Building Materials Directory Programme- A database of Energy Efficient Building Materials for India

• 24 June, 2020
• National Blogs

Energy is one of the most significant catalysts in wealth generation, economic growth, and social development in all nations. Buildings have a major share in total energy consumption worldwide and therefore, they have a significant impact on environment. According to World Watch Institute data, buildings consume almost 40% of the world’s annual energy consumption. This consumption of buildings can be reduced significantly by implementing energy efficient measures in every stage of building life cycle. In India, more than 30% percent of India’s total electricity is consumed by building sector in accordance with the rapid urbanization. So, there is a growing concern about energy consumption in buildings and its possible adverse impacts on the environment. Building Materials always share a major consumption of energy.Therefore, the amount of energy consumed by materials used in building during their life-cycle is an important parameter in determining the energy efficiency of the building.

Under Indo German Energy Programme,GIZ and Bureau of Energy Efficiency together are working on energy efficiency policies and programmes like Energy Conservation Building Code,Star Labelling of residential buildings etc. which will push energy efficiency into the building sectors in India.For the successful implementation of these policies ,there will be a requirement of database of Energy Efficient building materials which will improve energy efficiency and limit energy consumption in building sector through market forces. Therefore, GIZ and BEE have been developing Building Materials Directory which will consist of thousands of energy efficient building materials that can guide users to choose energy efficient materials in their construction in both commercial and residential sectors.These energy efficient materials will improve building performance for energy improvement. They will give information on the potential of a real energy use of buildings, and furthermore contribution to building owners and administrators on how their building is performing and decreasing the environmental pollution resulted from the construction materials.

Key Features and Benefits

The directory will consist of energy efficient building materials with its technical specifications, manufacturer details and applications. Through this programme, Building material manufacturers and providers, and their associations across India can register their products at free of cost as part of this directory. Different categories of building materials with their product properties like physical, chemical, thermal, environmental ,key technical parameters and their corresponding test standards will be displayed in the directory.

For easy access of everyone, the Building Material Selection Tool-a user friendly interface is being developed so that users can easily search their desired products and get all the details about them. This tool will allow the user to filter the Building Materials Directory according to category of product, use & application, availability at project site as per location.

This tool will include all important Key Performance Indicators and details required for users to make informed choices such as product description, category, use, product ID, Embodied Energy, Energy Savings for different climatic conditions, cost savings, CO2 Savings, cost range of finished product.This tool will also allow the user to contact the manufacturer of the product and access their details like website, email id, authorized dealers, product certifications and availability. From this tool, one can compare the energy savings with respect to other materials in the same category.From this directory, Users can simply quantify energy savings, CO2 savings and money savings, based on choice of energy efficiency measures incorporated by them in their building design and material selection.

This Energy Efficient Building Materials Directory will be integrated to the professional tool of EcoNiwas Website(www.econiwas.com). The huge database will be available in public domain which will help users living in different climatic zones across the country. The users will also get to know about the energy efficient building materials available in their locality and this will lead to create awareness about using Energy Efficient Building Materials and Energy efficiency in buildings in India. Till now, there is no such huge data available in terms of energy efficient building materials in this country. Therefore, it is expected that the directory will provide guidance towards formation of effective policies regarding energy efficiency in this country in the building sector.

-By

Snigdha Devi