Accelerat ing t he world's research.

Embodied energy of common and

alternative building materials and
technologies
elifcan tunc

Energy and Buildings

Cite this paper Downloaded from Academia.edu 

Get the citation in MLA, APA, or Chicago styles

Related papers Download a PDF Pack of t he best relat ed papers 

IJMT ER-2016, All right s Reserved Embodied Energy Of Building And Alt ernat ive Building Mat er…
Sarang Dhawade

ENERGY AND BUILDING MAT ERIALS

Surekha B

Life Cycle Energy Analysis in Buildings and Sust ainabilit y Assessment : A Lit erat ure Review
ajer research
 Energy and Buildings 35 (2003) 129–137

Embodied energy of common and alternative building

materials and technologies
B.V. Venkatarama Reddy*, K.S. Jagadish
Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560 012, India
Received 22 May 2001; accepted 25 November 2001

Abstract

Considerable amount of energy is spent in the manufacturing processes and transportation of various building materials. Conservation of
energy becomes important in the context of limiting of green house gases emission into the atmosphere and reducing costs of materials. The
paper is focused around some issues pertaining to embodied energy in buildings particularly in the Indian context. Energy consumption in the
production of basic building materials (such as cement, steel, etc.) and different types of materials used for construction has been discussed.
Energy spent in transportation of various building materials is presented. A comparison of energy in different types of masonry has been made.
Energy in different types of alternative roofing systems has been discussed and compared with the energy of conventional reinforced concrete
(RC) slab roof. Total embodied energy of a multi-storeyed building, a load bearing brickwork building and a soil–cement block building using
alternative building materials has been compared. It has been shown that total embodied energy of load bearing masonry buildings can be
reduced by 50% when energy efficient/alternative building materials are used.
# 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Energy and building materials; Embodied energy; Energy efficient materials

1. Introduction
Selection of materials and technologies for the building
construction should satisfy the felt needs of the user as well
as the development needs of the society, without causing any
adverse impact on environment. In recent years, awareness
of environmental aspects has grown in the building and
construction sector. Manufacturing processes of building
materials contribute greenhouse gases like CO2 to the atmo-
sphere. There is a great concern and emphasis in reducing the
greenhouse gases emission into the atmosphere in order to
control adverse environmental impacts. Energy requirements
for production and processing of different building materials
and the CO2 emissions and the implications on environment
have been studied by Buchanan and Honey [1], Suzki et al. [2],
Oka et al. [3], and Debnath et al. [4] among others. These
studies pertain to New Zealand, Japan and India.
Indian construction industry is one of the largest in terms
of employing manpower and volume of materials produced
(cement, brick, steel and other materials). Construction
sector in India is responsible for major input of energy
resulting in the largest share of CO2 emissions (22%) into
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: þ91-80-309-2327; fax: þ91-80-360-0404.
E-mail address: venkat@civil.iisc.ernet.in (B.V. Venkatarama Reddy).
the atmosphere [5]. Apart from the office, commercial and
industrial buildings, >2
106 residential buildings are built
annually, in India. Demand and supply gap for residential
buildings is increasing every year (20 million units in 1980
to 40 million units in 2000 [6]. Cement (>75 million tonnes
per annum), steel (>10 million tonnes per annum) and bricks
(>70 billion per annum) are the largest and bulk consump-
tion items in the Indian construction industry. Minimising
the consumption of the conventional materials by using
alternative materials, methods and techniques can result
in scope for considerable energy savings as well as reduction
of CO2 emission. This paper presents a detailed account
of embodied energy in alternative building materials and
techniques and comparison of embodied energy in buildings
built with conventional and the new building methods.
2. Earlier studies
Energy and CO2 implications of building construction in
New Zealand has been examined by Buchanan and Honey
[1]. A detailed analysis of nett carbon emissions resulting
from construction of buildings (in New Zealand) using
different structural materials has been made. The study
concludes that significant decrease in CO2 emissions would

