Evaluation of embodied energy and operational energy for panelised building system

The increasing urban population lead to a housing shortage, mainly for the economically weaker sections. The Indian government has come up with few initiatives to implement rapid construction techniques. Also, construction is an energy-intensive process, and thus it needs a sustainable and energy-efficient approach in executing the modern building system. Panelised prefabrication is one such proven technique. The present work briefly describes the development of sustainable construction products made from locally available agro-industrial ash (AIA) and evaluates their physico-mechanical and functional properties. Two components – embodied energies (EEs) of AIA-based end products and computational modelling for determining the peak cooling loads (PCLs) – are studied. EEs are evaluated through mathematical expressions and compared with traditional practices. The building model comprising both the developed end products has 23% and 8% reduced EE when compared with burnt clay and fly ash brickworks, respectively. A computational study is made for evaluating the operational energy through a Building Information Modelling tool. PCLs are extracted for different floor combinations of a three-storeyed building located in Nagpur, India. The developed combination of prefab systems is compared with conventional practice: fly ash brickwork with reinforced cement concrete framework, and around 53% reduction in PCL was observed.