Figure 1. Climate Change Vulnerability Index 2013 (Source: Maplecroft)
Sustainable development is generally reflected as meeting the needs of the present without compromising the needs of the future. It has become very hard to meet with the growing infrastructure and exploitation of resources, without the consideration of serious risks caused to the environment. Carbon emissions from various sources contribute to Global warming causing erratic weather conditions, rising temperature and climate change leading to large scale negative effects to the planet. Therefore the growth of infrastructure which inevitably cannot be stopped can still be measured and kept under boundaries of safe limits aiding in the reduction of environmental impacts. This can be achieved by the use of Environmental Assessment tools to measure the sustainability of a product in a built environment. The development of these tools is mainly influenced by the country of its origin and on the region it is used extensively, making it difficult in adopting the same tool for different scenarios around the world. A survey has been conducted among people related to the construction industry in India to get a better understanding of their perceptions to these assessment tools. From the findings of the survey and data gathered it has been recommended that LEED 2009 for New construction and Major Renovations as more appropriate for Indian conditions with certain customized changes in its environmental issues.
Any development that ensures it meets the needs of today without compromising its ability for future generations to meet their needs can be termed as Sustainable development(United Nations, 1987). Sustainable development does not mean to imply limitations on the various activities and progression, but to indicate boundaries for the present state of technology on environmental resources thereby giving the ability for the biosphere to engross the effects of human activities (United Nations, 1987). These human activities are necessary to be kept under watch so as to minimize their environmental impacts. Construction of infrastructure being primary activities of mankind in the road to development, plays a vital role in contributing to the environmental impact(United Nations, 1987). Hence a method of measuring sustainability was introduced in 1990 by means of Environmental Assessment tools, the first attempt made by BRE (Building Research Establishment).
Further as the field of Building Environmental Assessment has progressed, various institutions have developed other similar tools which are being used worldwide(Cole, Howard, Ikaga, & Nibel, 1990) and many countries either have or are in the process of developing a domestic assessment method. In the process of development and evolution of these assessment tools, there is a strong dilemma between the industry's stringent performance principles and the practical, transparent simplicity to bring about manageable changes in practice(Cole et al., 1990). So it is necessary in choosing a suitable environmental assessment tool for the industry in practice without compromising in the mitigation of environmental impacts.
India the second biggest population in the world on the verge of becoming a developed nation. It’s construction industry is the second largest industry after agriculture. The construction industry provides a huge national economy and employment to people, which has brought about significant changes in the advancements of technology and new strategies, making it possible to take up large scale infrastructure projects. In its path of achieving the desired mega scale development, various challenges are overlooked in terms of environmental impact and sustainability(Laskar & Murty, 2010).
Until recently the earth was a planet partitioned within countries, within sectors and wide area of concerns. These partitions have begun to dissolve in terms of global crisis that have drawn the attention of public concern particularly in the last decade, so as to treat various crisis, relating to development, environment and energy as a single entity. Over the past few decades the developing nations have been concerned with life menacing environmental issues. The majority of these countries now have their per capita income lower when compared to start of the decade thus increasing poverty, population and unemployment causing a demand on environmental resources as more people are made to depend on them directly. Some of the governments have reduced their effort on preserving environment and instead are working on bringing ecological considerations in development and planning (United Nations, 1987).
The WRI (World Resources Institute) says, an increasing recurrent extreme weather condition situation, record annual average global temperature rising and disruptive seasonal changes in countries which all point to evidence showing the risk of global climate change. The WRI also says that the fossil fuel usage in the last century is no longer sustainable or economically feasible.
Figure 1 shows the cities at high risk of being most vulnerable to climate changes. Three of which are major Indian cities distributed in the east, west and southern regions of the country.
From the past climatic trends in India it can be predicted that the greenhouse gas emissions due to energy consumption, deforestation by the year 2050 will exceed the limit paving way to possibility of cyclone activities and affecting agriculture(Rao, Kelly, & Hulme, 1996). India's mean surface temperature has been risen by 0.4oC over the past century(Rao et al., 1996), also causing a rise in the sea level across India in the past few decades.
The main contribution to carbon emissions is from the energy sector measuring a huge amount of 71MT a year equivalent to all other sectors combined. This is due to the fact that 70% of the electricity generated in India is by coal based thermal power stations(Rao et al., 1996). Thus bringing about a change in this dependence will significantly reduce the carbon output in the country, requiring a major alteration in the energy policy of India. The adoption of renewable energy resources should be addressed wherever possible(Rao et al., 1996), especially in the built environment sector which uses majority of the electricity produced.
