The potential of carbon footprint reduction of a mid-rise residential building in Sarawak / Nurdiyanah Yaman

Carbon emission is released into the atmosphere as the result of various activities due to rapid urbanisation and thus contributed to global warming and climate change.
Various initiative has been done by the government in the effort to reduce the impact in relation to the construction industry, such as the implementation of 20% of purchases of green-labelled products or services by 2020. In order to reduce the carbon footprint of a building, several strategies like the Malaysian Carbon Reduction and Environmental Sustainability Tool (MyCREST) have been established to promote green building development. The government policies and their commitments are formulated to support the carbon footprint reduction of 40%. Recent studies suggested that the selection of sustainable materials can reduce the overall carbon emission of a building; however, the cost has been identified as the main barriers to implement the initiative in Malaysia. The aim of this study is to analyse the potential of carbon footprint reduction by using sustainable material in mid-rise residential building and subsequently to evaluate the cost implication. The objectives of this study are to investigate and quantify the carbon footprint of a mid-rise residential building in Sarawak and to assess the potential for carbon footprint reduction of sustainable materials in comparison to conventional materials and subsequently to determine the cost implication of using sustainable materials for a mid-rise residential building. The impact of the conventional and the selected sustainable materials were assessed using data from the MyCREST tool and the data for cost analysis were taken from various sources of cost data such as JKR Rates online (RATOL), JKR Sarawak Schedule of Rates (SOR), and previous research. Based on the study, it showed that the sustainable materials such as 30% of Blast Furnace Slag (BFS) concrete mixture, Aerated Autoclaved Concrete (AAC) block, and recycled steel roof truss has the potential to reduce the carbon emission throughout the process of the
building construction. Therefore, the potential of carbon emission reduction approach.