The Green Future

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Green building is the logical way forward for our construction industry. It is with this mantra that the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC), part of CII, came up in Hyderabad in 2001. It was formed with a vision to facilitate India in becoming the global leader in sustainable built environment by 2025.Dr. Prem C Jain. Chairman IGBC briefs Realty Plus. Construction industry in India is amongst the largest contributor to its economic growth. As the sector is growing rapidly, preserving the environment poses many challenges. Building sector accounts for 30-40 % of global Green House Gas Emissions. Also, the energy, water and materials demand for buildings has been growing enormously over the years and the need has arisen to address the minimisation of use of natural resources for the buildings construction and their associated impact on environment. In this regard, green buildings can play a catalytic role in addressing environmental issues and concerns. Understanding the imperative to have a specific rating system for each of the different building typologies, IGBC has launched over 20 fully indigenised green building rating systems for commercial, residential, cities, townships, factories, schools, healthcare, data centres, metro stations, railway stations and several others. IGBC green building rating systems have demonstrated savings of 30 to 40 % on energy cost and 20 to 30 % on fresh water demand. The ratings incorporate National Standards and Codes, including- National Building Code (NBC), Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC), Ministry of Environment & Forests (MoEF) and Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) guidelines. Though the incremental cost of an IGBC certified commercial green building is about 3 %, this additional cost gets paid back within 2 to 3 years through substantial reduction in operational costs. The current green building footprint across India IGBC started its journey with less than 20,000 square feet in 2003, and is today facilitating over 4.66 billion square feet with a lion’s share of 90% of the Indian market. IGBC and India wave the second largest green building footprint in the world after USA and IGBC aspires to facilitate 10 billion square feet of green building footprint by 2022 to become the global leader. Some of the challenges for adopting green parameter include- affordability, need for qualified professionals, availability of certified green building products and green technologies. However, the steady increase in demand for green buildings has brought down the cost of products, services and materials, thus making green buildings affordable. Earlier, manufactures were shy of using and promoting recycled and recyclable content of their products. Today, they are voluntarily highlighting how green their product or technology are and indicating recycled and recyclable content on their products. As per IGBC estimates, by 2025, green products market potential would be about USD 300 Billion. CII has launched Green Product (GreenPro) Certification, “GreenPro”, based on a life cycle approach to certify products as ‘Green’. Over 150 products have already been GreenPro certified, and many more are in the pipe-line. Utilizing vernacular architecture With more than 3,000 years of recorded history, Indian vernacular traditions have evolved continuously to form a strong and definitive architecture. The historical architectural facades have been influenced by various factors such as geography, climate, arts and crafts, socio-cultural norms, regional influences of colonial dominance (15th to 19th centuries) and regional expressions due to modern architecture (1920-1980). Some of the vernacular elements (jallis, circular arches, etc.) can be observed in the facade styles in settlements of Gujarat, Rajasthan and Kerala. Facades in cold climate invariably had high thermal mass, whereas facades in warm climates were designed to allow significant cross-ventilation, through openings in the facade. Some other climate responsive design measures evolved with time, like courtyard with a fountain or pond, small windows in the facade to keep the occupants cool. Areas having abundance of trees have developed a wooden vernacular, while areas without much wood have used mud or stone. How technology can be an enabler. Essentially, Green technologies adopt an eco-friendly design which would facilitate in achieving lower energy consumption, lesser material utilization and reduced emissions. Green products & technologies will also enhance the re-cycling potential of that particular product. Some of the green building technologies that play a key role in ensuring the green building standards are - high performance glass, wall & roof Insulations, bamboo based furniture, Building Integrated Solar Photovoltaics, High COP chillers, Geothermal Systems, Building Management System, Energy Modeling, Day-light Simulation and others. The Government incentives for Green buildings Ministry of Environment & Forests (MoEF), Government of India, offers fast track environmental clearance for green building projects pre – certified by IGBC. Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Ministry of Commerce and Industry – “Make in India Policy” (National Manufacturing): Incentive of INR 2,00,000 for buildings which obtain green rating from IGBC IGBC rated green building projects in the MSME sector shall be eligible for financial assistance at concessional rates, from Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI). Government of Punjab (Department of Local Government) offers an additional 5% Floor Area Ratio (FAR), free of charge, for projects granted Gold / Platinum Rating by IGBC. Government of Rajasthan (Jaipur Development Authority) offers an additional 5% FAR, free of charge, for projects which are rated Gold or above by IGBC. Government of West Bengal (Kolkata Municipal Corporation & New Kolkata Development Authority) offers additional 10% FAR for projects, pre-certified as Gold or above by IGBC. Government of Uttar Pradesh (Housing and Urban Planning Department & Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority) offers an additional 5% FAR, free of charge, for projects rated as Gold or above by IGBC. Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), Govt of Maharashtra, offers an additional FAR of up to 7% for Green Buildings, pre-certified as Silver or above by IGBC. Public Works Department (PWD), Govt of Maharashtra, in a notification has indicated that the renovation of existing buildings and the development of all new government buildings in Maharashtra, shall be carried out as per the suitable IGBC Green Building Rating system.