Architectural Approaches to Decarbonization of Buildings

By Prof. Iyer Vijayalaxmi Kasinath | School of Planning and Architecture, Vijayawada, An Institute of National Importance under the Ministry of Education, Govt. of India

Learners enrolled: 1390 | Exam registration: 483

ABOUT THE COURSE:
Buildings are a major contributor to the carbon emissions in the world by virtue of the energy consumption. In order to fulfill the commitment of India to reduce the emission intensity by 33 – 35% after COP26, it is important to go Carbon Neutral. The two types of energy that can be quantified across a building’s life cycle are its Embodied energy and Operational energy. The carbon emissions related to these constitutes the Embodied Carbon and Operational Carbon respectively. This NPTEL course discusses Embodied energy, operational energy, embodied carbon, operational carbon, carbon footprint, LCA and the scientific principles of achieving carbon neutral buildings.

INTENDED AUDIENCE: U.G and P.G. students in the Domain of Civil Engineering, Architecture and Town Planning and Environmental Engineering

INDUSTRY SUPPORT:
1. L&T Construction
2. Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated (JLL), India
3. Any of the Construction companies

Summary

Course Status :	Ongoing
Course Type :	Elective
Language for course content :	English
Duration :	12 weeks
Category :	Architecture and Planning Civil Engineering Sustainable Architecture
Credit Points :	3
Level :	Undergraduate/Postgraduate
Start Date :	21 Jul 2025
End Date :	10 Oct 2025
Enrollment Ends :	04 Aug 2025
Exam Registration Ends :	22 Aug 2025
Exam Date :	26 Oct 2025 IST
NCrF Level	4.5 — 8.0

Note: This exam date is subject to change based on seat availability. You can check final exam date on your hall ticket.

Page Visits

Course layout

Week 1:

Introduction to GHG and the role of buildings in its reduction
Strategies to reduce GHG in Building Industry
Policies, initiatives and future trends to reduce GHG in the Building Industry
India's stand on Carbon Neutrality

Week 2:

India's approach to long term low Low Carbon Development- Part 1
India's approach to long term low Low Carbon Development- Part 2
Embodied energy and Embodied Carbon
Basics of Embodied and Operational Carbon- Part 1

Week 3:

Basics of Embodied and Operational Carbon- Part 2
Factors of Embodied energy calculation
Operational Energy and Operational Carbon - Part 1
Operational Energy and Operational Carbon - Part 2

Week 4:

Strategies to reduce Operational Energy
Strategies to reduce Operational Energy and Case study
Impact of reducing Operational Energy and Operational Carbon
Passive Design Strategies in Carbon neutral Architecture

Week 5:

Orientation and Form for Passive cooling
Appropriate Planning for Passive Architecture
Appropriate fenestration for Passive Architecture
Appropriate Planning and openings for Passive Architecture

Week 6:

Settlement planning principles for carbon neutrality
Settlement planning principles for carbon neutrality- case studies
Appropriate Openings for reduced Operational Energy - Part 1
Appropriate Openings for reduced Operational Energy - Part 2

Week 7:

Methods of bringing in natural daylight
Role of Landscape and water in Passive Design - Part 1
Role of Landscape and water in Passive Design - Part 2
Carbon neutrality through strategizing building materials

Week 8:

Choice of building materials for carbon neutrality - Part 1
Choice of building materials for carbon neutrality - Part 2
Strategies to reduce Embodied Carbon through Design and Development
Renewable building materials

Week 9:

Renewable building materials and technologies
Renewable building materials-based Case studies
High embodied carbon building materials
Comparison between conventional and alternate building materials

Week 10:

Environmental impacts of building materials and components
Building Envelope types
Dynamic Envelope - Case Studies Part 1
Dynamic Envelope - Case Studies Part 2

Week 11:

Low Energy Envelope Part 1
Low Energy Envelope Part 2
Natural Daylighting Strategies
Daylighting optimized skylights

Week 12:

Daylighting optimized fenestration
Daylighting- Case studies 1
Daylighting- Case studies 2
Recap and Conclusion

Books and references

Pablo La Roche, 2017, Carbon-Neutral Architectural Design, Second Edition, CRC Press.
Rohinton Emmanuel and Keith Baker, 2012, Carbon Management in the Built Environment, Routledge.
Tom Woolley, 2013, Low Impact Building Housing using Renewable Materials, A John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
Raj, M., 1998, Building materials in India, 50 years: a commemorative volume. Building Materials & Technology Promotion.

Instructor bio

Prof. Iyer Vijayalaxmi Kasinath

School of Planning and Architecture, Vijayawada, An Institute of National Importance under the Ministry of Education, Govt. of India

Dr. Iyer Vijayalaxmi Kasinath is an architect who has completed her Ph.D. as an AICTE QIP Scholar and her Higher Research as an Erasmus Mundus Fellow for Academic Profile, from the Politechnico di Milano in the area of ‘Smart Materials and Nano technology in the Construction Industry’. She has over 26 years of experience in teaching architecture and specializes in Sustainable Built Environment and Climate Responsive Architecture. She is currently the Professor in the Department of Architecture at the School of Planning and Architecture, Vijayawada and the former Head of the Dept. and Dean (Research) there. She has completed funded research projects sponsored by the Government of India, and has published many technical papers in peer-reviewed blind refereed international journals and Scopus indexed books by reputed publishers. She has Authored Scopus indexed Book titled ‘Building Thermal Performance and Sustainability’, and ‘embodied and Operational Carbon in Buildings’, Springer Publications, Singapore. She has also edited three Scopus indexed book by Springer Publications, Singapore. She has a Patent Published awaiting examination.

Course certificate

The course is free to enroll and learn from. But if you want a certificate, you have to register and write the proctored exam conducted by us in person at any of the designated exam centres.

The exam is optional for a fee of Rs 1000/- (Rupees one thousand only).

Date and Time of Exams: October 26, 2025 Morning session 9am to 12 noon; Afternoon Session 2pm to 5pm.

Registration url: Announcements will be made when the registration form is open for registrations.

The online registration form has to be filled and the certification exam fee needs to be paid. More details will be made available when the exam registration form is published. If there are any changes, it will be mentioned then.

Please check the form for more details on the cities where the exams will be held, the conditions you agree to when you fill the form etc.

CRITERIA TO GET A CERTIFICATE

Average assignment score = 25% of average of best 8 assignments out of the total 12 assignments given in the course.
Exam score = 75% of the proctored certification exam score out of 100

Final score = Average assignment score + Exam score

Please note that assignments encompass all types (including quizzes, programming tasks, and essay submissions) available in the specific week.

YOU WILL BE ELIGIBLE FOR A CERTIFICATE ONLY IF AVERAGE ASSIGNMENT SCORE >=10/25 AND EXAM SCORE >= 30/75. If one of the 2 criteria is not met, you will not get the certificate even if the Final score >= 40/100.

Certificate will have your name, photograph and the score in the final exam with the breakup.It will have the logos of NPTEL and IIT Madras .It will be e-verifiable at nptel.ac.in/noc.

Only the e-certificate will be made available. Hard copies will not be dispatched.

Once again, thanks for your interest in our online courses and certification. Happy learning.

- NPTEL team