Real estate has been the major reason for environmental degradation as there is no proper planning in constructing buildings resulting in depletion of earth’s resources.
With increase in population, there is a rise in demand for housing every year. Many developed countries have faced this problem and have successfully come out with several measures to solve the issue. One among them is to construct energy-efficient buildings to reduce the impacts on environment and resources.
What is green building?
According to a Wikipedia definition, a green building is one which uses less water, improves energy efficiency, conserves natural resources, generates less waste and provides healthier spaces for occupants, as compared to a conventional building.
As there has been an increase in awareness among the builders and residents to opt for green buildings, more such structures are coming up in metros and tier II cities.
The Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) is the nodal agency which has formulated certain rules to construct energy-efficient buildings and awards ratings for buildings which meet the highest energy-efficiency standard.
Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment (GRIHA) is a National Rating System of India. GRIHA, conceived by the Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and developed jointly with the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, has been evaluating all types of buildings in various climatic zones.
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED-INDIA) Green Building Rating System is a nationally and internationally accepted tool for the design and operation of high performance buildings.
LEED-INDIA certifies a building as ‘energy efficient’ when it complies with five key features - sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality.
Green buildings can have benefits such as operational savings in energy and water consumption to a tune of 15-30% and enhanced indoor air quality and health.
According to IGBC, India has more than 250 green buildings with Chennai having 42 eco-friendly structures. Mumbai and Delhi NCR have 29 and 28 buildings, respectively.
Does ‘go-green’ cost more?
Architects and green building experts say that green buildings will additionally cost around 5 - 15% compared to a conventional building and the payback period is usually three to five years.
Compared to conventional buildings, green buildings have additional expenses due to renewable energy fittings, additional design, building envelope, special building material, green building certification, water management system, high performance HVAC and controls, worker training and operation and maintenance. Almost all the above features and practices will prove beneficial within five years. The exception is renewable energy structures, which will pay back in 15 years.
“Sustainable design usually costs more, especially for large complex project programs. But thoughtful architectural design can considerably reduce the cost. Most of the extra cost goes into high-quality and high-performance materials, air-conditioning, transportation and intelligent building control systems. But these costs can be soon recovered in savings on energy expenses,” says DavidMizan Hashim, CEO and Founding Principal ofVeritas Design Group.
“For small projects like private homes, the additional cost for low-energy solutions is less, as long as the overall design is conceived at earlier stages with these considerations in mind,” he concludes.
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