International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology (IJCIET)

Volume 8, Issue 5, May 2017, pp. 949–959, Article ID: IJCIET_08_05_103

Available online at http://www.iaeme.com/IJCIET/issues.asp?JType=IJCIET&VType=8&IType=5
ISSN Print: 0976-6308 and ISSN Online: 0976-6316

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REDUCTION OF OPERATIONAL
ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION AND CARBON
DIOXIDE EMISSIONS OF A SMALL
RESIDENTIAL BUILDING USING BIM TOOL
AND IES VE WITH GREEN MATERIALS
Kavuri Sai Chandra Chowdary
Post Graduate Student, School of Civil Engineering,
SASTRA University, Thanjavur, Tamilnadu, India

G I Gunarani
Associate Professor II, School of Civil Engineering,
SASTRA University, Thanjavur, Tamilnadu, India

ABSTRACT
Every building is constructed with a series of components which have a role in
thermal dissipation. A sustainable building is constructed using the materials which
can reduce the Environmental impacts, increase the Energy savings. Building
Information Modeling proved effective in thermal analysis of a building virtually
during the design stage. The main aim of the project was to assess the various
combinations of materials using BIM tool and to show the difference in Electricity
consumption and CO2 emissions while using the conventional materials and the Green
certified materials. The amount of Electricity consumed and CO2emitted by a small
residential building in Tiruchchirappalli, Tamilnadu, India were evaluated using Revit
Architecture 2015 and Integrated Environment Systems VE software. The evaluation
was done to show which materials helped in giving a better annual energy
performance of the building and their comparison. At the end, alternative materials
available for sustainable construction and the rating systems available for small
residential constructions in India, material weightage in rating systems are analyzed.
Key words: Energy efficiency, CO2 emissions, Green materials, Green rating systems.
Cite this Article: Kavuri Sai Chandra Chowdary and G I Gunarani, Reduction of
Operational Electricity Consumption and Carbon Dioxide Emissions of a Small
Residential Building Using BIM Tool and IES VE with Green Materials.
International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology, 8(5), 2017, pp. 949–959.
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 Kavuri Sai Chandra Chowdary and G I Gunarani

1. INTRODUCTION
Electrical consumption has increased in all sectors due to increase in the population and the
appliances available to meet the needs of the people. By far, the USA’s electrical demand is
the highest when compared to that of other countries. Developed countries have more
facilities which create huge demand of electrical consumption when compared to developing
and under developed countries. The construction industry is a major consumer of electricity
and also contributes to major GHG emissions throughout the world. Residential buildings are
supposed to be the largest consumers of electricity generated in all the countries. The rules for
efficient use of electricity are provided for commercial constructions in all countries
including India. However, rules for residential constructions are not followed in most cases in
India. The total electricity generated in India in the year 2016-17 is 1,236 billion kWh, which
is 5.81% higher than that of the previous year. The total consumption of electricity for the
fiscal year ending on 31 march 2016, was estimated at 10,31,642 GWh, out of which 22.97%
was consumed by the residential sector. Total per capita consumption increased to 1074.65
kWh in 2016 from 1010 kWh in 2015.
Thermal dissipation of the building components has an effect on the operational
electricity consumption. Using proper thermal insulation methods can reduce the operational
energy and GHG emissions of the building. In thermal insulation of a building, materials play
a key role. The concept of green buildings has been developed to increase the efficiency of
the buildings’ ‘Energy Envelope’ and can help to reduce their impacts on environment. There
are passive energy buildings, natural buildings and Zero Energy buildings which are proved
to be more efficient than green buildings. When a building has an ultra-reduced Energy
consumption and GHG emissions, it is a passive energy building and if it is reduced to zero
then it is a net zero building. Reduction of operational energy should be the main concern for
the architects in the designing of the building and also for the construction engineers while
selecting the materials.
Energy performance analysis of the buildings is comparatively a difficult task. It requires
detailed interactions among the building, the HVAC systems and the surrounding weather
conditions. To understand the dynamic behavior of the weather conditions and the building
energy performance requires the aid of computers. This data generated by the computer can
be used in preparing suitable design. The disadvantage of this method is that it requires
detailed information of each and every component in the computer simulations.
Bureau of Energy Efficiency introduced several policies to increase the energy efficiency
of the new commercial buildings and also for the existing buildings. Almost 75% of the new
commercial buildings would be energy efficient by the end of 12 th five year plan. However,
residential buildings are not considered in these policies.
The resources utilized in the construction sector create a huge amount of CO 2 emissions
which is 22% of the total annual emissions in the country. The government of India took up
some measures to reduce the annual carbon footprint in construction sector and also given
priority in the twelfth five year plan. Even though with all these initiatives, lack of knowledge
and research in this field is major factors in reducing the implementation of these policies in
almost all states of India.
The effective decisions regarding the design of the sustainable buildings are those that are
made in pre-construction stages. Decisions made after this stage might lead to inefficient fund
management. In order to assess the performance of the building in the early design phases, a
comprehensive set of knowledge about the materials and technical systems is required.
Building Information modeling (BIM) is multidisciplinary information modeling which
can incorporate every kind of information within one model. It allows the user to perform the

