ABSTRACT Sustainable building (Green building) refers the using of processes that are environmentally friendly and resource efficient from design, construction, operation, maintenance, renovation and demolition. The scope of this paper is to protect the environment by minimizing the use of non renewable construction materials and resources through efficient engineering design, planning and construction. This paper explains the need to select for modifying the design of construction and services to suit Leadership in Energy &amp; Environmental Design (LEED) requirements. Green Building Concept was to save maximum energy and protect our environment leads to sustainability. Compare to normal building the utilities (water and power) requirement for sustainable building was more efficient than normal building

Aravind Kumar

Joshua Amarnath

Sathish S

Vijayanand K

CiteSeerX

ISSN: 0975-8585 
 
September - October 2015  RJPBCS   6(5)  Page No. 1462 
Research Journal of Pharmaceutical, Biological and Chemical 
Sciences 
 
 
 
Evaluation and Comparison of Utility Consumption for the Sustainable and 
Normal building. 
 
Vijayanand K, Aravind Kumar J*, Sathish S and Joshua Amarnath D. 
 
Department of Chemical Engineering, Sathyabama University, Chennai – 600 119, Tamil Nadu, India. 
 
ABSTRACT 
 
 Sustainable building (Green building) refers the using of processes that are environmentally friendly and resource 
efficient from design, construction, operation, maintenance, renovation and demolition. The scope of this paper is to 
protect the environment by minimizing the use of non renewable construction materials and resources through efficient 
engineering design, planning and construction. This paper explains the need to select for modifying the design of 
construction and services to suit Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) requirements. Green Building 
Concept was to save maximum energy and protect our environment leads to sustainability. Compare to normal building 
the utilities (water and power) requirement for sustainable building was more efficient than normal building.  
Keywords: Green building, sustainable, normal building, power, water requirement. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
*Corresponding author 
 
 
ISSN: 0975-8585 
 
September - October 2015  RJPBCS   6(5)  Page No. 1463 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 Electricity consumption by the building sectors is nearly 20% in our country. Development has shifted 
the land usage away from natural, biologically-diverse habitats to landscape that is impervious and devoid of 
biodiversity [1]. Green building practices can possibly reduce or eliminate negative environmental impacts and 
improve existing unsustainable design, construction and operational practices [2]. As an added benefit, eco-
friendly design  reduce the  operating costs, improve  building marketability, increase  worker productivity and 
reduce potential liability which is caused due to   indoor air quality problems [7]. Energy conservation and 
Environment protection has received attention in India long back. The impact of the energy conservation and 
sustainability efforts are felt at a very low mark, as the commercial per capita energy consumption is low in the 
country and efficient end usage devices are costly [5]. The rapid increase in energy demand has caused an 
increased awareness about the economic advantage of energy usage and conservation mainly in the industrial 
and service sectors [10]. The economy underwent a structural expansion and it resulted in expansion of the 
industrial base in the country, and subsequently an increase in demand for energy [12]. Inspite of this there is 
no much expansion in the electricity generation sector which supported an improved effort on green building 
concept [3]. Use of resources to meet our needs without exploiting the resources for future generation is 
known as sustainable development [6]. Green building practices helps to attain sustainable development.  
Now a day’s companies are influenced by globalization and knowledge based economy to set up their 
industries in India. The downstream operations are critical and mainly aimed at Environment protection [4]. 
Hence these companies are instructed to adopt Green Building Standards in the stages of office construction 
and development [5].  Hence the consumers are interested to invest in Green building concept to improve the 
sustainability. Sustainable building have many benefits compared to the normal building such as efficient 
water usage, renewable energy and recycled materials usage effective  building management systems along 
with  improved indoor air quality for maintaining proper health and comfort [8]. Green design helps to reduce 
the operating cost and optimize the life cycle of economic performance such as savings in energy consumption 
and reduces the water consumption [13]. The intangible benefits of Green design include reduction of impact 
on environment and marked enhancement in the occupant comfort and productivity [10]. 
 
