Sustainable Development in Affordable

Housing: A Review of Literature

Rajesh Kumar1, Vanita Aggarwal2, S.M. Gupta3
1
Ph.D. Research Scholar, M.M (Deemed to be University), Mullana, , India

Civil Department, M.M (Deemed to be University), Mullana, India

2

3
Department of Civil Engineering, NIT Kurukshetra, India

Corresponding Author: raj1rathee@gmail.com

ABSTRACT—Sustainable Development is one of the most trending topics all over the
globe which is proposed to reduce the significant impact of the construction industry on the
environment, society and economy. Several developed nations have embraced the Green
Building Construction considering the most affirmative solution to the conservation of their
natural resources, less consumption of energy and minimize the construction negative
impacts on the climate and environment. Sustainability in Affordable Housing construction is
a crucial issue since the last two decade as the building construction sector, directly or
indirectly cause a considerable portion of the annual deterioration of environment. Due to
increase in homes’ demand, increasing to consumption of more resources, energy and raw
materials which are directly responsible for the rise in polluted content in air and which are
majorly harmful to the environment and human health. A critical review of literature has
been conducted exploring the implementation of the Green Building Construction (GBC) in
India which consists of relevant works of sustainability in construction materials, building
rating tools and the comparative studies, with goal to optimize design effort. This study also
takes considerations of the green building evaluation tools for rating the performance of
different buildings include Comprehensive Assessment System for Built Environment
Efficiency (CASBEE), Leadership in Energy and Environmental Development (LEED),
GRIHA, Green Building Tool (GB Tool), Building Research Establishment Environmental
Assessment Method (BREEAM). This rating will persuade the constructors to work more in
the direction of constructing more efficient green buildings and convert the old building to a
green building.

Keywords—Sustainable Development, GBC, GB Tools, Construction materials,

Environmental Assessment

I. Introduction
A Green Building is a structure that is planned in such a manner to manufacture remodelled
worked or reused in a biological and asset effective way. Green buildings are designed in
such a way to meet certain objectives such as protecting occupant health; using water, energy
and other more efficient resources and reducing the impact on environment. Energy and
material consumption in buildings can contribute significantly to global climate change. The
residential sector has the highest energy consumption amongst all sectors. Consequently,
addressing energy efficiency in housing by providing comfortable environments that reduce
the need for mechanical cooling and heating is essential. The price of energy has raised as a
result of the depletion of fossil fuel supply all around the globe. In response, countries around
the world have established sustainable strategies through the creation of policy instruments.
Almost all the sectors including business, manufacturing, construction, transportation have
included sustainable strategies into their existing business plans to ensure environmental
safety [33]. According to researchers and scientists, one of the ways to diminish the harm to
the environment is to make buildings sustainable and energy effective. When it comes to the
design stage, the architect designs the building through advanced tools which predicts,
calculates and estimates the environmental performance characteristics of a building [34].
The environmental assessment tools for buildings have been developed to provide an
objective evaluation of indoor environmental quality, resource use, and ecological loadings,
etc.[35]. These tools present various methods to define criteria of green buildings. The
primary blueprint behind green building embraces efficient abate in consumption of water,
energy and other resources, recycling of wastes and fortifying health of occupants. Green
building uses alternate energy sources like solar energy that is renewal of electrical energy
during daytime. Rain water harvesting systems are used in green building in such a way that
water is efficiently reused before final disposal. A Green building is an energy efficient
building which optimizes water use, partially relies on natural sources of energy, generates
less waste and provides a better indoor air quality for its occupants. It results in enhanced
comfort level and productivity of its occupants.

