Embodied Energy Assessment of Walling Systems Using Life Cycle Approach for Housing Sector in India

The purpose of this study is to assess the embodied energy emissions of walling systems used in dwelling units of India over a reference period of 50 years. The Life Cycle Assessment is undertaken within the system boundary of cradle to gate, as defined in standard ISO 14044. Preliminary work showed that the non-availability of databases for Indian materials and products makes it necessary to adopt a robust framework that deals with sensitivity and uncertainty analysis of the results. The results show the emerging walling systems that are industrially manufactured are more energy-intensive than existing walling systems. The embodied contribution by walling materials alone in these systems is 1.11–1.41 GJ/m2 which is 8.6–10.8% while overall operational energy using these systems is 11.70–11.78 GJ/m2 during its service life.