Green buildings emphasize greater benefits and the analysis must be broad rather than narrow focus. 
The emphasis must be given in terms of costs rather than the benefits. The need for more data focuses on the 
human and organizational factors. If only both the building and organization are treated as an integrated 
system, the benefits of green building can be realized [5] [2].  it is entirely possible to have a “green” building 
with “gray “ occupants due to lack of systems integration and lack of training . Gray occupants are also more 
likely to be found in buildings that “green” and “gray” organizations provide opportunities for high-level 
benefits resulting from resource efficiency and process innovation throughout the organization [5]. This paves 
way for various advantages such as increased marketing, improved policies and processes to support the 
financial constraints, providing various training to enhance interest towards green building and seeks support 
for Green building and LEED Certification. Also it requires the creation of awareness of green building 
concepts, enhanced effectiveness and development of new ideas on green concepts [2]. The green design 
strategies are efficient use of community resources, pollution prevention and toxic reduction.  
 
METHODOLOGY 
 
It mainly involves the design and analysis of sustainable materials which make an approach to green 
building material and resources.  
 
Water requirement  
 
Water is the main resource for any construction projects. Water is used in construction for mixing and 
curing purposes. Water requirement during construction can be calculated based on water cement ratio of the 
various mix proportion of concrete and cement mortar.   
 
Power requirement  
 
 Thermal transmittance is different in that the heat transfer coefficient is used to solely describe heat 
transfer in wall while thermal transmittance is used to simplify an equation that has several different forms of 
thermal resistances. 
ISSN: 0975-8585 
 
September - October 2015  RJPBCS   6(5)  Page No. 1464 
 
 
 Where, Φ is the heat transfer in watt, U is the thermal transmittance in m
2
 K/W, T1 is the temperature 
on one side of the structure, T2 is the temperature on the other side of the structure in K and A is the area in 
m
2
. The difference in temperature between the inside and outside of the building is at least 5°C. 
 
Seasonal energy efficiency ratio   SEER = BTU / W- hour 
 
 Where, W is the average electrical power in Watts, and (BTU/hour) is the rated cooling power. As per 
Indian climatic condition regular air conditioner used for residential purpose has a range of 5000 - 14000 
BTU/hour. For 6000 BTU/hour air-conditioning unit, with a SEER of 10, would consume 6000/10 = 600 Watts of 
power on average. The electrical energy consumed per year can be calculated as the average power multiplied 
by the annual operating time, which is 600 W × 1000 hr = 600 kW-hr. Assuming 1000 hours of operation during 
a typical cooling season (i.e., 8 hours per day for 125 days per year). Another method that yields the same 
result is to calculate the total annual cooling output: 6000 BTU/h × 1000 h = 6 x 10
6
 BTU. Then, for a SEER of 
10, the annual electrical energy usage would be 6 x 10
6
 BTU / 10 = 600,000 W h = 600 kWh 
 
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 
 
Power required in Sustainable Building during operation  
 
 In our case outer walls were constructed with fly ash brick work rattrap bond which reduces 20% 
bricks and 50% mortar compare with normal building (Table 3.1). Inner walls were constructed with GFRG 
panel which has thermal conductivity is zero. Hence annual electrical energy for cooling is 50 % the actual 
annual power consumption. 600 x 0.5 = 300 kWh   
 
Power required in normal building during operation  
 
 In normal building wall is constructed using brick work of 230 mm thick with required plastering. Brick 
has the thermal conductivity of 0.77 W /mK and resist 0.13 Km²/W. There will be loss in cooling energy. Hence 
the actual annual power consumption = 600 kWh (Fig. 1) 
 
Water requirement   
 
 The water efficiency for sustainable building was 26 m
3
/day (Table 3.2) and for normal building was 
77 m
3
/day (Table 3.3). The power efficiency values during construction for Sustainable and Normal building 
are 3.375 kWh and 9.75 kWh. The power efficiency values during operation for sustainable and normal 
building are 300 kWh and 500 kWh. Water efficiency and power efficiency for Sustainable and Normal 
buildings showed immersive differences. The result of normal building was much greater than that of 
Sustainable building. Sustainable buildings consume 3 times less water during construction process (Fig. 2).  
 
