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V. Shree et al.
consumption of energy in buildings during construction, operation and demolition
stages is called direct energy. The production of materials associated with different
construction activities and building installations involves high energy consumption
[21]. Therefore, buildings have significant contribution in global GHG emissions in
atmosphere and due to this, it becomes essential to study and investigate all those
factors associated with high emerge consumption and release of GHG emissions in
buildings. Various studies also advocate to explore and study a building along with
its various elements of before construction process in order to achieve the goals of
sustainable development [25]. Consequently, building sector is now trying to develop
and adopt new design and construction techniques, which makes the buildings energy
efficient and reduces GHG emissions during all phases of building’s life cycle. In
addition to this, recycling and reuse of waste building materials also help in reducing
the need for fresh materials in new building construction and thus help in minimizing
primary energy requirement and emissions [14].
In order to achieve the goal of reducing GHG emissions associated with buildings,
it is important to estimate and quantify them. The use of “carbon footprints” is quite
useful and popular terminology to quantify GHG emissions and may be defined
as the quantity of CO 2 released by a product and its associated processes over all
phases of its life cycle. It is derived from the term “ecological footprint,” which was
introduced by Wackernagel and Rees [31]. Carbon footprints can also be defined as
the amount of CO 2 emissions directly and indirectly associated with an activity or
a product over its entire life cycle; and expressed as grams of CO 2eq per kilowatt
hour (gCO 2eq /kWh) and is also used for accounting global warming effects of other
GHGs [32].
Further, effective methodologies are required to estimate carbon footprints associated with an activity or a product. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is one of the popular
methods to analyze environmental impacts associated with an activity, product or
process throughout its life cycle [8, 12]. It is also considered as versatile and effective
tool for the estimation and reduction of energy consumption and associated emissions
of the building sector [2, 6]. Advent of software further improved the speed and reliability of calculation and results of LCA, sustainability assessment and comparison of
environmental impacts associated with various products. Therefore, environmental
impacts of different types of buildings can be studied effectively using LCA methodology [30]. In the present chapter, an educational building is considered to be studied
and its associated carbon footprints are estimated using LCA. The educational buildings involve so many energy intensive activities and it is important to study their
environmental performance for sustainable development in future. In fact, various
environmental management system and policies are being introduced to mitigate
environmental impacts associated with educational infrastructures [6]. The chapter
begins with the introduction part with discussion related to emissions associated with
building sector and need to control them. Section 2 discusses about the LCA method
used to study environmental impacts of a building. In Sect. 3, methodology used
to carry out to estimate emission associated with a building selected for case study
using LCA is discussed. Section 4 discusses the detailed case study and estimation of
V. Shree et al.
consumption of energy in buildings during construction, operation and demolition
stages is called direct energy. The production of materials associated with different
construction activities and building installations involves high energy consumption
[21]. Therefore, buildings have significant contribution in global GHG emissions in
atmosphere and due to this, it becomes essential to study and investigate all those
factors associated with high emerge consumption and release of GHG emissions in
buildings. Various studies also advocate to explore and study a building along with
its various elements of before construction process in order to achieve the goals of
sustainable development [25]. Consequently, building sector is now trying to develop
and adopt new design and construction techniques, which makes the buildings energy
efficient and reduces GHG emissions during all phases of building’s life cycle. In
addition to this, recycling and reuse of waste building materials also help in reducing
the need for fresh materials in new building construction and thus help in minimizing
primary energy requirement and emissions [14].
In order to achieve the goal of reducing GHG emissions associated with buildings,
it is important to estimate and quantify them. The use of “carbon footprints” is quite
useful and popular terminology to quantify GHG emissions and may be defined
as the quantity of CO 2 released by a product and its associated processes over all
phases of its life cycle. It is derived from the term “ecological footprint,” which was
introduced by Wackernagel and Rees [31]. Carbon footprints can also be defined as
the amount of CO 2 emissions directly and indirectly associated with an activity or
a product over its entire life cycle; and expressed as grams of CO 2eq per kilowatt
hour (gCO 2eq /kWh) and is also used for accounting global warming effects of other
GHGs [32].
Further, effective methodologies are required to estimate carbon footprints associated with an activity or a product. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is one of the popular
methods to analyze environmental impacts associated with an activity, product or
process throughout its life cycle [8, 12]. It is also considered as versatile and effective
tool for the estimation and reduction of energy consumption and associated emissions
of the building sector [2, 6]. Advent of software further improved the speed and reliability of calculation and results of LCA, sustainability assessment and comparison of
environmental impacts associated with various products. Therefore, environmental
impacts of different types of buildings can be studied effectively using LCA methodology [30]. In the present chapter, an educational building is considered to be studied
and its associated carbon footprints are estimated using LCA. The educational buildings involve so many energy intensive activities and it is important to study their
environmental performance for sustainable development in future. In fact, various
environmental management system and policies are being introduced to mitigate
environmental impacts associated with educational infrastructures [6]. The chapter
begins with the introduction part with discussion related to emissions associated with
building sector and need to control them. Section 2 discusses about the LCA method
used to study environmental impacts of a building. In Sect. 3, methodology used
to carry out to estimate emission associated with a building selected for case study
using LCA is discussed. Section 4 discusses the detailed case study and estimation of