Life cycle ecological footprint of building: a case study of low-rise tropical residential building

Rapid growth in the construction sector significantly influences the natural resource demands, waste assimilation, as well as its also responsible for environmental pollution. The combination of life cycle assessment (LCA) approach with Ecological Footprint (EF) analysis gives an opportunity to measure an environmental imprint of a building on the planet. The life cycle ecological footprint (EFT) methodology has been developed for a low-rise residential building located in the Indian tropical climatic zone. The EFT of the low-rise residential buildings is 74.02 gha (i.e. 0.49 gha/m(2) per floor area of the building). The Ecological Footprint of building construction is about 15.41% of the total EFT of the low-rise building. The Ecological Footprint of the operational phase of the low-rise building is the highest (83.67%) among all the life cycle phases. The EFT of the building can be reduced in the range of 1.51-4.33% by replacing the fired clay brick (FCB) with proposed low environment impact bricks/blocks in the brickwork of the building. For achieving Sustainable Development Goals, the EF assessment of all proposed and existing buildings should be examined and policymakers try to promote low EF materials for construction.