Asst Professor & HOD, Civil Engineering Department, RVS Padhamavathy College of Engineering and Technology, Chennai, India
Online published on 24 January, 2015.
In today's world, it is more than essential to create an enabling environment for affordable housing for one and all in a manner as sustainable as possible without degrading the environment and natural surroundings around us. In this project an attempt is made to propose and estimate the cost of a cost-effective eco-friendly alternative to conventional houses which deals with materials and design rather than energy efficient fixtures to contribute to energy efficiency of the buildings. The reason for this is the cost intensive nature of energy efficient fixtures when compared to that of conventional fixtures. Hence, the aim of this project is to propose an eco-friendly building just based on design and construction materials to be used. Eco friendly trails like Rammed Earth walls, Filler slabs, Bamboo flooring and UPVC Doors and Windows have been analysed and proposed as alternatives to conventional materials as they are locally available, cheap, and durable and strong for use in construction. Detailed quantity & cost estimation of a conventional house has been carried out to enable comparison of the same with the proposed eco-friendly building. An overall reduction of 46% in the cost was reported for the proposed house when compared to the conventional one.
