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THEME PAPER
growth are projected to rooftop solar, wind, energy annual growth rate (CAGR)
further exacerbate building storage (electric and thermal), in all building sectors,
sector energy use. and electric transport’s particularly residential, office,
charging infrastructure that and retail. It is estimated
HOW WE BUILD TODAY makes the context for building that 700 million sq. metres of
SUSTAINABLY, WILL decarbonization even more commercial building space
CHANGE THE COURSE significant. (Singh et al., 2021) were added over the last
OF HISTORY decade and projected that 40%
India is projected to become of the building stock that will
Buildings globally account for one of the biggest producers
~40% of global greenhouse of carbon emissions from exist by 2037 is yet to be built
gas (GHG) emissions buildings by 2050. The nation (IEA, 2021). The upcoming
with building operations will witness a significant new construction presents
accounting for 28%, and increase in the commercial a unique opportunity to
embodied CO emissions from and residential building stock, leapfrog into a low embodied
2
materials and construction also galvanised by national carbon and resource-
accounting for 11% (Figure programs such as Housing efficient future by building it
2). New construction and for All, Smart Cities Mission, responsibly (Alliance for an
retrofits of buildings offer and the Prime Minister Awas Energy Efficient Economy,
significant opportunities Yojana Programme. The 2018). By incorporating
for reducing emissions. nation’s building energy use energy-efficient design and
While curbing energy and currently accounts for 33% of construction materials and
resource waste, and using the nation’s energy use (IEA, strategies, buildings can
creative circularity are huge 2021). In pre-pandemic years, inherently have a reduced
opportunities, buildings also there was a high growth embodied energy footprint.
are an inherent home for trajectory of 8% cumulative The fast growth of building
floor space and energy use
Figure 2: Emissions from the buildings and construction sector, showing a intensity underscores the
breakdown of embodied and operational emissions (Adapted from IEA, 2019) rapid growth of building
operational energy demand.
For residential buildings, it
is projected to grow from 400
TWh in 2020 to 2000 TWh
in 2050, 5 times higher. In
the commercial sector, total
energy demand is projected
to increase from 150 TWh
in 2020 to 930 TWh in 2050,
almost 7 times.
To slash the building
sector’s energy use and
CO emission, it is critical
2
to implement buildings
that consume low energy in
both their production and
operations. India’s building
8 HUDCO-HSMI Publication
