GREEN BUILDING -our Legacy To Our Next Generation.
Green building (also known as green construction or sustainable building) refers to both a structure and the application of processes that are environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a building's life-cycle: from planning to design, construction, operation, maintenance, renovation, and demolition. This requires close cooperation of the contractor, the architects, the engineers, and the client at all project stages. The Green Building practice expands and complements the classical building design concerns of economy, utility, durability, and comfort.
GREEN BUILDINGS
Global warming is a serious problem facing the world today as well as the world in the future. In order to stop this problem, society must consciously change to protect the future.
One of the conscious effort should be making buildings green. This would greatly impact the problem.
To-day with the growing awareness there are many ways these efforts are coming into reality and more methods are being developed rapidly. New developments are coming every day in the field of engineering that are meant to save energy and protect the environment.
Tough the implementation of newer methods for green building construction may appear costly for consumers, new development in the engineering field is providing increasingly cost-effective solutions. This will reinforce the human effort to build better future for the coming generation.
Green or environmentally friendly, building construction is becoming a very popular these days especially in the periphery of the urban areas and in the upcoming towns and countryside by the cities.
Importance of Green Building:
1. Economic Importance : A common impression about green building is that the green premium is too expensive to be considered economically feasible. However; studies have shown that the costs of green buildings are not substantially higher than the regular development project. Higher construction costs can generally be avoided by the inclusion of green design from the very outset of the project.
2. Reduced energy consumption : The resource efficiency provided by green design and technology leads to drastic reductions in operation costs that quickly recoup any additional project costs and continue to offer dramatic long –term savings. Money previously directed towards utility costs may be used for other purpose. The ideal example is Electricity consumption cost.40-50% less Electricity is minimized by meeting energy demand through solar passive design.
3. Reduce Water Consumption : In green building about 30 % less water is required by reducing irrigation water requirement. Use of efficient fixtures, rain water harvesting, waste water treatment on site ,recycle and reuse of water reduce the consumption of the water.
4. Cost efficient to run : An environmentally sustainable building can reduce household running cost by up to 60% and repairs and ongoing maintenance costs are reduced through the use of low maintenance materials.
5. Reduce greenhouse gas emissions : Pollutants released by fossil fuel fired electricity contribute to global climate change, because air quality issues such as acid rain which are dangerous for human health are prevented. Green building techniques like solar powering increase energy efficiency and reduce harmful emissions. The sustainable house uses less energy. Using less energy generated by coal fired power station means greenhouse gas emission is reduced. Greenhouse gases prevent heat from escaping from the earth's atmosphere resulting in global warming and climate change.
India and the green buildings.
A green building is one which uses less water, optimizes energy efficiency, conserves natural resources, generates less waste and provides healthier spaces for occupants, as compared to a conventional building. IGBC is leading green building movement in the country.
Indian Green Building Council (IGBC)
The Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) was formed by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in 2001. The council is based out of the CII Green Business Centre, Hyderabad which is India's 1st Platinum rated green building. The vision of the council is to enable 'Sustainable built environment for all.
IGBC is the country's premier body for green building certification and allied services. Today, with strong support from various stakeholders, IGBC have achieved the following significant milestones:
• 4,400+ projects registered with IGBC from various parts of India and abroad, amounting to a total footprint of 4.72 billion sq. ft.
• 22 IGBC green building ratings to cover all typologies of projects - residential, commercial, industrial, healthcare, etc.
• 2,100+ IGBC Member Organizations comprising developers, corporates, architects, consultants, institutes, government, etc
• 2,800+ qualified IGBC Accredited Green Building Professionals; more than 30,000 stakeholders have been trained by IGBC till date.
IGBC certifies the green projects which are conceptualized, designed, constructed and operated as per IGBC Ratings. Till date, more than 1,250 projects (approx. 400 million sq. ft) have been rated by IGBC. These IGBC-rated projects, as compared to conventional structures, have demonstrated tremendous savings to the extent of up to:
• 15,000 MWh of Energy per million sq ft. per annum
• 45,000 KL of Water per million sq ft. per annum
• Installation of 30 MW of Renewable Energy in IGBC certified projects
• Reduced CO2 emissions by 12,000 tons per million sq ft. per annum
• Diverted 500 Tons of construction waste from landfill per million sq ft.
Green projects rated by IGBC fall under one of the following levels (in ascending order): Certified, Silver, Gold and Platinum.
For further details, please refer the IGBC website, www.igbc.in
Current Issue
01-2026