0378-7788/02/$ – see front matter # 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 3 7 8 - 7 7 8 8 ( 0 1 ) 0 0 1 4 1 - 4
130 B.V. Venkatarama Reddy, K.S. Jagadish / Energy and Buildings 35 (2003) 129–137
result from a shift in construction from steel, concrete and
aluminium to greater use of wood (renewable and sustain-
able) in construction. Study of Suzuki et al. [2] throw more
light on energy consumption and CO2 emission due to
housing construction in Japan. Total energy required and
CO2 emissions/m2 of area of different types of constructions
have been compared. Energy consumption for the construc-
tion of steel and reinforced concrete (RC) multi-storeyed
family houses is 8–10 GJ/m2, whereas, for wooden single-
family houses it is 3 GJ/m2. They conclude that wooden
houses score over other types of constructions in terms of
energy requirements and CO2 emissions.
Debnath et al. [4] have attempted to estimate the energy
requirements for different types of residential buildings in
India. Three types of buildings: single, double and multi-
storeyed buildings have been examined. Energy consump-
tion/m2 of built-up area has been estimated as 3–5 GJ/m2 of
built-up area. Major conclusion of the study is that bricks,
cement and steel are the three major contributors to the
energy cost of building construction. In order to reduce
indirect energy use in a building, either alternative for
bricks, steel and cement have to be found or vigorous energy
conservation measures in these segments of industry have to
be initiated. Majumdar [7] reports some conceptual ideas in
reducing the energy use in buildings especially for heating,
cooling, ventilation and lighting in different climatic zones
of India. This study presents 41 case studies of buildings
designed by various architects incorporating energy saving
features in the design, without quantifying the energy sav-
ings/consumption in these buildings.
3. Scope of the present study
Energy in buildings can be categorised into two types: (1)
energy for the maintenance/servicing of a building during its
useful life, and (2) energy capital that goes into production
of a building (embodied energy) using various building
materials. Study of both the types of energy consumption
is required for complete understanding of building energy
needs. Embodied energy of buildings can vary over wide
limits depending upon the choice of building materials and
building techniques. RC frames, RC slabs, burnt clay brick
masonry, concrete block masonry, tile roofs represent com-
mon conventional systems forming the main structure of
buildings in India. Similar building systems can be found in
many other developed and developing countries. Alternative
building technologies such as stabilised mud blocks
(SMB’s), prefabricated roofing systems, masonry vaults,
filler slab roofs, lime-pozzolana (LP) cements, etc. can be
used for minimising the embodied energy of buildings.
Examples of buildings using alternative building technolo-
gies can be found in India and elsewhere [8–14].
Embodied energy can be split into: (1) energy consumed
in the production of basic building materials, (2) energy
needed for transportation of the building materials, and (3)
energy required for assembling the various materials to form
the building. This paper deals with the following aspects of
embodied energy.
1. Energy consumption in building materials.
2. Energy in transportation of building materials.
3. Energy in different types of buildings and building
systems.
It is hoped that the information provided in this paper
could help in selecting energy efficient building technolo-
gies and building systems based on embodied energy
thereby reducing cost of materials as well as CO2 emission
into atmosphere.
4. Energy in building materials
4.1. Basic building materials
Energy consumed during production of basic building
materials is given in Table 1. These energy values pertain to
production systems employed by the material manufacturers
in India. Total energy values of various basic materials given
in Table 1 have been used in the computations of energy in
building materials/systems and buildings.
Portland cement represents one of the major materials
consumed in bulk quantities for building construction.
Energy of cement arises from the use of coal in the rotary
kilns and energy needed for crushing and grinding the
clinker. In India, cement is manufactured by employing
both the wet (old cement plants) and dry (new plants)
process. Wet process used in earlier cement plants leads
to an energy consumption of 7.5 MJ/kg of cement, whereas
modern plants employing precalcination and dry process
consume 4.2 MJ/kg of cement. The value of 5.85 MJ/kg of
cement given in Table 1 represents the average value of 7.5
and 4.2 MJ. The average value of 5.85 MJ/kg of cement has
been used in the computation of energy in various compo-
nents and systems. A report on energy in buildings compiled
by Development Alternatives [15] gives a value of 5.75 MJ/
kg for cement manufacture.
Hydrated lime consumes 5.63 MJ of thermal energy/kg,
which is about the same as that for cement. High-energy
consumption for lime can be attributed to low thermal
efficiency of small-scale kilns employed for lime burning
in India.
Table 1
Energy in basic building materials
Type of material Thermal energy (MJ/kg)
Cement 5.85
Lime 5.63
LP 2.33
Steel 42.0
Aluminium 236.8
Glass 25.8
 B.V. Venkatarama Reddy, K.S. Jagadish / Energy and Buildings 35 (2003) 129–137
LP cements can provide very effective alternative to
Portland cement, mainly for secondary applications such
as masonry mortar, plastering, base/sub-base for flooring,
etc. A typical LP cement will consists of 30% lime, 60%
pozzolana and 10% calcined gypsum, all three being inter-
ground in a ball-mill. Such cement will have an energy
content of 2.33 MJ/kg.
Aluminium and steel are the two high-energy metals
commonly used in building construction. Even though
aluminium is much lighter than steel, consumes six times
more than the energy of steel per unit weight. The modern
tendency to use aluminium doors and windows can con-
tribute significantly to the energy input into a building.
Consumption of these metals should be kept to a minimum,
in order to keep the energy in a building low.
Glass is another energy intensive material used in build-
ings. Its energy consumption is next to steel, but its density is
much lower than steel.
4.2. Masonry materials
Masonry walls constitute one of the major energy con-
suming components of the building, especially in case of
load bearing masonry structures. Varieties of materials are
used for the construction of masonry walls. Five types of
building blocks viz. stone, burnt clay brick, soil–cement
block, hollow concrete block and steam cured mud block
have been considered for the analysis.
4.2.1. Stone block
Natural building stones have been extensively used for the
building construction in India and elsewhere. In India, stone
blocks are generally produced by splitting the hard natural
stone into convenient sizes. Stone blocks of size approxi-
mately about 180 mm
180 mm
180 mm are generally
termed as size stones in the Indian construction practices.
Only manual labour is employed in bulk of the sizing
operations. Occasionally, very hard and big stones are
reduced to smaller sizes (for the convenience of handling
for further sizing by manual process) using detonators.
Hence, hardly any thermal energy goes into the production
of size stones. However, some energy is spent for transport-
ing stone to the construction site.
4.2.2. Burnt clay bricks
These are very commonly used for building construction.
It is estimated that about 70 billion bricks are produced
in India annually. The common brick size is 230 mm

