GREEN BUILDING

Green building:

• Green building is the practice of creating structures and using processes that are environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a building's life-cycle from siting to design, construction, operation, maintenance, renovation and deconstruction.
  
  
• These are designed to reduce the overall impact of the built environment on human health and the natural environment by:
  • Efficiently using energy, water, and other resources.
    
    
  • Protecting occupant health and improving employee productivity.
    
    
  • Reducing waste, pollution and environmental degradation.
    
    
  
  
  
• Benefits of Green Buildings:
  • According to the Environment Ministry’s ENVIS Centre, Buildings account for up to 40% of the total energy consumption in India.
    
    
  • A green building can reduce the interference from outside pollutants
    
    
  • Green buildings utilise less resources than conventional buildings.
    
    
  
  
  

Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment (GRIHA):

• It is a rating tool that helps people assesses the performance of their building against certain nationally acceptable benchmarks.
  
  
• It is given by the GRIHA Council, a not-for-profit society jointly setup by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) to promote green buildings in India.
  
  

Scenario of green Buildings in India:

• A total of 80 buildings have been certified as green throughout the country by GRIHA. Of these, 50 buildings in Delhi have been certified as green by GRIHA in the last one year.
  
  
• This means, In India, only less than 2% of the buildings are green.
  
  
• But there is a huge opportunity to increase that number as about 60 % of the infrastructure of the country is yet to be put in place in the next 20 years. Thus, India can plan those buildings in accordance to green norm.
  
  
• The best way to promote green buildings is through fiscal incentives and the developer should feel that "there is a sense in going green".