The Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) will facilitate development of 200 green buildings by 2012 adding to the 800 already existing.
CII Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Centre senior councillor M Anand said the council was also targeting to use the green concept on 1 billion sft area from the current half a billion sft and train 5,000 accredited professionals. He was addressing a seminar on ‘Environment friendly technologies: opportunities and challenges ahead’, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) - Andhra Pradesh.
IGBC, formed in 2001, aims to become the world leader in green building by 2015, he added. So far, IGBC has certified 126 green buildings, and has 521.19 million sft of green building footprint.
The cost of green buildings was 18 per cent higher in 2003 than the normal building but came down to 8 per cent in 2008-09. It is likely to further decline to 1-2 per cent by 2014-15.
Around 80 per cent of energy consumption can be reduced through proper day light facilities in green building. So far, India has only tapped one per cent of the solar power.
Anil Kumar Chalamalasetty, Convener, CII AP Energy & Environment Panel & chief executive officer, Greenko Energies Private Limited, said, “More resources need to be made available for sustainable green technologies. Cleaner production is the only tool to reduce pollution.”
P Raghuveer, additional principal conservator of forests and director, AP Forest Academy, said, “Civil society’s proactive role is important in protecting the environment. There is a need to utilise the technical expertise of engineers in developing more environment-friendly technologies.