110 mm
60–75 mm. They require considerable amount
of thermal energy during the burning process. Coal, coal
cinder and firewood are the most commonly used fuels for
brick burning in India. In general, each brick needs either
0.20 kg of coal or 0.25–0.30 kg of firewood for the burning
process. This translates into a thermal energy of 3.75–
4.75 MJ per brick. An average value of 4.25 MJ per brick
(size: 230 mm
110 mm
70 mm) has been considered
131
for the comparison and computation of energy content of
buildings and masonry.
4.2.3. Hollow concrete blocks
These are light weight/low density blocks very commonly
used for the construction of non-load bearing filler walls
in multi-storeyed buildings in India. They are also used for
the construction of load bearing masonry walls to a limited
extent. The basic composition of the blocks consists of
cement, sand and coarse aggregates (6 mm size). The
energy content of the block will mainly depend upon the
cement percentage. Energy spent for crushing of coarse
aggregate will also contribute to the block energy. The
cement percentage generally varies between 7 and 10%
by weight. Quality of the block, particularly compressive
strength is the deciding factor for cement percentage. Energy
content of the hollow concrete block of size 400 mm

200 mm
200 mm will be in the range of 12.3–15.0 MJ.
4.2.4. Soil–cement blocks
These are produced by pressing a wetted soil–cement
mixture into a solid block using a machine (manually
operated or mechanised) and then cured. Soil–cement blocks
produced by employing manually operated machines in a
highly decentralised fashion have become increasingly pop-
ular in India and elsewhere [8,14,16]. Detailed information
on the production, properties and masonry using soil–
cement blocks can be obtained from the studies of Venka-
tarama Reddy and Jagadish [17,18], Venkatarama Reddy [9]
and Srinivasa Rao et al. [22]. Energy content of the blocks
is mainly dependent upon the cement content. Soil–cement
blocks used for the load bearing masonry buildings will
have cement content of about 6–8%. Such blocks will have
an energy content of 2.75–3.75 MJ per block of size
230 mm
190 mm
100 mm.
4.2.5. Steam cured mud blocks
These are lime stabilised blocks using expansive and high
clay soils. They are produced by mixing suitable proportion
of lime, clayey soil and sand and then pressing into a block
of convenient size. The blocks produced in this manner are
cured in a steam chamber at about 80 8C for 10–12 h. The
steaming process accelerates lime–clay reactions and the
block is ready for construction within 2 days after mould-
ing. Studies of Venkatarama Reddy and Lokras [20] give
more details on the production and properties of steam
cured blocks. Steam curing operations involve extra energy
expenditure. Total energy required will be about 6.70 MJ
per block of size 230 mm
190 mm
100 mm using 10%
lime.
Energy content of different types of blocks used for
masonry construction is given in Table 2. The table gives
details of block type, size, energy content, energy per brick
equivalent and percentage of energy with respect to brick
energy. The blocks are of different size; hence they have
been normalised by referring to an equivalent brick size.
132 B.V. Venkatarama Reddy, K.S. Jagadish / Energy and Buildings 35 (2003) 129–137