II. Literature survey

Wasilah et. al. in 2019 studied the design process methods that involve a green building and
design with nature principles implementation in the structural design, site plan, natural energy
to maintain the building natural and thermal lighting, and also managed rainwater
management to optimize the green materials, resort function, and prevent the residual
material. From the study, it was explained that the lakeside resort which is based on green
building and design with nature principles increase the potential view and sustainability of
Matano lake’s environment.[25]
Hammond et. al. in 2019 studied the gap between the acceptance of the green construction
agenda and its slow adoption and implementation. From a behavioural economics viewpoint,
we apply insights from game theory, particularly, the ‘Stag Hunt’ game model to explain the
individual building construction stakeholder’s decision-making process in order to
understand how costs, risks, market structures and regulations can create barriers to general
adoption and implementation of green construction. Furthermore, we examine how
knowledge and information a symmetry further complicate these issues. It was concluded that
this model is more efficient. [12]
Sunita Bansal et. al. in 2018 studied that green building trends now a days, gives a major
emphasis in today’s world. To examine whether the particular building is green or not, many
criterions are designed by the governing organization for the building to examine the
increasing practice of green building. Each country has owned its different criterions called
rating system, which is different as per the category like for the existing building and newly
constructed building. These parameters can be estimated based on energy efficiency,
material, water efficiency, health, etc. In India basically GRIHA and GBCI are followed, in
China, ESGB are followed while UK has BREEAM. The present paper overviewed the
different aspects also of existing green building rating systems used in different countries.
[26]
Chandra Shekhar Singh et. al. in 2018 proposed a Green building concept that in broader
terms involves a building designed, built, operated and maintained with objectives to protect
occupant health, improve employee productivity, wise use of natural resources and reduce the
environmental impact. This process focuses on the overall impact of the building on the
environment including the design, construction, operation & maintenance phases,
development efficiency, resource efficiency etc. The green buildings design should thus
begin with the selection of eco-friendly materials and also the use of eco-friendly materials.
New material applications, reuse and reusing, maintainable items, cautious choice of eco-
accommodating feasible structure materials and utilization of green assets, can be the
quickest method to begin coordinating manageable plan ideas in structures.
Sabnis and Pranesh et. al. in 2016 explained the impact of energy of commonly used three
formwork systems in India and also briefed their inductions as far as collaboration esteems. All
around association regard was taken as logarithmic total of three affiliation regards. It was seen
that ordinary formwork with steel floor plates showed total correspondence estimation of 90254
for each square meter of advancement zone when diverged from the estimations of 31781 and
30490 of improvement domain for formwork systems with squeezed wood and aluminium floor
plates. Along these lines, supreme essentialness impact can be diminished by about 33% by
picking aluminium formwork rather than customary formwork. [17]
Joel Ann Todd et. al. in 2015 stated that Green Building Challenge (GBC) was considered
to push the bleeding edge of building execution examination, through the testing,
improvement, and discuss an assessment structure, criteria and instrument. Unlike other
proprietary assessment systems, GBC was not designed for such application to specific
commercial markets. The job of GBC from the most recent five years have been to give a
reference technique, structure, and instruments that can be utilized to advancement of new
frameworks.[47]
Tayyab Ahmad et. al. in 2015 stated that sustainability of a building is subjected to rational
use of green-building systems and techniques. To achieve user comfort, long-term economic
benefits, health and environmental protection and designers must optimize combinations of
particular techniques and systems. To optimize design effort’s goal, this research targets to
propose different methodologies to incorporate several green-building systems and
techniques in design process. To focus on semi-arid climatic conditions, interviews were
conducted from building practitioners and researchers who help express design priorities.
Simultaneously, a model is proposed to integrate of all three sustainability dimensions as
design criteria in simulation programs of buildings, facilitating the realization of green-
building design. [19]
Cesar A. Poveda et.al. in 2014 explored the potential benefits of implementing
environmental and sustainability rating systems (ESRS) in industrial sectors other than the
building industry. The increasing demand for natural resource exploration and exploitation
has generated greater attention to the impact of such activity on both the organization and its
