Green Building Congress: Bats for Sustainable Habitats

The 10th edition of Green Building Congress 2012, which concluded on a promising note in Hyderabad recently, attracted over 2,300 national and international delegates and also drew over 8200 visitors to the exhibition. In the mega event, over 100 exhibitors displayed their products and technologies and their resounding strength made it crystal clear that Green Building concept is strongly gaining ground in the Indian construction sector.

The theme of the Conference - ‘Green Communities for all by 2025’ was in tune with the overall vision of IGBC - to enable a sustainably built environment for all and facilitate India to be one of the global leaders in the area of sustainably built environment by 2025.

The government of Andhra Pradesh was the partner state for the event wherein the Principal Secretary, Municipal Administration and Urban Development, inaugurated Green Building Congress 2012.


Delivering his inaugural address, IAS, B Sam Bob, underlined the fact that sustainable economic development is high on the agenda of the government in Andhra Pradesh as it is planning to implement ECBC in its true spirit in the state. While Chairman, CII- Godrej GBC, Jamshyd N Godrej, said the next chapter should focus on expanding the green building footprint to rural areas thereby truly embarking on the journey of green communities for all by 2025.

Similarly, State Secretary, Ministry of Enterprise, Energy and Communication, Sweden, Ms. Marita Ljung, said that climate change poses a great challenge for all of us and innovation is the key to address the issue and ensure sustainability and this is possible only through research and development.

The inaguration was followed by expert panel discussions, where apart from Indian experts, a large number of international panelists from countries including Sweden, US, Switzerland, UK, Australia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Finland, Abu Dhabi and Israel shared their views on sustainable building concept.

The discussion on “Sustainable Habitat for all communities by 2025” was chaired by the Chairman, IGBC Policy & Advocacy Committee, V Suresh. In his speech he exhorted that the need of the hour is that the government, architects and industry bodies must work together to make green building movement a great success. While chairing the session “How Government, Industry & Institutions can partner together in advancing Green Buildings and Green Cities in India” Director, South Asia Regional Initiative for Energy (SARI/E) & Senior Energy Advisor, US Agency for International Development, Mr S Padmanaban, called for the need and importance to work more closely with all the stakeholders in realizing the vision of IGBC.

Key suggestions emerged during the Panel Discussions include:

• Promote net zero energy & zero water discharge concepts in all buildings.
• Adopt ECBC for new commercial buildings across states.
• Equip rural sector with knowledge on tapping natural lighting, ventilation & renewable energy in buildings.
• Include Green products into the ‘schedule of rates’ of Public Works Departments (PWD).
• Ensure performance monitoring of Green Buildings and publicize green building case studies by showcasing post-occupancy performance & benefits.
• Reduce dependence on supply of water & energy from long distances and exploit local resources of water and energy.
• Demonstrate few Indian cities as sustainable cities.
• Encourage transit oriented development in all cities.
• Facilitate more integrated development of new cities by including all sections of society.
• Facilitate green buildings and cities as a consumer driven market.
• Reach out to CoA and AICTE and make sustainable environmental design part of the curriculum for architects & engineers.

While delivering the special address at the inaugural session of the conference on “Green cities, Green Homes and Green Data centers & CBERD,” Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Karnataka and Chairman, KUIDFC, Arvind Jadhav, discussed case studies from his work in the State of Karnataka where continuous water supply was achieved for four regions in the State. He stressed the need to take up challenging projects that push the boundaries of the green building movement. As nature is a great teacher and the fact that nothing is wasted in nature should be emulated for our green cities.


Senior Fellow, US Green Building Council, Dr Mark Ginsberg, said that India’s unique cultural sensibilities and way of life have given the country a chance to provide the world a green future. He emphasized that cities have been the centre of creativity for centuries and the number of people who will be moving to cities in the future will be significant. He said that, the cities be competitive in the 21st century must be efficient, affordable and resilient. Likewise, Director, International Development Group, Building & Construction Authority, Koh Lin Ji, Group, discussed the ‘Tianjin Eco-City’ Project and shared the plans for the eco-city and added that the governments of China and Singapore are surging towards sustainable urbanization.