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 Reduction of Operational Electricity Consumption and Carbon Dioxide Emissions of a Small
Residential Building Using BIM Tool and IES VE with Green Materials

energy analysis and helps to maintain the sustainable measures throughout the operation of
building construction.
The main purpose of this study is to identify several materials which can help in reducing
the amount of annual operational energy and GHG emissions with no changes in the design
of the building. The role of materials in decreasing the operational energy and GHG
emissions can be identified. The energy efficiency of the buildings depends not only on their
design but also on the materials used in the construction. It implies that the materials play an
important role in the energy efficiency of the buildings.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW
Many researches have focused on improving the energy efficiency in the buildings. It has
been concluded that carbon mitigation strategies should target operational energy
consumption as well as the hidden energy consumed in the manufacture and assembly of
building materials and components. The importance of a designer’s role in selecting
appropriate ‘green’ materials is highly stressed [1]. A study has proved that the embodied
energy and embodied carbon of a residential NZEB depends on the manufacturing of the
construction materials. The study has highlighted the importance of considering the materials
in improving buildings energy efficiency [4].
In practice, architects must meet the demands of the clients and the occupants of the
building in energy efficiency [2]. In developing countries like India, the regulations to meet
the minimum energy efficiency requirements in buildings are not followed properly. Hence
the constructions firms are employing design teams to do better than just meeting the legal
requirements.
The total direct emissions of CO2 are only 7% in residential sector and the remaining are
indirect emissions which includes electricity generation, manufacturing and cement industry
etc. The emissions of CO2 depend upon the life style of the people which has a wide gap in
between the urban and the rural areas [13].
There is also need for better data regarding the E-CO2 intensity of different building
materials and measures to reduce these across the board and further research is needed to the
establish the relative merits of thermal mass with respect to lifecycle CO2 emissions.
Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computer systems to assist in the creation,
modification, analysis, or optimization of a design. The integration of BIM-LCA has mainly
been developed in new buildings or projects. It is confirmed in 90% of case studies; its utility
from early stages of design has been mostly recognized. The limitations in BIM software for
the building modeling, and in several building elements and materials have also been
identified. The integration of environmental data in Energy Demand Calculation Software
linked to BIM cases is recommended for use in those which calculate few environmental
indicators and apply a partial LCA [3]. There is wide variation across regions in the overall
extent and nature of involvement with sustainable procurement in the public sectors. Some
areas of sustainability in procurement are relatively neglected [5]. Public procurement
policies can influence private-sector purchasing decisions in a way that reinforces underlying
policy goals. Governments are especially large customers in the construction services sector
[7]. The construction management costs are twice as large when using traditional design-bid-
build as compared to when using in-house construction forces. Some form of cost
performance measure of maintenance and operations costs, as a low initial construction cost
can easily be offset by large on-going life-cycle costs. The finding of differences in the mean
PDRI values between green and conventional projects in each category will be useful for
practitioners initiating sustainable projects which can help the practitioners to initiate the

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 Kavuri Sai Chandra Chowdary and G I Gunarani

sustainable constructions [6]. Government should raise awareness on the green products so
that suppliers would choose greener products in supply, and would make the clients to adopt
the green materials in construction. Low income houses are more likely to be affected by the
impacts of carbon emissions, so urban infrastructure should be developed to enable low
carbon growth [12].
The major challenges in adopting green building construction in India are that people are
not aware of the benefits of materials, technology. Use of natural and/or low energy recycled
insulation materials is expected in near future. Such materials provide a similar or higher
level of insulation and thermal comfort in buildings, as compared to synthetic insulation [9].
Building sectors are utilizing a major part of energy generated and contributing to carbon
dioxide emissions. New mitigation strategies are required to minimize the impacts of these
buildings on the environment and creating healthy environment in future [10].

