://www.worldgbc.org/ Renewables Global Status Report. Details
available at http://www.ren21.net/
financial benefits do not go to the sites/default/files/WorldGBC_Bringing_ resources/publications/
developers and constructors, but to Embodied_Carbon_Upfront.pdf.
the occupants, thereby creating a Bordass, B. 2020. Metrics for energy Ürge-Vorsatz, D., R. Khosla, R. Bernhardt,
Y. C. Chan, D. Vérez, S. Hu, and L. F.
split incentive. Consequently, a high performance in operation: the fallacy Cabeza. 2020. Advances toward a Global
upfront cost is one of the biggest of single indicators. Buildings and Cities Net Zero Building Sector. Annual Review
roadblocks for policymakers trying to 1(1):260–276. Details available at https:// of Environment and Resources 45: (in print)
doi.org/https://doi.org/10.5334/bc.35.