Are you aware that your office or residential building could be harming the environment? Is it possible that your building is spewing harmful pollutants without you realizing it? We are well aware of various environmental issues such as global warming, water and air pollution and the measures that need to be taken to prevent them. If we switch to sustainable architecture and green buildings in India, not just for nature’s sake, but for ourselves, we could not only save the environment but also reduce our total ownership costs.
The building construction industry produces the second largest amount of demolition waste and greenhouse gases (35-40%). The major consumption of energy in buildings is during construction and later in lighting or air-conditioning systems. While, various amenities like lighting, air conditioning, water heating provide comfort to building occupants, but also consume an enormous amount of energy and add to pollution. Further, occupant activities generate a large amount of solid and water waste as well.
Sustainable architecture is the type of architecture that seeks to minimize the harmful impact that buildings have on the environment. Such sustainably built green buildings are environmentally responsible and resource-efficient, right from location selection to the demolition after its lifecycle ends. A green building uses less energy, water and other natural resources creates less waste and greenhouse gases and is healthy for people living or working inside as compared to a regular structure.
Building green is not about a little more efficiency. It is about creating buildings that optimize on the use of local materials, local ecology and most importantly they are built to reduce power, water and material requirements. Thus, if these things are kept in mind, then we will realize that our traditional architecture was in fact, very green. According to TERI estimates, if all buildings in Indian urban areas were made to adopt green building concepts, India could save more than 8,400 megawatts of power, which is enough to light 550,000 homes a year. There are five fundamental principles of Green Building:
1. Sustainable Site Design
- Create minimum urban sprawl and prevent the needless destruction of valuable land, habitat and open space
- Encourage higher density urban development as a means to preserve valuable green space
- Preserve key environmental assets through careful examination of each site
2. Water Quality & Conservation
- Preserve the existing natural water cycle and design the site so that they closely emulate the site’s natural hydrological systems
- Emphasis on retention of stormwater and on-site infiltration as well as ground water recharging
- Minimize the inefficient use of potable water on the site while maximizing the recycling and reuse of water, including rainwater harvesting, stormwater, and grey water.
3. Energy & Environment
- Minimize adverse impact on the environment through optimized building siting & design, material selection, and aggressive use of energy conservation measures
- Maximize the use of renewable energy and other low impact energy sources
- Building performance should exceed minimum International Energy Code (IEC) compliance level by 30-40%.
4. Indoor Environmental Quality
- Provide a healthy, comfortable and productive indoor environment for building occupants
- Utilize the best possible conditions in terms of indoor air quality, ventilation, and thermal comfort, access to natural ventilation and day lighting
5. Materials and Resources
- Minimize the use of non-renewable construction materials through efficient engineering and construction, and effective recycling of construction debris
- Maximize the use of recycled materials, modern energy efficient engineered materials, and resource efficient composite type structural systems as well as sustainably managed, biomass materials
Article by Rishi Rawat
Courtesy: Ecoideaz
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