Assessment and Reduction of Carbon Footprint of Constructed Model by Proportional Carbon Emission Calculations

Global attention to carbon emissions that are perturbing the environment causing grievous global warming and associated consequences is turning to an individual’s contribution or “carbon footprint”. Carbon footprint is commonly expressed as the total amount of greenhouse gases (GHG) produced directly or indirectly as a result of an activity. It has become an indicator for sustainable development in numerous sectors including the construction industry. While there have been several studies documenting calculators that estimate the carbon footprint of individual activities, the literature describing the process of carbon footprint calculations for construction industry remains limited. In the effort to reduce the carbon footprint of a constructed model, this project presents a tool developed by the Environment Agency that assesses the carbon footprint via proportional carbon emission calculations. The carbon calculator relies on primary data collected from a construction project and three components of a constructed model; wall, floor and column. The carbon footprint of the construction project and the materials used for each component of the constructed model are then assessed thoroughly. Consequently, construction materials such as green concrete, green brick, cement brick and bamboo play an important role in reducing the total carbon footprint of a project with carbon emissions of 1.8 tCO2e, 3.6 tCO2e, 3.2 tCO2e and 0.2 tCO2e respectively. In addition, a set of guidelines based on Best Management Practices (BMP) is established to be adopted in construction sites with the aim to reduce the carbon emission significantly.