Table 2
Energy in masonry materials

Type of material Size (mm) Energy in one Energy per brick (Block energy)
brick/blocks (MJ) equivalent (MJ) (brick energy) (%)

Stone block 180
180
180 0 0 0

Burnt clay brick 230
105
70 4.25 4.25 100
Soil–cement block 230
190
100 2.60 (6% cement) 1.00 23.5
230
190
100 3.50 (8% cement) 1.35 31.7
Hollow concrete block 400
200
200 12.30 (7% cement) 1.32 31.2
400
200
200 15.00 (10% cement) 1.62 38.1
Steam cured block 230
190
100 6.70 (10% lime) 2.58 60.6

The following points are clear from the data given in the Table 3
table. Energy in transportation of building materials

Number Type of material Energy (MJ)

1. Stone blocks do not consume any thermal energy,
whereas burnt clay bricks consume maximum amount of Production Transportation
energy among the alternatives shown in the table. 50 km 100 km
2. Soil–cement block with 6% cement is the most energy 3
1 Sand (m ) 0.0 87.5 175
efficient block consuming only 23.5% of burnt clay
2 Crushed aggregate (m3) 20.5 87.5 175
brick energy. 3 Burnt clay bricks (m3) 2550 100 200
3. Soil–cement block and hollow concrete block with 4 Portland cement (tonnes) 5850 50 100
7–8% cement have similar embodied energy values, i.e. 5 Steel (tonnes) 42000 50 100
about 30% of the burnt clay brick energy.
4. Steam cured mud blocks consume about 60% of burnt
of various building materials, along with the energy con-
clay brick energy. This can be attributed to high percen-
sumed in production. Thermal energy spent for natural sand
tage of lime and fuel used for steaming operations.
production is nil, but it requires about 175 MJ of diesel
energy/m3 for transporting it over 100 km distance. Crushed
aggregate consumes about 20 MJ/m3 during its production
5. Energy in transportation of building materials and an additional 400–800% more during transportation
for distances of 50–100 km. The energy spent during trans-
Transportation of materials is a major factor in the cost portation of bricks is about 4–8% of its energy in production,
and energy of a building. Bulk of the building materials in for distances of 50–100 km. Transportation energy required
urban and semi-urban centres are transported using trucks in for hauling high-energy materials such as steel and cement
India. The transportation distance may vary depending upon is marginal when compared to the energy spent during
the location of construction activity. In urban areas, the production.
materials travel anywhere between 10 and 100 km in the
Indian context. Materials such as sand are transported from a
distance of 70–100 km in cities like Bangalore, India. 6. Energy in mortars
Similarly bricks/blocks, crushed aggregate, etc. travel about
40–60 km before reaching a construction site, in urban and Mortar is a mixture of cementitious material and sand. It is
semi-urban centres. used for the construction of masonry as well as plastering.
Cement and steel travel even longer distances, of the order Cement mortar, cement–soil mortar, cement–pozzolana
of 500 km or more. Long haul of cement and steel is handled mortar are used for masonry construction and plastering.
through rail transport. Fancy building materials such as Cement mortar is a common choice for masonry and ren-
marble, paints, etc. are sometimes transported from great dering works. Cement–soil mortar has been used for the
distances (>1500 km) in India. construction of SMB masonry. Cement–pozzolana and LP
Natural sand and crushed stone aggregate consume about mortars can also be used for masonry construction and other
1.75 MJ/m3 for every one km of transportation distance. applications. Total energy content of these four types of
Similarly bricks require about 2.0 MJ/m3 per km travel. mortars is given in Table 4. Details of mortar type, their
Assuming steel and cement are also transported using trucks, proportions and energy content/m3 of mortar are given in
diesel energy of 1 MJ/tonne/km is spent during transporta- this table. The following observations can be made from the
tion. Table 3 gives diesel energy spent during transportation data given in the table.
 B.V. Venkatarama Reddy, K.S. Jagadish / Energy and Buildings 35 (2003) 129–137 133

