A Multi-dimensional Study on Impact of Energy Efficiency on Life Cycle Cost of a Single-Family Residential Building

Abstract

A sustainable building is the one which causes least impact on the environment by appropriate selection of construction materials, appliances and other practices. Many rating systems have been put forward in the recent years to provide guidelines for constructing and accessing the performance of green buildings. Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) rating system is one such guideline available in India. eQUEST has been proved to be powerful tool for analysing the projected energy efficiency of buildings in the initial design phase. This particular study aims to identify effectiveness of higher green certification towards energy savings. Building simulation was done for a double-storey residential building situated in western coast city of Mangalore, India for each certification level namely, certified, silver, gold and platinum. The results obtained from the simulation were analysed to quantify the energy-saving potential and energy efficiency of higher green certification of IGBC green homes. Life cycle costs of single-family green residential buildings of similar type and function rated by IGBC rating systems for buildings was evaluated and compared in terms of savings to investment ratio, net saving and payback period. © 2021, Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.