Green Building Congress 2012 has also hosted several Parallel Events to make the mega event a great experience to the attendees, they included:-

1. Renewable Energy in Green Buildings
2. Interaction with Swedish Clean Technology Delegation
3. Session on Green Hospitals
4. Young Minds Going Green
5. Workshop on Energy Efficiency in Data Centres
6. Workshop on US & India Partnership to Advance Clean Energy Technologies for Buildings

The Way Forward

Green Building Congress 2012 provided exactly the right impetus to further advance the green building concept in the country. In this endeavor, IGBC would work more closely with all the stakeholders in facilitating India to be one of the world leaders in sustainable built environment by 2025. The following are the goals set by IGBC to achieve the vision – 2025:

• 50% of India’s built environment to be Green
• 1,00,000 registered Green Buildings
• 25 Billion sq.ft – Green Building footprint
• 1,00,000 Green Building professionals
• 1,000 Green Building products & equipment

Alongside the Congress there was a 3-day International Exhibition on Green Building Products & Technologies which also evokes overwhelming response from delegates, exhibitors and visitors.

The Chief Guest of the occasion, IAS, B Sam Bob, inaugurated the 3-day international exhibition, where over 100 exhibitors showcased the latest and emerging green building products and technologies. The exhibition attracted 8,200 visitors.

A Few of the innovative products on display included:

• Permeable concrete – avoid water clogging on site.
• Light tube - allows daylight even up to floor depth of 10m.
• Hybrid wind solar energy system – for building energy applications.
• Radiant cooling technology - innovative system that cools the building envelope and reduce the air-conditioning load in buildings.
• Recycled entry way mats – made of salvaged tyres.
• Vertical gardening systems – promotes greenery on walls.
• High performance chillers – consumes only 0.35 kW per TR of heat load.
• Low flow water restrictors – provides low flow rates even up to 1.9 LPM.
• Building information modeling systems – for overall Whole Building analysis of water, energy & carbon emission.
• Green Wood – Wood harvested from sustainable forestry.
• Perforated clay bricks – provides excellent thermal insulation

Awards

Green I –Contest

In the coinciding session of the Green Building Congress 2012; IGBC organised Green-I Contest 2012 for school children from across the country. Students from Vasant Valley School, Delhi, were awarded the winning trophy and a grant of `7.5 lakhs from ‘Carrier Air Conditioning & Refrigeration Ltd’ for implementing various green measures planned by them within their school campus.

IGBC Green Design Competition

IGBC Green Design competition for architectural students was aimed at imbibing principles, information & knowledge paving way for green cities and greener tomorrow. In this section, Subhodeep Maji &. Anirman Maiti from Bengal Engineering and Science University (BESU), Howrah and Mr Ranjith Kumar KN & Mr Cibi, V of School of Architecture and Planning, Anna University, Chennai received the first Award. ‘Daikin Air Conditioning India Pvt Ltd’ supported the competition.

Awards for IGBC Rated Green Building Project Teams

Green Building Congress 2012 acknowledging Green champions for adopting IGBC Green Rating programmes for their building design and construction. 75 projects comprising office, residential and factory buildings have been acknowledged by presenting IGBC plaques and certificates.

Commissioner of Industries, Government of Andhra Pradesh; IAS Dr Rajat Kumar, COO, USGBC; Mahesh Ramanujam, Chairman, CII-Godrej GBC; Jamshyd N Godrej, Chairman, IGBC; Dr Prem C Jain, Founding Chairman, Indian Green Building Council; ParasuRaman R, Chairman, IGBC - Chennai Chapter C N Raghavendran, presented the awards. As on date, 300 IGBC rated green buildings are certified as fully functional in India.