stakeholders. One solution to mitigate the negative impacts is to regulate it through
government agencies and legal requirements. While providing general guidelines, these
processes often provide little practical help for firms to address triple bottom line goals in
sustainability. More recently, a variety of environmental and sustainability rating tools have
been developed to assist firms in making decisions that best fit these goals. This paper
outlines potential benefits that the industries could realize in choosing to use such tools for
the assessment of sustainability performance. [27]
Ahmed et.al. in 2014 studied a crucial review of literature which explored the GBC
implementation in Ghana. Through the review, the research over viewed the present status of
the practice in Ghana as well as the drivers responsible for this current state. These drivers’
implications in the Ghana construction industry are discussed as well. For an increased
upliftment of the concept in Ghana and Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), key measures to ensure
rapid uptake are recommended to include; awareness and publicity campaign, a national
education, the imposition of mandatory government policies and regulations and the
provision of financial based incentives and market-based incentives amongst others.[2]
Kushagra Varma et. al. in 2014 proposed that buildings are one of the biggest consumers of
energy and producer of greenhouse gases. According to the NIBS (USA), buildings generate
35% of the CO2, 49% of the SO2, and 25% of the NO found in the air. It has imposed an
immediate requirement to not only think of but to implement sustainability in every new
construction instantly. Green Buildings subscribe to the principle of conscientious handling
of natural resources, which means causing as little environmental interference as possible by
using environment friendly materials and utilizing renewable sources of energy. This paper
focuses on green design as a vital transformation of contemporary architecture practiced in
developing nations [42]
Farzad Jalaei et. al. in 2014 studied that the building energy consumption is quite high as
compared to normal; therefore, a great concern needs to be shown about the sustainability
and energy performance of building projects. For years, to design energy efficient buildings,
energy analysis tools (EAT) have been used. Building Information Modelling (BIM) has the
capability to help users assess different design alternatives, select vital energy strategies and
systems at the conceptual design stage. Designers are able to select the right type of materials
in the design stage by using BIM tools. The primary goal of this investigation is to propose a
procedure that links EAT and BIM with green building certification system. It will help
designers identify and measure potential loss or gain of energy for different design
alternatives and calculate the potential points of LEED they may accumulate and gain and
accordingly select the best one. [27]
Santamouris and Kolokotsa et. al. in 2013 extensively discuss the application of passive
cooling strategies which considerably reduce the thermal impact by providing excellent
indoor air quality and thermal comfort with very low energy consumption. The three main
passive cooling methods discussed are; using ground as heat sink, evaporative cooling system
and lastly, the method of night ventilation or nocturnal convective cooling. Thus, it is of
paramount importance to adopt passive strategies as alternative to existing air conditioning
during design stage of buildings. [19]
Sagheb et. al. in 2011 resulted from the study that in a building construction, you can
substitute conventional material by alternative materials with low embodied energy. low
energy alternative materials importance was also admitted. Based on case study, they
concluded that by taking up low energy construction materials, one third reduction in carbon
dioxide emission is feasible. Block type Embodied Energy (MJ) Size (mm) Hollow Concrete
Blocks (HCBs) 12.5 to 15 400 x 200 x 200, Burnt Clay Bricks (TMBs) 4.25 230 x 110 x 75,
Stabilized Mud Blocks (SMBs) 2.75 to 3.75 230 x 190 x 100 Steam Cured Mud Blocks
(SCMBs) 6.7 230 x 190 x 100 46. [18]
Shahriar Shams et. al. in 2011 declared that building makes a large-scale contribution to
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by emitting nearly 40% of carbon dioxide. Different types
of construction materials emitCO2 at different magnitudes. Selection of appropriate
construction materials can considerably curtail CO2 emissions and make our buildings more
sustainable and energy efficient. The study is an attempt to address the issues of sustainable
construction and how selection of construction materials can reduce CO 2 emissions. A case
study for a typical house of 90 m2area was analysed to see the variation ofCO2.It has been
observed from the case study that construction materials like aluminium and steel should be
less encouraged as compared to glass and timber. [20]
Sinem Korkmaz et. al. in 2010 stated that green buildings of high performance require close
building systems integration with an extraordinary spotlight on day lighting, vitality and
material investigation during their plan forms. This paper depicts a case study of the
integrated design process of an Early Childhood Learning Centre which is performed by a
