Good green house

Good green house
21 Apr 2008, 0311 hrs IST, Neha Lalchandani,TNN

The city is preparing to celebrate Earth Day on Tuesday but the government is worried that several energy efficient concepts that it has been trying to promote are yet to catch up with Delhiites. One major area where not much progress has been made is the concept of green buildings. While the government has undertaken some projects on its own, there are not more than a handful of private individuals who might even be aware of the practices.

A green building is one which is energy efficient, uses natural and renewable energy and causes the least amount of damage to the environment. According to an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, residential, commercial and institutional buildings were consuming 31% of global energy and releasing 1,900 mega tonnes of carbon dioxide in 1990 which in 2050 would rise to 38% of global energy with an addition of 3,800 mega tonnes of carbon dioxide.

Last week, SEARCH Foundation, a private organisation, along with the Ministry of Environment and Forests organised a seminar on green buildings. Experts who attended it suggested that unless the concept was made mandatory it was unlikely that the this method of energy efficiency would become popular.

A senior government official said a proposal to integrate the green building mechanism with the environment clearance certification for buildings more than 20,000 sq mt was being looked at. "All buildings that are more than 20,000 sq mt require an environment clearance and we thought if the committee appraising each such project made it mandatory to incorporate energy efficient mechanism in the plans, it could popularise the concept," said the official.

Experts say the concept of green buildings has not been accepted yet since its initial costs are quite high. "What people do not realise is that since operational costs are much lesser, one can recover initial costs. The concept is also not known by several architects," said Dr Dhiraj Singh, chairman, SERACH Foundation. In India, there are two mechanisms for evaluating the energy efficiency of a building. The Indian Green Building Council, that was formed in 2001, set up the Leadership in Energy and Environment Design (LEED) India committee that rates buildings based on five environmental criteria. The second system is The Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment (GRIHA) devised by TERI. GRIHA has been endorsed by the government as the national rating system for buildings.

- courtesy
neha.lalchandani@timesgroup.com

Note: BCIL's T-Zed project saved 22,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions in the process of construction alone. Residents save over Rs.10,000/- every year from carbon credits. Ever heard of the society paying you fees to stay in an apartment?