GREEN INDIA – AN IGBC INITIATIVE

The National Mission - A Green India is one of the eight Missions under the National Action Plan on Climate Change. Primary focus on quality of forests, ecosystem services and democratic decentralization.

GIM puts the “greening” in the context of climate change adaptation and mitigation, meant to enhance ecosystem services like carbon sequestration and storage (in forests and other ecosystems), hydrological services and biodiversity; along with provisioning services like fuel, fodder, small timber and NTFPs.

Green India focuses at protecting,restoring and enhancing India's diminishing forest &  responding to climate change by a combination of adaptation and mitigation measures.

More green space within a city`s boundaries can improve the urban environment by reducing carbon emissions; water quality is protected; it reduces heat build-up; reduces soil erosion; improves air quality; lowers air temperature; rainfall retention (rainwater harvesting) and helps in natural resource conservation. 

Residential and Commercial properties consume an enormous amount of energy. There has been an ever increasing demand for building energy sustainable options in the real estate sector. Green certified construction is the need of the hour across residential and commercial projects pan India.

The Real Estate sector in India is growing at a fast pace and contributing massively to the growth of the National economy. The altered construction practices in  line  with green standards of constructions in Indian real estate sector has helped India to find its place in the International league of green buildings and green environment compliant countries.

The initial standards of green construction practices was adopted only for commercial properties. It has now extensively spread across to residential properties India as well.  The major contributor to this change has been the IGBC. IGBC stands for Indian Green Building Council which is a part of CII (Confederation of Indian Industries since 1895) and was established in the year 2001. IGBC is actively involved in green building concept in India.

Vision of IGBC

 “To enable a sustainable built environment for all and facilitate India to be one of the global leaders in the sustainable built environment by 2025″.

A green building i.e. green residential property, green commercial property or any other green infrastructure development is one which:

1   .      Optimises water consumption

2   .       Optimises Energy utilisation

3   .       Produces less waste and

The above aspects provide a healthy environment for the inhabitants as compared to the conventional residential properties.

Today (as on 21 June 2016) more than 3,667 Green Buildings projects coming up with a footprint of over 3.82 Billion sq.ft. are registered with the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC), out of which 827 Green Building projects are certified and fully functional in India. All this growth has been possible with the participation of all stakeholders in the green building movement.

Some of the benefits of implementing green construction are:

1    .      30-40% (thiry to forty percent) reduction in Energy cost

2    .      20-30% (twenty to thirty percent) reduction in Water requirement

3    .      Improved Indoor Air Quality.

Various Residential Properties in Thane are paving way for more and more green spaces and implementing the IGBC standards. One such project is Tata Housing’s Tata Serein located at Pokharan Road, Thane.

TATA SEREIN offers 1BHK, 2BHK and 3 BHK flats in Thane in 7.5 acres development in the project. To maximize living and nature into Tata Serein, Tata Housing has followed IGBC (Indian Green Building Council) standards which will impact the project in big way. Like highly efficient use of lights and electricity in the project, use of High Performance glass in the project to minimize heat coming inside the house, implementation of rain water harvesting system to minimize use of ground water, the apartments are built in the way that you won’t have to switch on a light in the day.

If key practices of green construction are followed nationally for residential properties and commercial properties it will lead to a reduction in consumption pertaining to natural resources and power. It will also lead to better health and increased quality of life of citizens, decrease emissions etc.

IGBC offers various ratings to residential projects viz: IGBC green new buildings, IGBC green existing buildings, IGBC green homes. These ratings are given after following a standard protocol that includes registration, pre-certification, certification etc. The ratings are given depending on the type of construction.

Though green building residential projects are little expensive but are worth the “health and environmental benefits” that they provide.

This initiative of IGBC is commendable and more and more constructions should be brought under this criteria by promoting active participation by stake holders across the construction industry. Only once all the stake holders are actively participating then can the idea of achieving the goal of Green India by 2025 can become a reality.

According to reports by Indian Green Building Council (IGBC), of the 2 billion square feet of green construction projects across the country, quarters are registered in Mumbai.