Globally, universities are evaluating and targeting to reduce their carbon emissions and operate on a sustainable basis. The overall aim of this study revolves in addressing the following three questions: (1) How to calculate carbon footprint, including indicators selection, criteria, and measurement, for higher education institutions? (2) How to evaluate impact and effectiveness of various mitigation strategies in context of a higher education institution? (3) What are the possible limitations of approach selected for carbon footprint calculation. This paper presents estimation of the carbon footprint of NED University using a carbon calculator along with the identification of sources with maximum contribution to its carbon footprint. The carbon footprint of the NED University main campus for 2017 was calculated to be approximately 21,500 metric tons of equivalent CO₂ and carbon footprint per student was 1.79 metric tons of equivalent CO₂. Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions each contributed nearly 7% of the carbon footprint, while Scope 3 emissions accounted for 85.6% of the carbon footprint. Major interventions such as switching to renewables, usage of energy efficient appliances, electric vehicles, and massive tree plantation inside and outside the campus were identified as the most effective mitigation strategies.

Purpose This paper aims to present the studies which were carried out to determine building typology in Northern Pakistan, which is a seismically active region. Design/methodology/approach A total of 41 towns and cities were surveyed to collect the data of building types. Help was also taken from global positioning system and satellite imagery. Findings In total, 14 different types of buildings were identified in the region based on the structural system and combination of wall and roof materials; each of them was assigned an appropriate designation. The walls in these buildings were made of block, stone or brick, whereas the roof consisted of corrugated galvanised iron sheet, thatched roof, precast concrete planks or reinforced concrete (RC). Only 6 per cent buildings were found to be engineered RC buildings; this indicates a significance proportion of non-engineered building stock in Northern Pakistan. Research limitations/implications The surveys were conducted in some of the selected areas. Other areas are beyond the scope of this work. Practical implications The presence of a huge deficient building stock in Pakistan indicates a major seismic risk. The seismic losses are largely dependent on the earthquake resistance of existing buildings and building stock. An inventory of existing buildings and their types can help in assessing seismic vulnerability of the built environment, which may lead to the development of policies for seismic risk reduction. Originality/value Presently, housing encyclopaedia does not exist in Pakistan. As a result, housing typology in the country is not known. The presented study addresses this gap in part. Housing typology surveys were conducted to study the typical construction practices in the selected areas and to determine the proportions of different building types in the overall building stock.

Purpose: This paper aims to present the results of testing of low-strength concrete specimens exposed to elevated temperatures. These data are limited in the existing literature and do not exist in Pakistan.Design/methodology/approach: An experimental testing programme has been employed. Cylindrical specimens of 100 × 200 mm were used in the testing programme. These were heated at temperatures which were varied from 100°C to 900°C in increment of 100°C. Similar specimens were tested at ambient temperature as control specimens. The compressive and tensile properties of heat treated specimens were determined.Findings: The colour of concrete started to change at 300°C and hairline cracks appeared at 400°C. Explosive spalling was observed in few specimens in the temperature range of 400°C-650°C which could be attributed to the pore pressure generated by steam. Significant loss of concrete compressive strength occurred on heating temperatures larger than 600°C, and the residual compressive strength was found to be 15 per cent at 900°C. Residual tensile strength of concrete became less than 10 per cent at 900°C. The loss of concrete stiffness reached 85 per cent at 600°C. Residual Poisson’s ratio of concrete increased at high temperatures and became nearly six times larger at 900°C as compared to that at ambient temperature.Research limitations/implications: The parameters of the study included heating temperature and effects of temperature on strength and stiffness properties of the concrete specimens.Practical implications: Building fire incidents have increased in Pakistan. As a large number of reinforced concrete (RC) buildings exist in the country, the data related to elevated temperature properties of concrete are required. These data are not available in Pakistan presently. The study aims at providing this information for the design engineers to enable them to assess and increase fire resistance of RC structural members.Originality/value: The presented study is unique in its nature in that there is no published contribution to date, to the best of authors’ knowledge, which has been carried out to assess the temperature-dependent mechanical properties of concrete in Pakistan.

Mansurah, the eighth-century Arabic capital of Sindh province, Pakistan, flourished for a mere 200 yr. Its destruction by an earthquake ca. 980 A.D. was first proposed by archaeologists who reported the discovery of crushed skeletons amid dateable coins found among its rubble. An abrupt natural death to the city was challenged by others who noted that the absence of wood or valuables was consistent with the city being sacked and systematically looted. The recent discovery of four decorated door knockers beneath the collapsed walls of one of the largest structures in Mansurah, however, reopens the case for an earthquake, since an invading army would almost certainly have removed them as booty. We suggest that an earthquake not only destroyed the city and its suburbs (intensity ≈ VIII), but resulted in postseismic avulsion of the river on which its citizens depended for agriculture, sanitation, and trade. Since natural levees have been observed in India to collapse in intensity VII shaking, it is unnecessary to invoke coseismic uplift as a requirement for upstream river avulsion. The absence in the past two centuries of large earthquakes in the region has resulted in central Sindh being depicted as a region of low seismic hazard, yet in 1668, in the same province, an earthquake destroyed nearby Samawani and also initiated avulsion of the Indus. A case can be made for reevaluating the five millennia of archaeological ruins in Pakistan to establish a long-term view of seismicity unavailable from the short instrumental record.