Table 4 (1:2:6) for soil–cement block masonry and steam cured mud
Energy in mortarsa block masonry, has been considered for calculating the
Type of mortar Proportion of materials Energy/m3 energy content of masonry.
(MJ) Energy content of brick masonry is the highest with a
Cement Soil Sand
value of 2141 MJ/m3. Soil–cement block masonry consumes
Cement mortar 1 0 6 1268 only about one-third of brick masonry energy. Hollow
1 0 8 1006 concrete block masonry requires about 38–45% of the brick
Cement pozzolana mortar 0.8:0.2b 0 6 918 masonry energy. Steam cured mud block masonry consumes
0.8:0.2b 0 8 736 about two-thirds of that needed for brick masonry. Soil–
Cement–soil mortar 1 2 6 849 cement block masonry is the most energy efficient among
1 2 8 773 the alternatives listed in the table.
LP mortar 1 (1:2)c 0 3 732
a
Energy content: Portland cement ¼ 5.85 MJ/kg; sand ¼ 175 MJ/m3;
pozzolana ¼ 1.5 MJ/m3. 8. Energy in different types of floor/roofing systems
b
Cement: pozzolana (0.8:0.2).
c
Lime: pozzolana (1:2). Varieties of alternatives are available for the construction
of roof/floor of a building. Energy content and construction
1. Cement mortar consumes more energy than other types details of some of the roof/floor systems have been discussed
of mortars. in the following sections. These alternative systems have
2. Replacing 20% of cement by pozzolana leads to a 25% been used for construction of buildings in India.
reduction in energy of cement mortar.
3. Dilution of cement mortars by the addition of soil, leads 8.1. Stabilised mud block (SMB) filler slab roof
to more than 25% savings in the energy content of
mortar. It is to be noted here that cement–soil mortars RC solid slab is very commonly used for the floor slab as
are economical and have better characteristics than pure well as roof slab construction. A portion of the material
cement mortars. They have better plasticity, adhesion/ below neutral axis in a solid slab can be replaced by filler
bond leading to higher values of masonry compressive material such as SMB. Use of such filler material can result
strength [19,21]. in reduction in dead weight of RC slab, savings in cost as
4. LP mortar has the lowest energy value when compared well as energy of the roof/floor system. Fig. 1 shows the
with other mortars. ceiling of a SMB filler slab roof. The total energy content of
the materials constituting SMB filler slab is 590 MJ/m2 of
plan area of the slab. This is a floor slab designed as per IS
7. Energy in different types of masonry 456 code [23], for a span of 3.6 m. There will be variations in
energy content for different spans of the slab.
Masonry is an assemblage of masonry units (such as
bricks/blocks) and mortar. Individual volumes of these 8.2. Composite brick panel roof/floor slab
two components in masonry will depend mainly upon the
size of masonry unit. Energy content of masonry should This roof consists of a reinforced brickwork panel sup-
include energy content of masonry units as well as mortar. ported on RC beams as shown in Fig. 2. Size of RC beams
Table 5 gives energy content of 4 types of masonry. Energy/ will depend upon their spacing and roof span. Both the
m3 of masonry as well as equivalent of brick masonry energy panels as well as RC beam can be precast and assembled into
has been reported. Cement mortar (1:6) for brick masonry a roof slab. The energy content of such a slab for 3.6 m span
and hollow concrete block masonry and cement–soil mortar is about 560 MJ/m2 of projected plan area of the slab.