Figure 2 shows the annual estimates of annual carbon emissions from a UK organization called "Global Climate Project" showing India as the fourth largest contributor to carbon emissions in the world in the year 2010.
Figure 1. Climate Change Vulnerability Index 2013 (Source: Maplecroft)
Figure 2. Annual CO2 emission from Fossil Fuel (Source: Global Climate Project)
The literature shows how construction industry has been causing environmental impact fluctuating from excessive utilisation of resources and pollution caused from the building processes involved. Throughout the construction industry many clients, stakeholders are increasingly becoming aware of reducing the environmental impacts involved in the commotion of construction process. Thus by just depending on the design of a project for sustainable development or by relying on the management and their implications of action to reduce the impact is insufficient, instead there is a need for an assessment of the project based on specified criteria. (Ding K.C., 2008).
The need for measuring such performances against standard benchmarks in sustainability has paved its way to the establishment of Environmental assessment tool. Through this, environmental performance of a building is measured and its sustainability is assessed in terms of environmental issues considered by the tool, finally providing a rating which acts as a grade to compare with other buildings.
To adapt the most suitable Environment Assessment Tool for India and customize changes to the existing method of assessment the following approach was used.
After gathering the information on the two assessment tools, a qualitative analysis of the tools were carried out. This included understating the background of the tools, their assessment process and how each assessment tool addressed the various issues of sustainability in a building.
BREEAM: Building Research Establishment's Environmental Assessment was the first launched environmental assessment tool by BRE Building Research Establishment in the year 1990 in UK and currently the second most widely adopted assessment tool. The current version is the BREEAM International New Construction Technical Manual 2013.
LEED: Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design developed in the year 1998 in United States after the establishment of US green building council I in 1993 and it is currently the world's most used assessment tool. The current version used is the LEED 2009 New construction and Major Renovations updated in April 2013.
Figure 3 shows many of the countries have been using LEED assessment compared to BREEAM and also some places use both the assessment tools. In India we can see majority being the usage of LEED and also small fraction on developing a rating system.
Figure 3. Comparison of LEED and BREEAM worldwide usage (Deloitte 2012)
Minimum scoring- BREEAM addresses the minimum score based on the target rating desired by the client ranging from 4 credits to 30 credits. This helps the building to achieve better sustainability at higher rating targets whereas in LEED pre requisites under each category remain the same even for higher rating targets.
Energy consumption and CO2 reduction: BREEAM targets on reduction of CO2 emissions whereas LEED concentrates on energy cost reduction of a building.
Materials: The production of Green book help the designers with information which give more chances of achieving the credits but the LEED designers must depend on guidance and evaluation by accredited professionals.
Transportation: BREEAM has a separate category for transport assessment in detail and emphasizes on public transport accessibility relative to LEED which discusses transport issue under the sustainable site and not much detail is given on the accessibility of public transport. BREEAM also encourages alternative travel options to the modes of transport causing high environmental impact.
Resources/Information availability: LEED provides data on case studies; building certification data at national, state and project level whereas in BREEAM publications containing assessed buildings, their score and rating is unavailable. This makes it hard in self-comparison by the client.
Even though we can see a lot of similarity in both assessment tools in their approach, structure and assessment; still their primary motive of reducing environmental impact is addressed significantly in different patterns in detail in terms of dividing the categories, minimum standards and weightings given to the issues.
Although an Environment Assessment tool is designed for international use, it is still deficit of the actual conditions in the Construction Industry which are bound by regional influences. The purpose of the questionnaire was to establish the people's attitude towards the use of Environmental Assessment tools, obstacles faced to undergo assessment and the factors influencing the choice of an assessment tool. Questions were produced based on the analysis and comparison of the tools.
The respondents were asked background questions relating to their awareness, and understanding of sustainability. This was to attain an overview of people's knowledge on the usage of Environment Assessment Tool.
The questions were asked under the following issues for response collection:
Awareness of Sustainability and its importance:
Knowledge and Awareness of Environmental Assessment tools
The barriers in using Environmental Assessment tools in India (Figure 5).
The importance of aspects such as client interests, cost of project, ease of assessment process while choosing an Environment assessment tool (Figure 6).
Environmental issues and their Importance in Indian Construction Industry relating to:(Figure 7).