3. METHODOLOGY
A 700 square feet residential building is designed in Revit Architecture software with a living
room, kitchen, bedroom, bathroom. Each room is created as a zone for creating energy
surfaces in the building, without creating zones it would be difficult to import to gbxml file.
After creating zones, gbxml file is generated in Revit software and gbxml file is saved.IES
VE (Integrated Environmental Systems Virtual Environment) software is used for the Energy
analysis of the building. The gbxml file is imported in to the IES VE software for analysis.
The data on the conventional materials already preserved in the software itself would make
the process easy but the data about other materials are to be edited in the software for
analysis. The information about each material is added to the software by adding their
dimensions, thermal conductance, type of use in the building etc. Fan coil system is adopted
as HVAC system and lightning is adopted. ASHRAE 8am- 6pm operation profile is used for
plant load, no heating profile is adopted. Occupancy of 4 people is considered in the analysis.
After adding all the materials required for the analysis each combination of materials is
selected in the construction of the building. Using the Apache thermal analysis, electricity
consumption and CO2 emissions of the building are measured for each combination of
materials.
Charts and value tables are generated for the Electricity consumption and CO 2 emissions
through a year cycle, maximum value charts are also generated.

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 Reduction of Operational Electricity Consumption and Carbon Dioxide Emissions of a Small
Residential Building Using BIM Tool and IES VE with Green Materials

Figure 1 Procedure of the analysis

Figure 2 Daily visualisation of sunpath with respect to the building

Figure 3 Annual sunpath diagram in tiruchchirapalli

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 Kavuri Sai Chandra Chowdary and G I Gunarani

Figure 4 Design model in Revit Architecture’15

4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

4.1. Description
Electrical consumption and carbon dioxide emissions of a residential building are measured
for an annual cycle using different combinations of materials in the building using the REVIT
Architecture and IES VE software. Comparison between the consumption of electricity and
CO2 emissions are done with the adopted combinations of materials.

4.2. Materials Adopted for Analysis

Electricity consumption is compared with different combinations of the materials adopted in
the design.

Table 1 Materials adopted in the analysis

Conventional Green certified IGBC adopted
materials materials materials
External wall Brickwork single leaf Nucon blocks Brick work with
with dense plaster perlicon plaster
Roof 4’ light weight Concrete slab with 4’ light weight
concrete Flex o boards concrete slab with
Insulitte concrete
Ceiling 4’ light weight Aerocon c boards Vermiplast
concrete with false
ceiling
Internal partition walls 230 mm single leaf Aerocon panels 230 mm single leaf
brick (plastered) brick (plastered)
Floor Passive floor with no Passive floor with no Nodullar concrete
insulation or vinyl insulation or vinyl

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 Reduction of Operational Electricity Consumption and Carbon Dioxide Emissions of a Small
Residential Building Using BIM Tool and IES VE with Green Materials

4.3. Electrical Consumption

Table 2.Comparison of electricity consumption obtained from the analysis in IES VE software

Conversion factor,
1 Mbtu = 1000 Btu = 0.2937kWh
Comparison of Annual consumption of Electricity in MBtu,
111.998(conventional)>58.621(green certified)>43.563(IGBC preferred) MBtu
Comparison of Annual consumption of Electricity in kWh,
32.8181(conventional)>17.183(green certified)>12.7878(IGBC preferred) kWh

4.4. Percentage of Reduction

The amount of consumption of Electricity of the building while using conventional materials
is made as a base value to measure the reduction in consumption,
 When replaced with green certified materials, 47.64% of reduction in annual consumption is
observed.
 When replaced with the materials preferred by IGBC, 61.03% of reduction in annual
consumption is observed.

120

100

80

60
ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION

kWh
40 Mbtu

20

0
Conventional Green certified IGBC materials
materials materials

Figure 4 Electricity comparison in both KWh and MBtu (British Thermal Unit)

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 Kavuri Sai Chandra Chowdary and G I Gunarani

4.5. Carbon Dioxide Emissions

Table 3 Comparison of annual CO2 emissions obtained from the analysis in IES VE software

Conversion of quantity,
1 pound = 0.4535 kg
Comparison of Annual emissions of CO2 in pounds,
37618(conventional)>20021(Green certified)>15069(IGBC certified) lbCO2
Comparison of Annual emissions of CO2 in Kg,
17063(conventional)>9081(Green certified)>6835(IGBC certified) kgCO2
Percentage of reduction:
The amount of emissions from the building while using conventional materials are taken
as base value and percentage of reduction is calculated,
 When materials are replaced with the Green certified materials, 46.78% of reductions in
emissions is observed.
 When materials are replaced with the IGBC preferred materials, 59.94% of reduction in
emissions is observed.

