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Mainstreaming Green Building
Construction
T he
building materials and construction sector contributes up to one-third
of global annual Green House Gas (GHG) emissions. Buildings also consume
over 40 percent of all the energy used in the world and account for 30
percent of raw material usage. With a ‘business as usual’ approach,
growth in building activity is expected to more than double GHG
emissions in the next 20 years.
Green Building
The practice of "green
building" expands and compliments classical building concerns of
economy, utility, durability and comfort. In the climate context, the
contemporary challenges for green building construction are to reduce
the overall impact of built habitat on human health and the natural
environment by:
•
Efficient use of
material, energy and water resources
•
Reducing waste and
pollution; maximizing reuse and recycling
•
Protecting occupant
health, enhancing safety and climate resilience
The three main drivers for
accelerating change are Technology, Markets and Financing. There is
considerable technology development resulting in high quality,
affordable products and systems; LED lighting products, solar power
systems, hybrid air conditioning units, shading devices are among
technology choices available for green customers. Cutting edge
innovations such as electro chromic coatings provide a ‘window of
opportunity’ for futuristic facades and windows which will make a
possible to regulate the reflectance and emittance between widely
fluctuating weather extremes.
The rapid expansion of the
market for green institutional buildings is driving the supplied of
recycled and renewable products. Wide acceptance of fly ash bricks,
aerated light weight concrete, jute finishing and furnishing materials,
bamboo composites and waterless toilets is in evidence within India.
Clearly, mainstreaming of the green building practices and products to
urban house holds needs large scale awareness building coupled with
innovative financing mechanisms.
Currently, the popular
financing instruments for home owners are limited to energy efficient
devices and systems that can be retrofitted to homes. They include:
Green Mortgages (Leases)
Funding programme backed by
private government mortgage programmes which allow borrowing of extra
money for energy efficient devices and upgrades; on preferential terms.
Preferential Property Rebates
Municipal Corporations provide
rebate (6 to 10%) in annual property tax for dwelling units where energy
saving systems is installed (solar water heaters).
Green Performance Contracting
A loan product from the
provider of the green product /service known as ESCO, which is paid for
out of energy savings from utilization of the service
Capital Subsidy
A one-time incentive which
offsets the capital costs, for purchase and installation of renewable
energy system (solar power generation)
Future acceleration will
necessarily require the establishment of a regime for certification of
green building that would specify menu of green building materials,
quantify reduction of load on the public infrastructure, specify optimum
performance norms and demand on-site regeneration of critical resources,
particularly energy and water.
q
Dr Arun Kumar
akumar@devalt.org
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