Water Efficiency, Rain water retention in a building, Waste Management during construction stage, Waste Management during Life Cycle of Building, Use of Renewable energy usage, Use of New construction materials to reduce carbon footprint, Choosing of site and ecology Implications, Tasks to mitigate pollution during construction stage, Importance to Innovation and Design, Importance to Public Transport accessibility.
The participants for this study included Architects, Construction managers, Civil engineers in the private and Government sector and Contractors; the main focus was to assess respondents in different parts of India.
Figure 4. Question: Rate the popularity of Assessment tools in the construction Industry
Figure 5. Question: What according to you are the barriers in using Environmental Assessment tools in India. Rank them depending on their difficulty.
Figure 6. Question: Rate the importance of the following while choosing an Environment assessment tool
Figure 7 Question: Rate the importance given for the following while achieving Sustainability to a Construction Project
From the 35 questionnaires directed to various people in the construction industry 24 were returned giving a feedback rate of 69%. From the questionnaire a brief understanding is made on the people's awareness of sustainability and Environment Assessment Tool.
In terms of this research a comparison on the availability of assessment tools and respective assessors could be understood. An insight to the barriers faced in using these tools and also some of the reasons influencing the choice of an assessment tool for a project were comprehended.
The graphical representations were made to compare the responses from the participants: (Figures 4-7).
It was seen that when both the tools were compared on a scale of 1 to 5, 1 being least known and 5 being well known Majority of the respondents rated LEED as being more popular in the construction industry.
Most people suggested lack of awareness being the biggest barrier for the use of Environment assessment tools in a construction project, secondly the interest of the client to undertake an assessment and also majority of them mentioned on the lack of design data as a moderate level of obstruction to undertake an assessment.
The ease of process was given much importance while choosing an assessment tool, which was recognised in adaptation of the tool.
Environmental issues and their Importance in India: this question helped in understanding the importance to each environmental issue given by the respondents whom involved architects, contractors, engineers and construction managers.
Here it was seen that use of renewable energy source and public transport were opted as the most important issues to consider while achieving sustainability.
Based on the responses, it was clearly observed that LEED had an upper hand in usage when compared to BREEAM in terms of popularity of the tool and the availability of its assessor. It was also observed that while choosing an assessment tool, the client opts for a tool with better ease of process involved, this being a relative strength in LEED compared to BREEAM's assessment process. When asked on the barriers affecting the use of an environmental assessment tool most of the respondents felt the lack of awareness of these tools was the main reason, hence the popularity of the tool becomes very important. Considering all this LEED had a higher chance of adaptability to the construction industry in India.
To adapt LEED as a better suitable assessment tool for India it also has to be scrutinized in terms of the environmental issues it covers in achieving a sustainable built environment. Some of the new strategies to be undertaken by the current version LEED 2009 New construction and Major Renovations were under these issues:
Renewable energy source: It is found the use of renewable energy is a prime consideration for sustainability in India. Hence the Energy issue which is assessed, under the category. Energy and atmosphere category with 31.9% weighting altogether must be examined separately giving a higher weightage. This will encourage the clients to concentrate on this issue and also promote the use of renewable energy resources.
Transportation: As mentioned earlier one of the major contributors to carbon emissions is transportation. Hence importance to public transport accessibility becomes obligatory in mitigating environmental impacts. Hence transportation issues addressed under sustainable site must be dealt separately giving it more prominence in a project.
The data gathered through this research helped in better understanding of Indian construction industry and the viewpoint of people involved in the construction industry. Through the survey it was found, lack of awareness of an Environment assessment tool in the Indian industry posed a great barrier in using these tools, also the ease of assessment process involved was considered an important factor whilst choosing the assessment tool. The high significance given to the use of renewable energy resources and accessibility to public transport as the factors to aid in sustainability of a construction project supported the fact that India's contribution to the climatic impacts are to be addressed on a serious note.
'LEED2009 for New construction and Major Renovations' is seen to be suitable for the Indian construction industry but with certain changes to its present assessment scheme. These changes include the review of renewable energy regarding use of energy resources, optimum energy performance and energy cost during life cycle of the building and public transportation. Thus changes to the prevailing scheme will encourage the client and the stakeholders to concentrate on these issues whilst achieving their required rating hence promoting a better sustainability to the built environment.
LEED is a tool run by US Green building council; hence measures should be taken by the institution to tackle such changes. This can be prompted from the LEED assessors in India to bring about the above changes in its assessment. The lack of awareness of these Environmental assessment tools has posed a barrier in their usage in the industry, hence focusing on providing knowledge to people involved in the construction industry about these assessment tools and the importance of their usage should be undertaken by USGBC.