Green Buildings in India

What is a Green Building?

A Green Building is one, which incorporates several Green features. The appearance of a Green Building will be similar to any other building. However, the difference is in the approach, which revolves round a concern for extending the life span of natural resources, provide human comfort, safety and productivity. This approach results in reduction in operating costs like energy and water, besides several intangible benefits.

 Some of the salient features of a Green Building are:

• Minimal disturbance to landscapes and site condition
• Use of Recycled and Environmental Friendly Building Materials
• Use of Non-Toxic and recycled/recyclable Materials
•   Efficient use of Water and Water Recycling
•   Use of Energy Efficient and Eco-Friendly Equipment
•   Use of Renewable Energy
•   Quality of Indoor Air Quality for Human Safety and Comfort
•   Effective Controls and Building Management Systems

‘A Green building should create delight when entered, serenity and health when occupied and regret when departed’ – Perhaps this is one of the most inspiring definitions of a Green building, articulated in the book ‘Natural Capitalism’. The concept of green buildings is not as nascent as we think it is. For example, our own ancestors worshipped the five elements of nature - Earth as ‘Prithvi, Water as “Jal’, Agni as ‘Energy’, Air as ‘Vayu’, and Sky as ‘Akash’. Today through the LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Leadership) green building rating system, we are rediscovering the Indian ethos.

From a humble beginning of 20,000 sq.ft of green footprint in the country in the year 2003, to a staggering 10 million sq.ft expected by end 2008, green buildings are well poised to reach scalar heights. Today a variety of green building projects are coming up in the country – residential complexes, exhibition centers, hospitals, educational institutions, laboratories, IT parks, airports, government buildings and corporate offices


 Benefits of Green Buildings
A Green Building can have tremendous benefits, both tangible and intangible. The immediate and most tangible benefit is in the reduction in operating energy and water costs right from day one during the entire life cycle of the building. The savings could range from 25 – 40 % depending on the extent of green specifications. Other tangible savings would be reduction in first costs and enhanced asset value. Intangible benefits of Green Buildings include increasing productivity of occupants’, health, safety benefits and a green corporate image. Several Corporates are now seeing Green Building Rating as a tool to enhance marketability.

Helping you achieve your financial goals through Green Energy

Home Automation Technology Helps Manage Energy Use
Smart home automation is a growing industry and a popular trend for homeowners who want the latest technology. However, it can also be a great new tool for green computing and reducing energy costs by using your computer or any other computer in the world. Home automation design involves one centralized system to control the lights, temperature, music, televisions and security systems in a home. The system  can be one panel in the home, and it can also be designed for remote Internet-based operation. A few clicks from any computer can turn down the heat and switch off all the lights, reducing energy bills and the carbon footprint of any home. LSquare, a home automation technology practice, estimates a three-bedroom home with a smart home automation system can save more than 385 KG of CO2 emissions per year.

Getting the most from research analysis

Green Measure does not influence the project cost significantly; rather it helps in reducing operation cost.Sustainable design can and should be analyzed holistically, including operations and maintenance implications, user productivity and health, design and documentation fees, among other financial measurements. However, it is our experience that it is the construction cost implications that drive decisions about sustainable design. By assisting teams to understand the actual construction costs on real projects of achieving green, and by providing a methodology that will allow teams to manage construction costs, we hope to enable teams to get past the question of whether to go green, or go straight to working on how. Research paper uses extensive data on building costs to compare the cost of green buildings with buildings housing comparable programs, which do not have sustainable goals. The foundations are also laid to analyze incremental costs over starting budgets, and to compare the costs for different specific measures and technologies. Additionally, we present a budgeting methodology that provides guidelines for developing appropriate budgets to meet the building program goals, including sustainability goals. Various reports look only at construction costs. The first question often asked about sustainable design is: what does 'green' cost, typically meaning does it cost more? This raises the question: more than what? More than comparable buildings, more than the available funds, or more than the building would have cost without the sustainable design features? The answers to these questions have been thus far elusive, because of the lack of hard data.

Urbanisation is playing significant role in climate change

In the last few decades global warming has jumped from the obscurity of science journals to the front pages of newspapers, and ultimately environmental concerns have emerged as one of the alarming stories of the era.The growing urbanization has stimulated the local climate change in the entire world. Urbanization is one direct cause which is contributing significantly towards our climate change and could be managed through available compliance and standards.However, recently climate change concerns received wider recognition and acceptance with the emergence of green building conceptualization amongst the developers in India.

* Courtesy IPCC

Statistics state that the residential, commercial, and institutional buildings sector accounted for about one-third of the global energy used and roughly one-third of the associated CO2 emissions in above chart*. The commercial sector is considerably more heterogeneous than residential buildings, encompassing hospitals, schools, offices, enclosed malls and restaurants. Each of it having a unique energy use.

Sustainable Living Approach

Sustainable living is a lifestyle that attempts to reduce an individual's or society's use of the Earth's natural resource and his/her own resources. It is fundamentally the application of sustainability to lifestyle choice and decisions. Sustainability itself is expressed as meeting present ecological, societal, and economical needs without compromising these factors for future generations. Sustainable living can therefore be described as living within the innate carrying capacities defined by these factors.

Though the concept certainly sounds good in theory, you may wonder what the real benefits are to living in a green home.

•    Savings in the long-term due to lower utility bills
•    Less toxic substances and cleaner air help promote healthy living.
•    Help the environment by utilizing recycled products and renewable resources
•    An energy efficient, well designed green home will command a high market value in the real estate market.

In essence sustainable living is a recipe for "win win win"

Save energy & costs
•    Grey-water
•    Efficient home water use
•    Rainwater
•    Water restrictions

Reduce waste & recycle
•    Building materials
•    Household hazardous waste
•    Kitchen and food waste
•    Recycling

Travel smarter
•    Cycling
•    Motor transport
•    Public transport
•    Walking

Green Building

“Going Green” has become the watchword in today’s real estate market.The concept of “Green Building” aims at increasing the efficiency with which buildings use resources - energy, water, materials - while reducing the impact of the building on human health and the surrounding environment during its life cycle, through better design, construction, operation, maintenance and removal and recycle of waste. Maximizing the use of day lighting, reducing the burden on the electricity usage, optimizing the cooling and heating loads of a building are few of such measures.

Some systematic approaches like LEED (USGBC), GRIHA (IGBC) etc. help in sustainable development but the importance of going green is not absolutely credited in terms of project cost and business value.

Today, general awareness on Green Buildings in India is still scattered but is improving rapidly amongst all sectors. The integrated and holistic approach towards construction of modern green structures is emerging with accelerated awareness and the government also provides incentives to architects and consultants who design buildings on green architectural concepts and get them rated under GRIHA/IGBC etc. This has encouraged the builders to construct buildings that are designed, built and operated in a manner that improves the health, well-being and productivity of people and the environment.

 At LSquare, our team of highly experienced dedicated professionals help you “go green” by following our uniquely crafted methodology on the various Green and CDM models which cover Green Building Consultancy, LEED Facilitation, Energy Modeling & Simulation, Lighting Simulation ,Day Lighting Analysis, Fundamental & Enhanced Commissioning  and CDM Advisory to name a few. Our methodology encompasses all the requirement of LEED (USGBC) and GRIHA(IGBC) to facilitate the achievement of LEED and GRIHA certifications at various levels thereby providing an unparalleled competitive advantage .