Table 5
Energy in different types of masonry

Number Type of masonry Energy/m3 of masonry (MJ) Equivalent of brick

masonry energy (%)

1 Burnt clay brick masonry 2141 100.0

2 Hollow concrete block masonry 819 (7% cement blocks) 38.3
971 (10% cement blocks) 45.4
3 Soil–cement block masonry 646 (6% cement blocks) 30.2
810 (8% cement blocks) 37.8
4 Steam cured mud block masonry 1396 (10% lime blocks) 65.2
134 B.V. Venkatarama Reddy, K.S. Jagadish / Energy and Buildings 35 (2003) 129–137
Fig. 1. Ceiling of a typical SMB filler slab roof.
8.3. Reinforced concrete (RC) ribbed slab roof
Thin RC slab of thickness 50–60 mm is supported on
small RC beams as shown in Fig. 3. Spacing of RC beams
will be in the range of 0.75–1 m and the size of beams will
depend upon the roof/floor span. This type of roof/floor slab
can have an energy content of 491 MJ/m2 of slab area, for
3.6 m span.
8.4. Masonry vault roof
Fig. 4 shows an unreinforced masonry vault roof. It
consists of a thin masonry vault supported on ring beams
with tie rods. Vault can be constructed using burnt clay
bricks or SMB’s. Total energy/m2 of plan area of the roof
will be 575 and 418 MJ for brick masonry and SMB
masonry vault roofs respectively.
8.5. Ferroconcrete tile roof
Fig. 5 shows a ferroconcrete tile roof. Ferroconcrete tile
can be made locally using thin galvanised iron (GI) wires
and microconcrete. The tile size is about 1:25 m
0:55 m.
These tiles can be supported on wooden rafters. The energy/
m2 of such a roof is 158 MJ.
Fig. 3. Cross-section through a RC ribbed slab roof.
Fig. 2. Ceiling of a typical reinforced brickwork panel roof.
Energy values of different types of floor/roofing systems
are given in Table 6. The table gives energy/m2 of plan area
of roof/floor and an equivalent of RC slab energy. The
following points can be summarised from the data given
in the table.
1. RC solid slab roof/floor consumes highest amount of
energy, whereas ferroconcrete tile roof is the least energy
roof.
2. Use of SMB filler in RC slab leads to about 20%
reduction in energy content.
3. Composite brick panel roof and brick masonry vault
roofs have approximately similar energy values. The
energy content of such roofs/floors is about three-fourth
that of RC slab energy.
4. RC ribbed slab roof system consumes about two-thirds
of energy of RC slab roof/floor. This is another efficient
way of reducing energy of RC solid slab.
5. Brick masonry vault consumes 575 MJ/m2 of plan area,
which is about 80% of RC solid slab energy. Substituting
brick with SMB makes the vault more energy efficient.
6. Mangalore tile roof is one of the least energy consuming
among the traditional roofing systems. Its energy
content is about 30% of the RC slab energy. Ferrocon-
crete tile roof, an alternative to Mangalore tile roof
 B.V. Venkatarama Reddy, K.S. Jagadish / Energy and Buildings 35 (2003) 129–137 135

needs only about 158 MJ/m2, which is 30% less than

that of Mangalore tile roof energy.
The information provided in Table 6 can be used con-
veniently for making a selection of roofing system based on
energy content of the roof/floor system.

9. Energy and choice of building technologies

The energy content of different building materials and

Fig. 4. Unreinforced masonry vault roof.
Fig. 5. Ferroconcrete tile roof building.
Table 6
Energy in different roofs/floor systems (span ¼ 3.6 m)
Number Type of
roof/floor
1 RC slab
2 SMB filler slab roof
3 RC ribbed slab roof
4 Composite brick panel roof
5 Burnt clay brick masonry
vault roof
6 SMB masonry vault roof
7 Mangalore tile roof
8 Ferroconcrete roof
building components such as masonry walls, roofs, floors,
etc. have been discussed in the earlier sections. These energy
values can be integrated into a computation of the total
embodied energy in a building. Total embodied energy of
three types of buildings is given in Table 7. This table gives
details of the building specifications, total energy and an
equivalent quantity of coal. A multi-storeyed building,
conventional two-storeyed load bearing brickwork building
and another two-storeyed building using alternative building
technologies (Fig. 6 shows the photograph) have been
considered here for the purposes of comparison.
Embodied energy of the three buildings given in Table 7 is
based on the actual quantities of materials used for the
construction of these buildings. Energy content of doors
and windows is not considered in the calculations of energy
content of the buildings. Energy/100 m2 of built-up area is
considered for the purposes of comparison. It is clear from
the table that the multi-storeyed building consumes highest
amount of energy of 21 tonnes of coal/100 m2 (or 4.2 GJ/
m2). The two storeyed conventional building with load
bearing brickwork is 30% energy efficient with an energy
of 14.6 tonnes of coal (or 2.9 GJ/m2). The soil–cement block
building with filler slab roof and other alternative materials
is however extremely energy efficient consuming 62% less
energy than multi-storeyed building. The conventional two-
Energy/m2 Equivalent of
storeyed building and the two-storeyed building with alter-
of plan RC solid slab
area (MJ) energy (%) native building technologies have approximately similar
built-up area, but there is a wide difference in the total
730 100.0 embodied energy content. Soil–cement block building has
590 80.8
491 67.3
consumed only 55% (1.6 GJ/m2) of energy when compared
560 76.7 to the conventional brickwork building (2.9 GJ/m2). The
575 78.8 major savings in energy can be attributed to the use of
alternative building technologies such as soil–cement blocks
418 57.3 for walls and SMB filler slab roof/floor.
227 31.1
158 21.6
Total embodied energy is 2.9 GJ and 4.2 GJ/m2 of built-up
area for load bearing brickwork building and a multi-storey

