‘Green buildings’ are not as energy-efficient as they are made out to be, according to two academics at the CEPT University in Ahmedabad.
Prof Miki Desai and Prof Neelkanth Chhaya said the standards by which green-buildings are measured (even in India) are developed in the US, where energy consumption is very high. Besides, Indian houses have traditionally not been energy guzzlers, a ‘cultural wisdom’ the two architect professors are trying to tap into to evolve a system which they believe will better the West-oriented green-building norms.
CEPT plans to start a new post-graduate programme, “Sustainable Architecture”, in this connection.
“We are not going to discard green buildings, there is a science behind it. But we are going to mix the science with culture and tradition,” said Prof Desai.
Prof Desai and his colleague cited the examples of courtyards in traditional houses, which have now disappeared. According to the duo, even white-washing the rooftops can lower the room temperatures by as much as five degrees Celsius.
“A green building is too complex to be really understood and adopted by normal people. It is really a way of making you buy more and more gizmos,” said Prof Desai.
“A green building is a closed box, and you measure the energy inputs and outputs,” added Prof Chhaya.
Prof Desai said: “The old city of Ahmedabad is a good place to start. But we are not going to be either urban or rural centric. We have been talking in the open space for half-an-hour rather than in our cabins. The quality of the conversation did not suffer. So why do we need closed buildings?”
But temperature control will not be the only thing the new course will deal with. Other architectural components like domestic waste treatment will be explored, even costs to build a house. The course will be fifth in the CEPT University’s Faculty (department) of Architecture’s line-up of programmes. At present courses are offered on Urban Design, Theory and Design, Landscaping and Conservation.