40000
35000
30000
25000
CARBON DIOXIDE EMISSIONS

20000
lbCO2
15000
KgCO2
10000
5000
0
Conventional Green certified IGBC materials
materials materials

Figure 5 Annual emissions of CO2 in lbCO2 and KgCO2

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 Reduction of Operational Electricity Consumption and Carbon Dioxide Emissions of a Small
Residential Building Using BIM Tool and IES VE with Green Materials

4.6. Rating systems

1. In IGBC rating system, Materials account for 13 points. Energy reduction range from 1-10
points. Indoor Environment quality account for 15 points. Reducing GHG account for 1 point.
2. In SvaGRIHA rating system, Materials account for 10 points. Energy efficiency for 7
points. Adoption of green account for 4 points.
One can infer from the results obtained that‘energy efficiency’ and reduction in CO2
emissions can be achieved with the change in material adopted in construction. The number
of points determines the rating of the building either in IGBC or SVAGRIHA system. One
can be obtain the optimum number of points through the selection of various green materials
available. This number helps in obtaining star rating from 1 to 5 in SVAGRIHA system or
silver/gold/platinum rating in IGBC system. Although the green materials account for about
40% of the total rating points, the overall rating depends on the other factors like appliances,
water efficiency, renewable energy utilization and ventilation also. That is to say that the
green materials play a major role in rating a building for its energy efficiency.

5. CONCLUSION
The results obtained from the project have shown a decrease in the Electrical consumption
and CO2 emissions of the building when Green certified materials are adopted in the
construction. The materials which are preferred by IGBC are proven more effective in
reducing the electrical consumption and the CO 2 emissions of the building. Adopting the
Green certified materials in the construction process would decrease the impact of the
building on Environment and also the Energy usage, Even the natural materials which are
locally available are also proven effective in reducing the impacts. Awareness about the
products available in the market to the customers is very less. Creating awareness about the
products and their effects on Environment is the need of the hour. Although some customers
know about the availability of these materials in the market, they are hesitant in using them in
buildings and not sure about their certification from Green systems. The drawbacks of the
materials available are:1. most of the materials are not available in small quantities required
for small residential buildings. 2. The absence of proper guidelines for using these materials
in residential construction. 3. High cost of green materials available. 4. The cost of
certification of green materials is high. For commercial buildings these materials are
mandatory in the construction process to meet the standards formulated by BEE. Public
constructions can adopt these materials at the municipality level so that they can reduce the
impacts of construction in the local municipality. Adoption of Green procurement in public
bodies has proven effective in reducing the impacts on environment in some countries. So,
certification process can be made simple to make these materials available for the low income
residential customers to reduce the environmental effects of the building construction.
Green buildings are rated mostly based on the innovation in their designing which
depends on architects. But the materials also have an important role in the Green rating
systems.
Although the initial cost is high due to the designing, material availability, construction
procedure, it would decrease the maintenance cost later and also reduce the environmental
impacts of the building.

5.1. An Online Tool

Further scope of this project would be creating an online tool for measuring the electricity
consumption and CO2 emissions of the building. The tool shall be available to all the
municipal designers so that, while designing the building, Energy Audit can be generated for

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 Kavuri Sai Chandra Chowdary and G I Gunarani

the building and comparison of the electricity consumption and CO2emissions of the building
can be done while using conventional materials and Green certified materials. This online
tool has to provide the information about all the green materials available within 400kms
range in the market which helps the designer to select the Green certified materials for the
building depending on their location. Moreover the tool provides the details of the material
supplier details to get the cost quote of the products. This would be a small initiative for
creating awareness about the Green certified products in the market.
Adopting Green certified materials in municipal buildings could help reducing the Energy
consumption and also reducing the carbon dioxide emissions from the buildings. While going
for the renovation of the building, an online tool can be useful in selecting the green materials
available. This tool would also help customers who are adopting Green building standards in
the construction and also facilitate the Green certification process as the Energy audit is
already generated. This will reduce the duration required for certification process thereby
reducing the cost of certification. The certifying team can focus their attention on other
factors like lighting efficiency, water efficiency etc. If the governments take the lead in
adopting green building concept then the general public will follow suit.

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