Green Buildings - People, Development and Environment Notes

Introduction of Green Buildings

• Green building is a building designed and constructed to eliminate and reduce the negative impact on climate and natural environment.
• These type of building create a positive impact on climate.

Features of Green Building

• Efficient use of water, energy and other resources.
• Using renewable energy instead of using fossil fuels.
• Recycling and reusing waste.
• Use of material that is sustainable and non-toxic.

Advantage of Green Building

• Energy-efficient buildings save a huge amount of money on energy bills.

Environmental benefits

• Green building has green roofs which makes the buildings cooler.
• Greenery further creates a pleasant environment around the building.
• Reduction in greenhouse gases. According to various studies, green buildings reduces emission by 62%.
• Green building is eco-friendly. Rainwater is reused and is not wasted.
• Also, the material used to make green building is recycled.

Social benefits

• These reduce the amount of pollution which has a positive impact on mental and physical health.

Challenges in Green Building adoption

• There are no proper rules and regulations for the enforcement of green building criteria on a large scale.
• The equipment and product used in the green building are expensive.
• India lacks skilled expertise and manpower.
• There is very limited awareness in Indian people about green building.

Government measures for the promotion of Green Buildings

• Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) launched the energy conservation code in 2007.
• Its main objective is to establish minimum requirements for energy-efficient design and construction of buildings.
• Adoption of energy conservation code will lead to a 50 per cent reduction in energy use by 2030.

Eco-niwas

• Energy conservation-new Indian way for affordable and sustainable homes.
• It was launched in 2018 by Ministry of Power.
• It is the energy conservation building code for residential buildings.

Star Rating Programme for commercial building

• It is developed by the Bureau for energy efficiency.
• It rates the buildings on a five-star scale based on actual performance in terms of energy use.

Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment (GRIHA)

• It is jointly developed by the Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.
• It is a rating tool that evaluates the environmental performance of a building holistically over its entire life cycle.

Leadership in energy and environment design

• It an internationally recognized certification system for the green buildings.
• It is developed by the U.S Green Building Council.