Accelerating Clean Energy (ACE) in India concluded on 23rd July with a Research Roundtable on Decarbonizing India’s building sector- Research goals for the future. The session deliberated on key gaps in current research on reducing carbon across the whole building life cycle in India. Sumedha Malaviya from WRI India set the context of the Roundtable with a presentation on Embodied Carbon and End of Life Carbon cycle of Buildings Sector. The session further delved into the topic of Operational Carbon of the Buildings sector. The session was facilitated by Roxana Slavcheva from World Resources Institute, Deepak Tewari, Dhilon Subramanian, Shyny Sam from WRI India and Fairuz Loutfi from World Resources Institute México. The key discussants included: 💠Sukhdeo Karade, Central Building Research Institute (CBRI), Roorkee, Uttarakhand (India) 💠Saswati Chetia, Greentech Knowledge Solutions (P) Ltd. 💠Soumen Maity, Development Alternatives 💠Rajneesh Sareen, Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi 💠Tarun Garg, RMI India Foundation 💠Mohak Gupta, Development Alternatives 💠Soumya Garnaik, Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) 💠Pratima Washan, Alliance for an Energy Efficient Economy (AEEE) 💠Ashu Dehadani, Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI) 💠Shiv Kumar Batra, Carrier 💠Ankita Gangotra, PhD, World Resources Institute 💠Abhishek Chauhan, Smart Joules 💡 Key insights from the session: ➡ Innovative research in ongoing both nationally and internationally to reduce embodied carbon in buildings. This includes using agroforestry waste in construction, reusing C&D waste, improving brick manufacturing, prefabrication, and benchmarking carbon footprints. ➡ Industrial decarbonization is crucial, as 65-85% of embodied carbon comes from material production (cement, steel, aluminum). Addressing emissions from production processes and promoting alternative materials is essential. ➡ Energy efficiency is key to reducing operational carbon. Despite challenges like convincing clients about energy performance parameters, the technical specifications, market availability, and quality assurance, EESL’s super-efficient AC program is a notable initiative that aims to improve building energy performance, Innovative models can make these appliances more affordable. ➡ To adopt low-carbon construction materials and C&D waste, raising awareness, building trust, and capacity building are vital. Policies and pilot projects are needed to prove the robustness of these technologies. ➡ The government can play a crucial role by developing sustainable procurement policies, public guidelines for low-carbon materials, and codes for alternative materials and C&D waste. ➡ AI and machine learning can enhance energy performance of AC systems and the efficiency of the entire buildings by considering seasonal and weather factors. ➡ Lookout for this space for more updates on #ACE2024 #EnergyTransition #BuildingsDecarbonisation
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