Being environment conscious is in and certainly the right thing to do. As such, it is no surprise that the real estate industry is doing its bit to make the world greener. While much talk is happening on green buildings, what this actually refers to, is the design and construction of sustainable and environmentally conscious buildings. And if you think this concept has worked globally only, think again. The Green Building movement in India kicked off with the establishment of the Indian Green Building Council in 2001, which is an initiative of Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), along with the World Green Building Council and the USGBC. 

The movement really got a fillip when India’s first LEED platinum rated Green Building - the CII-Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Centre in Hyderabad, covering around 20,000 square feet, was inaugurated in 2004. “Currently in India, green buildings are primarily addressing the issues of “operational energies”. This refers to the energies that are required to run the building in its life, such as air-conditioning, heating and appliances. The focus therefore, is on appropriate orientation, solar passive designs; efficient energy systems based on renewable energy sources (where possible),” says, Zeenat Niazi, Jury member, Holcim Awards for Sustainable Construction, 2008, and Director of Habitat, at Development Alternatives. Within a fairly short period of time, the growth in the number and volume of green buildings has been phenomenal, in the context and the base of where it started. As of September 2007, India has 17 certified LEED Green Buildings, totalling to just over 4 million square feet. 

National benchmark

Incidentally, the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System, is the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction, and operation of high performance green buildings. As of now, there are around 58 projects registered in India under the LEED rating system, with a cumulative area of around 23.4 million square feet of development. This is further expected to touch 100 million square feet by 2010-12, as per indications given at the Green Building Congress in Chennai (September 2007). Apart from this, an indigenous rating system ‘GRIHA’ for Green and Sustainable Buildings, was instituted by the Delhi based ‘The Energy Research Institute’ (TERI). Within the GRIHA rating system itself, around 12 projects have already been registered as of September 2007, totalling to around 8.79 million square feet. Interestingly, among the registered projects under GRIHA, there is an integrated township of around 4.2 million square feet in West Bengal. Says Shyam Damodaran, Senior Director, Design & Construction, Tishman Speyer (India) Pvt Ltd, “The latest trends in green buildings are to reduce impact on the environment during construction and when in use, reduce the requirement of natural resources during construction and in use, and to provide the end users with a healthy, secure and comfortable living and working environment.”

“The green buildings and sustainable development movement has been increasingly gaining momentum. Going behind the headlines of this movement, one discovers a whole new green way of life that is steadily emerging, both, globally as well as in India, and the movement is determined to change the way we plan, construct and occupy buildings. It is now a well-proven fact that the built environment and construction sector is as much a contributor to the global warming phenomenon, as are emissions from factories, transportation modes and other such factors. Fortunately, the Green Building movement is an affirmative step towards tackling climate crisis and the good news is that the stakeholders in the building and construction sector worldwide, have started acting on it,” opines Karun Varma, MD, Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj, Bangalore. The Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj Report on India Green Buildings Anthology, says that there are varying estimates of the role of buildings and construction in the global warming phenomenon.

Facts & figures

Among the ones that stand out are the facts published by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Sustainable Building and Construction Initiative (2006), which states that “The building and construction sector represents over 111 million people, directly employed worldwide with 75 percent in developing countries and 90 percent in micro firms (less than 10 employees). It contributes to approximately 10 percent of the global GDP with a world wide annual investment evaluated at US $ 3,000 billion.”

Going a step further on the same lines, there is a very interesting observation mentioned in a landmark report on ‘People, Planet, Profit: Property’ (2007)’, published by Jones Lang LaSalle, which states that: “Commercial buildings can account for as much as 50 percent of all energy consumed within an economy, with air-conditioning and office equipment accounting for the majority of the end-use energy. It also accounts for significant carbon dioxide emissions and can use as much as one-third of all the water consumed within an economy.”

Extra investment

Opines Ravindra Verma, Director – Development Projects, India, Cushman & Wakefield, “Till about 4-5 years back, awareness in India was low about the Green Building concept and until recently, developers were not inclined towards going the ‘Green’ way due to the additional capital investment of 15-20 percent of the project cost.

However, they now realise the long-term benefits of this concept as it helps them reduce operating costs by saving energy, easier maintenance, etc, which contributes to increased revenues. In mature markets like in the US, the government offers tax incentives for developers to promote Green projects. Currently, this trend is more evident in the southern and western markets of Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai, etc, although few projects in the north too, are now planned on similar lines.

This is primarily due to the awareness campaigns driven by the CII-Godrej Green Business Centre in Hyderabad, thereby giving developers in these regions, a head start, compared to those in north India, where the bulk of the projects are from the corporate sector. Growing awareness among the public, coupled with demands from the corporate sector as part of their CSR and sustainability policies, is causing developers to compete and adopt Green projects as a USP and a project differentiation strategy. However, the concept is fast catching up with the major developers in the North and is expected to become at par with other regions by end 2008.”

In fact, today, it is also about having green interiors. DRI, which manufactures energy saving equipment for betterment of Indoor Air Quality, is primarily used in Green buildings. “Green buildings consume at least 40-50% less energy and 20-30% less water vis-à-vis a conventional building. This comes at an incremental cost of about 5-8 %. The incremental cost gets paid back in 3-5 years. Working in an environment with access to daylight and view, provides connection to the exterior environment.

This has a soothing effect on the mind. Various studies prove that the productivity of people who have access to daylight and views, is at least 12-15% higher. Green buildings are always fresh and healthy. Every green building will have to purge continuous fresh air to meet the ASHRAE 62 requirements.

The green buildings use interior materials with low volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions. “A typical office building would require purging of fresh air of about 15 cfm/person which provides a fresh ambience inside the building,” says Varun Pahwa, VP, New Business Development, DRI. “The future sees an increase of construction and research of buildings that are green from the corporate responsibility and real estate marketing edge, but hopefully, this would, at some time in the future, become mandatory as a regulated building code requirement,” says Damodaran. All ultimately to help conserve a green planet for tomorrow.