Green Route: Low Cost, Energy Efficient Housing

Abstract

Buildings have evolved with humans but the construction industry has tremendous amount of foot print on Earth’s resources. Sustainability in modern day pushes towards sustainable construction systems. Many developed countries have introduced environment friendly construction techniques. This is an opportunity for developing countries to take the road towards sustainable development. The project conducts a comparative study between traditional masonry construction system used in Pakistan and Structural Concrete Insulated Panel (SCIP) construction system. SCIP being an advance and efficient system is successfully used in most European countries. The project aims to determine the feasibility of SCIP system in Pakistan and draw a comparison in terms of structural stability, construction time, energy requirement and cost, highlighting benefits of SCIP over masonry system. Based on a market survey, a 3D architectural model of a two story 10 Marla house is developed. SAP and ETabs software are used for structural analysis. Scheduling for both systems is done using Primavera P6. Energy analysis is done using Design Builder software based on Energy Plus. Based on market rates, Bill of Quantities is developed for both systems. Lifecycle cost analysis is performed using real data of utility expenses. Findings reveal that SCIP performs 20% better in terms of upfront cost and 35% better in terms of energy requirement. It can be concluded that if used for construction of residential buildings, SCIP has advantages in terms of lower costs and energy requirements along with reduced construction time and improved quality. It is the sure path towards sustainable development.