Engineering Systems Project

The aim of our project is to try to build houses with materials which would incur the least cost on nature and be sustainable for the longest duration possible. We plan to make this result region specific i.e. try to use materials locally available and not increase the load on some other part.

Housing typologies Building Materials Dividing the country into climatic zones Assigning availability of materials to each zone CO2 emission and Life Cycle Energy of each material

Listing Building typologies Dividing the country according to prevailing climate List of materials used for each building typology Volume of each material required for each typology Mapping each material to a zone according to availability Final calculation of CO2 emission and Life Cycle Energy

Buildings categorized according to: 1. Functional Utility 2. Construction Methods 3. Materials used

1. Mud Building 2. Clay Building 3. Rock/Stone Structures 4. Thatch House 5. Brush House 6. Igloo 7. Wood House 8. Bamboo House 9. Brick Buildings 10. Concrete Buildings 11. Metal Frame Buildings 12. Glass House 13. Plastic Houses 14. Fabric Tent/House 15. Foam Hut 16. Marble Buildings 17. Tiled House

The major construction materials used for constructing houses and buildings in various parts of India were enlisted in tabular form. Each building typology was then assigned the major materials required to build it.

An estimate of the volume of an average building in each Typology is calculated. The volume of each major material used is then estimated.

Climatic zones are differentiated on the basis of: Rainfall Temperature Humidity Solar Radiation 20 climatic zones were thus generated. These climatic zones were then further subdivided into major cities in each respective zone.

Each material was assigned to all the climatic zones where it is locally available. If a particular material is not available locally, we keep track of the nearest zone from where it can be transported so that the least impact on the environment is incurred.

The CO2 emission of each material is calculated. The sum of the emissions of all the materials gives us the total CO2 Emission of the typology. The Life Cycle Energy of the typology is calculated by adding the CO2 Emission and the Transportation cost of each material which is not locally available.

Using the CO2 Emission and Life Cycle Energy values of a particular Building Typology in a given Climatic Zone, we can come to the conclusion whether or not a Building Typology is Sustainable in a given Climatic Zone.