team of university students and faculty. A key decision of process modelling approach,
required consultants, and virtual prototypes of the building was used during the stages of
design development of the case study. This case demonstrates that process modelling and
visualisation tools were used to give a precise information system for integrated teams.
Through this experience, visualization tools and process modelling were seen as valuable
components to accomplish superior structure objectives and diminish configuration process
squander. [33]
Daniel Castro-Lacouture et. al. in 2008 explained buildings cause a remarkable impact on
environment which is continuously increasing, firstly, due to the emission of major
proportion of carbon and secondly, because of using a noteworthy number of energy
resources. The development of green structure rose to limit these impacts and improved the
structure development process. This effect ought to bring huge monetary, ecological, money
related, and social advantages. So as to help the determination of the correct materials, this
examination proposes a mixed entire number upgrade model that joins spending plan and
structure confinements while enhancing the amount of credits came to under the Leadership
in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system. [30]
Huberman and Pearlmutter et.al. in 2008 depicted about the vitality utilization by the
materials utilized in development of a casing devour about half of the absolute vitality
devoured by a structure and by utilizing elective low exemplified vitality building materials,
for example, soil concrete squares, empty solid squares, fly debris blocks and so forth instead
of vitality concentrated structure materials, for example, strengthened concrete, about 20%
sparing can be accomplished. These views are in consistent with studies carried out by [3],
[36]. Thormark 2001 and 2002, and Blengini 2009 observe that energy consumption can be
diminished by the use of recycled materials. [31]
Richard N. LACROIX et. al. in 2007 overviewed the concept of “Green Building” or “Green
Architecture”. They examined the relative terms, the efficiency and the functionality of their
application through references to international practices (Asia, Europe, USA) and techniques
of eminent green builders and green designers. [28]
Reddy and Jagadish et. al. in 2003 suggesting alternative materials to enable reduction in
consumption of vitality, saw that brick work comprises a significant segment in a structure
development. In Indian setting, they did ponder on five innovations of building and looked at
the utilization of vitality for each situation. They concluded that, stones use up least energy in
the manufacturing process however; some energy is used during transportation of stones to
site. They also observed, Cement is also one of the high energy consuming construction
materials with an average consumption of energy 5.85 MJ/kg. [16]
Rebecca C. Retzlaff 2009 studied that the motivation behind this article is to furnish
organizers with a prologue to the idea of green structures and building evaluation frameworks
and to distinguish and investigate the significant topics in the writing as they identify with
arranging. Six topics are recognized: scope, weighting, subjectivity, thoroughness,
adjustment, and life cycle examination. Organizers have started to create and actualize green
structure arrangements and projects, in spite of the fact that there is a lot of space for
development of the job of arranging in green structure issues. The article finishes up by
illustrating an expansive research motivation that can help move the exchange of the job of
arranging in green structure issues forward. Arranging needs to play a progressively self-
assured job in green structures to add more breadth to the issue. [29]
Kevern, J. T. 2011 discussed about a system for consolidating practical structure/thinking as
another structural building course and encounters from the pilot offering. Significant
territories are plot to help all designers in understanding maintainability in setting with
conventional building standards. Green-building rating frameworks were utilized to present
the ideas of supportability in structures and foundation, featured by introductions from green-
building experts. By giving a superior comprehension of supportability through training,
structural specialists can give proactive answers for a developing worldwide foundation.[32]

Conclusion summary
Energy usage, environment, mindful building design have become high priorities. The merits
of green design are to provide buildings sustainable with environment to society in general
and building owners or users in particular. The development of such Green buildings results
in minimized devastation of natural habitats as well as bio-diversity, decreased air pollution
and water pollution, lower water consumption, and enhanced user productivity. It is certainly
relevant that all our future buildings should be designed to function as “Green buildings”.
The necessity of these buildings is rising on daily basis stimulating the need of novel and
better ways of construction. This includes the use of new and sustainably improved materials
of construction and application of new and developed techniques for construction.

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