Table 7
Total embodied energy in a building

Type of building and specifications Number of Built-up Total embodied Equivalent amount of
storeyes area (m2) energy/100 m2 (GJ) coal/100 m2 (tonnes)

RC framed structure with infilled burnt clay brick masonry walls 8 5120 421 21
Load bearing brickwork, RC solid slab roof/floor, mosaic floor finish 2 149.5 292 15
Soil–cement block filler slab roof/floor, terracotta tile floor finish 2 160.5 161 8
136 B.V. Venkatarama Reddy, K.S. Jagadish / Energy and Buildings 35 (2003) 129–137
Fig. 6. Two storeyed load bearing soil–cement block masonry building with SMB filler slab roof and floor.
RC building respectively. These values are in close agree-
ment with the energy values of 3–5 GJ/m2 of built-up area
reported by Debnath et al. [4]. Debnath et al. [4] suggest
using alternative materials for reducing the energy content of
buildings. Use of alternative building materials for building
construction has resulted in considerable reduction (50%)
in the embodied energy of the building (reduction from 2.9
to 1.6 GJ/m2).
10. Conclusions
Embodied energy in basic building materials, different
types of masonry materials, mortars, masonry and floor/
roofing systems and the energy expenditure in transportation
of building materials has been discussed in this paper. The
paper focuses on materials and construction techniques as
practised in India. The following broad conclusions emerge.
1. Soil–cement block is the most energy efficient among
the alternative materials for walling, consuming only
one-fourth of the energy of burnt clay brick. Concrete
blocks and steam cured blocks also consume much less
energy during manufacturing process, when compared
to burnt clay brick.
2. Building materials are transported over distances in
excess of 100 km in many urban centres in India. Diesel
energy spent for transportation could be about 5–10% of
energy spent during manufacturing process for burnt
clay bricks. Energy spent in transporting high-energy
materials like steel and cement is negligible when
compared to the energy spent in the manufacture of
these materials.
3. LP mortars have lowest energy content when compared
with other mortars like cement mortar, cement–pozzo-
lana mortar, etc.
4. Energy content of burnt clay brick masonry is 2141 MJ/
m3. Soil–cement block masonry is most energy efficient
at one-third the energy of burnt clay brick masonry.
Concrete block masonry has about 40–45% of energy
content of burnt clay brick masonry.
5. Use of SMB filler blocks in solid RC roof/floor slabs
leads to 20% reduction in energy content. Masonry vault
roofs are more energy efficient than solid RC slab. Tile
roofs have least energy content when compared with
other roofing systems.
6. Embodied energy of multi-storeyed RC framed structure
building is the highest at 421 GJ (21 tonnes of coal
equivalent)/100 m2 built-up area. Building with load
bearing masonry structure using burnt clay bricks and
RC slab has 30% less embodied energy when compared
to RC framed structure building.
7. Use of energy efficient alternative building technologies
can result in considerable reduction in the embodied
energy of the buildings. Load bearing soil–cement block
masonry and SMB filler slab has resulted in 62% reduction
in embodied energy when compared to RC framed struc-
ture building and 45% reduction when compared with
burnt clay brick masonry and RC solid slab building.
The results of the paper give useful tips for selecting an
energy efficient building technology leading to considerable
reduction in embodied energy of the building as a whole. Even
though the results pertain to Indian conditions, many other
developing nations have similar construction practices, where
these results can be conveniently extrapolated and used.
References
