Energy Tax and Choice of House Construction Techniques in India

Abstract

Energy conservation is an important issue in building design. Therefore, it is logical to apply the principle of energy costing to building projects and to look for ways to minimize the total energy consumed during the lifetime of a building. Even though the total quantity of energy consumed during the lifetime of a building may be many times more than that consumed during its construction, there are a number of reasons why the energy use in the construction process and, in particular, in the building materials used should be treated as a matter of importance. This paper compares the energy costs in a building constructed using alternative construction techniques. We evaluate energy consumption and resource requirements to construct a representative room of size 3.5 m × 3.5 m × 3.14 m by alternative techniques of construction using an optimization framework. It is generally observed that despite the availability of low energy technologies of construction, they are not adopted. The present paper develops an energy tax system that would induce the use of low-energy building materials and techniques. Finally, the paper concludes with policy recommendations that are essential if energy consumption in building construction is to be minimized.