The green building concept has made significant strides in the country with the involvement of more decision-makers, construction of several new buildings, more certified professionals and new members joining the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC). However, the consensus at a green building conference, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and IGBC, here on Wednesday, was that only a beginning has been made and much more has to be done to develop new products, systems and methods to make India a world leader in green buildings.
According to Dr K Karthikeyan, Joint Chief Environmental Engineer, Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board, the answer to many of the major environmental challenges like waste management, reduced use of water and energy can be found in the green building concept. He said the green building concept should be spread not by enforcement but by creation of awareness about its enormous benefits to the environment and society.
He told the conference that the green building concept would play a greater role in building sustainable Chennai and other cities. The Tamil Nadu government’s programme of centralised processing of the huge quantity of solid waste generated daily in the city is a challenge. This challenge could be addressed by managing and segregating the waste at the source itself. “People have to accept the concept of ‘reduce, recycle and reuse’ in their daily life. “Zero food waste should be the target”, Dr Karthikeyan said.
Path-breaking research, development and innovation, and out-of-the box thinking was necessary to take forward the green building movement by creating new products, using differently the existing materials and evolving new systems, Mr C N Raghavendran, chairman, CII-IGBC Chennai chapter and partner C R Narayana Rao Architects, said.
Research should be undertaken on the better application of rapidly reusable materials like bamboo in the construction industry. “The traditional uses will not take us anywhere. Research on how to use it differently, like laminated bamboo, will lead to the development of sustainable products from renewable and home-grown materials”, he said.
Mr. Raghavendran said new systems and process should be developed to produce steel and cement with far less energy consumption.
Though significant achievements have been made in the green building movement, much more had to be done to face the emerging challenges of greater urbanisation, he said.
This would give the green building movement extremely challenging role in the years to come. “It also provides lot of opportunities to develop new products, materials, systems and adoption of renewable energy sources,” Mr Raghavendran said.
Mr M Anand, senior counsellor, IGBC CII-Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Centre, Hyderabad, said the council has been working with a vision of ushering in a green building movement in India and make the country one of the world leaders in green buildings by 2015.
The progress so far has been significant with 1217 registered buildings, 176 certified buildings, and 843.72 million sq ft green building foot print, he said. Mr Anand said the awareness about the green building concept has been spreading.
Mr Anand Sundaresan, Chairman, CII Chennai Zone and Managing Director, Schwing Stetter (India) Pvt Ltd, said, “a green building is one which uses less water, optimises energy efficiency, conserves natural resources, generates less waste and provides healthier spaces for occupants, as compared to a conventional building.” He said Chennai seems to be ahead of other cities in the number of green buildings.
Mr Sundaresan said the green building concept has been spreading to different building sectors like residential, hospitality and healthcare, factories and the like.
Mr R Vairavan, Member, Energy & Environment Panel, CII Chennai Zone and general manager (Plant and Manufacturing services) Allison Transmission India Pvt Ltd), said the green building concept had many things in common with the environment management plans of the manufacturing industry. He said that the industry should take into consideration the life cycle value of a green building and its contribution to environmental sustainability while implementing the project. Mr Vairavan said lack of awareness about the green building materials was another limiting factor.