[1] A.H. Buchanan, B.G. Honey, Energy and carbon dioxide implications
of building construction, Energy and Buildings 20 (1994) 205–217.
 B.V. Venkatarama Reddy, K.S. Jagadish / Energy and Buildings 35 (2003) 129–137
[2] M. Suzuki, T. Oka, K. Okada, The estimation of energy consumption
and CO2 emission due to housing construction in Japan, Energy and
Buildings 22 (1995) 165–169.
[3] T. Oka, M. Suzuki, T. Konnya, The estimation of energy
consumption and amount of pollutants due to the construction of
buildings, Energy and Buildings 19 (1993) 303–311.
[4] A. Debnath, S.V. Singh, Y.P. Singh, Comparative assessment of
energy requirements for different types of residential buildings in
India, Energy and Buildings 23 (1995) 141–146.
[5] Working document of a project proposal on ‘energy efficient and
renewable energy sources project India’, Document TA3–DA
ARUN–95-001/1PDC, Development Alternatives, New Delhi, 1995.
[6] The Handbook of Housing Statistics (Part 1), National Buildings
Organisation (NBO), New Delhi, India, 1990.
[7] M. Majumdar (Ed.), Energy-efficient Buildings in India, Tata Energy
Research Institute, Ministry of Non-conventional Energy Sources,
Government of India, New Delhi, India, 2001.
[8] K.S. Jagadish, The progress of stabilised soil construction in India,
in: Proceedings of National Seminar on Application of stabilised mud
blocks in Housing and Building, Bangalore, India, November 1988,
pp. 17–43.
[9] B.V. Venkatarama Reddy, Studies on static soil compaction and
compacted soil–cement blocks for walls, Ph.D. thesis, Department of
Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India,
1991.
[10] M.G. Lunt, Stabilised soil blocks for building construction, Overseas
Building Notes no. 184, February 1980.
[11] P. Walker, Strength, durability and shrinkage characteristics of
cement stabilised soil blocks, Cement and Concrete Composites 17
(4) (1995) 301–310.
[12] R. Fitzmaurice, Manual on Stabilised Soil Construction for Housing,
United Nations, New York, USA, 1958.
137
[13] H. Houben, H. Guillaud, Earth Construction: A Comprehensive
Guide, IT Publications, London, UK, 1994.
[14] P. Walker, B. V. Venkatarama Reddy, A. Mesbah, J.-C. Morel, The case
for compressed Earth block construction, in: Proceedings of 6th
International Seminar on Structural Masonry for Developing Countries,
Allied Publishers Ltd., Bangalore, India, October 2000, pp. 27–35.
[15] Energy Directory of Building Materials, Development Alternatives,
New Delhi, India.
[16] K. Mukerji, Soil block presses, Report on Global Survey, German
Appropriate Technology Exchange, Dag-Hammerxjold-Weg 1, 6236
Eschborn, 1986.
[17] B.V. Venkatarama Reddy, K.S. Jagadish, Properties of soil–cement
block masonry, Masonry International 3 (2) (1989) 80–84.
[18] B.V. Venkatarama Reddy, K.S. Jagadish, Influence of soil composi-
tion on the strength and durability of soil–cement blocks, The Indian
Concrete Journal 69 (9) (1995) 517–524.
[19] K. Venumadhava Rao, B.V. Venkatarama Reddy, K.S. Jagadish,
Influence of flexural bond strength on the compressive strength of
masonry, in: Proceedings of the National Conference on Civil
Engineering Materials and Structures, Osmania University, Hyder-
abad, India, January 1995.
[20] B.V. Venkatarama Reddy, S.S. Lokras, Steam-cured stabilised soil
blocks for masonry construction, Energy and Buildings 29 (1998)
29–33.
[21] K. Venumadhava Rao, B.V. Venkatarama Reddy, K.S. Jagadish,
Flexural bond strength of masonry using various blocks and mortars,
Materials and Structures 29 (1996) 119–124.
[22] S. Srinivasa Rao, B.V. Venkatarama Reddy, K.S. Jagadish, Strength
characteristics of soil–cement block masonry, The Indian Concrete
Journal 69 (2) (1995) 127–131.
[23] IS 456-2000, Code of Practice for Plain and Reinforced Concrete,
Bureau of Indian Standards, New Delhi, India.