Table 3.1:Thermal conductivity and Resistance value of construction materials 
 
Thickness Material Conductivity Resistance 
- Outside surface - 0.035 K·m²/W 
0.10 m bricks 0.77 W/m·K 0.128 K·m²/W 
0.05 m Glass wool 0.04 W/m·K 1.27 K·m²/W 
0.10 m light concrete blocks 0.30 W/m·K 0.325 K·m²/W 
(bridge,7%) mortar between concrete blocks 0.88 W/m·K 0.106 K·m²/W 
0.01 m plaster 0.57 W/m·K 0.019 K·m²/W 
- inside surface - 0.128 K·m²/W 
0.124 m GFRG unfilled panel  0.358 K·m²/W 
 
 
 
 
 
ISSN: 0975-8585 
 
September - October 2015  RJPBCS   6(5)  Page No. 1465 
Table 3.2 Water required during construction for Sustainable building 
 
S.No Component Qty 
Cement bag 
required / m3 
Cement bag 
required for 
total Qty 
Liter of water 
required / Bag 
Liter of water 
required for total Qty 
1 CC 1:4:8 14.654 3.3 48.3582 47.5 2300.015 
2 Fly ash BW  CM1:4 22.7     
 CM 1:4 for BW 8.166 7.9 64.5114 26.5 1729.552 
3 RCC 1:2:4 10.677 5.7 60.8589 32 1967.485 
4 RCC 1:1:2 0.234 12.2 2.8548 27 79.0796 
  Qty Bricks / m3  Wt. of Fly ash 
Brick + 12% 
water 
absorption 
 
5 Fly ash Bricks 22.7 550  0.33 4150.05 
 10231.18 
Water required for curing & consolidation purpose ≈ 1.5 times the construction      = 15346.77L                                                                         
Total quantity of water required during construction in liter      = 25577.77 L  
  
  
Table 3.2 Water required during construction for a normal building 
 
S.No Component Qty Cement bag 
required / m3 
Cement bag 
required for 
total Qty 
Liter of water 
required / Bag 
Liter of water 
required for total Qty 
1 CC 1:4:8 23.7 3.3 78.21 47.5 3718.975 
2 BW  CM1:4 37.64     
 CM 1:4 for BW 13.54 7.9 106.966 26.5 2839.599 
3 RCC 1:2:4 70.95 5.7 404.415 32 12945.28 
  Qty Bricks / m3  Wt. of Brick + 20% 
water absorption 
 
4 Brick work 37.64 550  0.55 11390.1 
 30890.95 
Water required for curing & consolidation purpose ≈ 1.5 times the construction = 46336.43 
Total quantity of water required during construction = 77227.38 L 
 
 
 
Fig. 1 Power consumption for the Sustainable building and normal building 
ISSN: 0975-8585 
 
September - October 2015  RJPBCS   6(5)  Page No. 1466 
 
 
Fig. 2 Water consumption for the Sustainable building and normal building 
 
 
Fig. 3 Percentage consumption of Utilities 
 
REFERENCES 
 
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[2] Lenzen M, Treloar G, Embodied energy in buildings wood versus concrete, 2002;pp 249–255. 
[3] Robert Omahen, Ecologically Sustainable Development Approaches in the Construction Industry, 
Thesis Faculty of Economics University of Regensburg Germany, 2002;pp3-88/ 
[4] Bureau of Indian Standards, Code of practice for plain and reinforced concrete for general building 
construction IS: 456 ,2000, Page 67 to 76  
[5] Bureau of Indian Standards, Code of practice for structural use of unreinforced masonry IS: 
1905,1987, Page 13 to 2 
[6] Bureau of Indian Standards, SP 16 Design aids For Reinforced Concrete, 1980, page Page 99 to 213 
[7] Bureau of Indian Standards, Code of practice for Design loads for building and structure IS: 875,1987, 
Page 1 to 37 
[8] Dutta BN. Estimation and costing in Civil Engineering, S. Dutta, UBS Publishers Distributers Ltd, 
2009:pp 64- 154 and 472- 482 
[9] Rangwala SC. Building construction, S.B. Patel,  Charorar Publishing House , 2007; pp129-166. 
[10] Ramamrutham S. Design of Reinforced Concrete Structures, R. Narayan, Dhanpat rai Publishing 
Company, 2007,Page no. 500 to 505 
[11] Shetty MS. Concrete technology, R.K. Guptha, Published by S. Chand & Company LTD,  2009; 459- 499 
[12] Varghese PC. Limit State Design of Reinforced Concrete, Ashok K. Ghosh, Prentice Hall of India Privet 
Limited, 2008;pp48-69 and 214-265. 
[13] Vijayabarathi P. Aravind Kumar.J & et al, Eco-friendly material in construction, IJERA, 3(2): 1270-1272. 
 
Streams 
1 – Water 
2- Power 


Evaluation and Comparison of Utility Consumption for the Sustainable and Normal building

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Evaluation and Comparison of Utility Consumption for the Sustainable and Normal building

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