Green buildings are designed to reduce environmental impact through efficient use of resources, protecting health, and reducing pollution. They meet objectives such as energy efficiency, water conservation, indoor air quality and use of sustainable materials. While the green building movement started in the late 1980s, it has grown significantly in recent decades driven by concerns over energy prices, environmental protection and sustainability.

2.  A green building, also known as a sustainable
building, is a structure that is designed, built,
renovated, operated, or reused in an ecological
and resource-efficient manner.
 Green buildings are designed to meet certain
objectives such as protecting occupant health;
improving employee productivity; using energy,
water, and other resources more efficiently; and
reducing the overall impact to the environment.

3.  The green building industry sprung to life in the
mid to late 1980's as oil prices started to rise.
 As the price of oil dropped as demand reduced
because people just couldn't afford to buy it, the
green building industry shriveled up a little,
withered a bit and almost disappeared.
 But fortunately in the current decade, the focus
on green building and sustainable living has
made a comeback.

4.  The home building industry coined the phrase
“green building” in the late 1980’s, turning a
small movement of energy efficient, resource
sensitive homes into a quiet revolution-one that
has become the preferred way to build and
remodel.
 Over the last decade, while consistently
improving energy efficient building practices and
introducing new technology and products each
year, the building industry has been challenged
with educating the public in the many aspects of
the science of green building technology.

5.  A Builder building green homes, uses a
systematic approach to design, construction, and
on-going operational durability in which the sum
of the benefits are far greater than the individual
components.
 To sum up, green building, means incorporating
environmental considerations and resource
efficiency into every step of the land
development and home building process to
minimize impact on the environment.

6.  The ‘Green Building’ concept is
gaining importance in various
countries.
 These are buildings that
ensure that waste is minimized
at every stage during the
construction and operation of
the building, resulting in low
costs, according to experts in
the technology.

7. Green buildings 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
environment degradation.

8.  Reduce energy costs.
 Improve air quality.
 Improve the use of materials and resources used
in the buildings production.
 Water Efficiency.
 Recycling wastes and re-using them.

9.  Site Selection and Structure Design Efficiency.
 Energy Efficiency.
 Water Efficiency.
 Materials Efficiency.
 Indoor Environmental Quality Enhancement.
 Operations and Maintenance Optimization.
 Waste and Toxics Reduction.

10.  They are energy efficient, hence use less energy.
 They use natural forms of energy like
geothermal, solar or wind technologies.
 Less energy used translates into a smaller
‘carbon footprint’.
 Recycled materials like reclaimed timber and
bamboo wood floors are used.
 Designing green buildings also take in to account
landscaping which reduces the need of irrigation.

11.  Green buildings also manage the construction
process to make sure that any waterways remain
unpolluted with construction by-products.
 Green buildings also lend themselves to a better
work environment.
 They generally include the use of natural day light,
big windows and good indoor air circulation,
dramatically increase productivity and reduce
absenteeism.

12.  The Indian Green Building
Council (IGBC), was formed in
the year 2001 by Confederation
of Indian Industry (CII).
 The vision of the council is to
usher in a green building
movement in India and facilitate
India to become one of the
global leaders in green
buildings.

13.  It launched a Star Rating Programme in 2009, for office
buildings in order to accelerate the Energy Efficiency activities
in commercial buildings. The programme developed by BEE is
based on actual performance of the building, in terms of
specific energy usage (in kWh/sq m/year).
 The BEE programme rates office buildings on a 1 to 5 star
scale, with 5-Star labelled buildings being the most energy
efficient.
 This programme initially targets air conditioned and non-air
conditioned office buildings in the following three climatic
zones:
 Warm and Humid
 Composite
 Hot and Dry
 It will be subsequently extended to other climatic zones and
building types.

16.  CRISIL is fully committed to the environment.
Perhaps the greatest symbol of this commitment is
CRISIL House, CRISIL's headquarters in Mumbai,
which holds the coveted LEED Platinum level
certification.

17.  Locally available materials and sustainable energy
sources have been used extensively in the building.
 Natural lighting and ventilation enhance the
energy-efficiency of the building.
 Adequate green spaces help in controlling the
micro-climate providing visual delight at the same
time.
 CRISIL headquarters are located in Hiranandani
Business Park, Powai in Mumbai.
 CRISIL's initiatives can broadly be summarised
under three heads:
 Saving energy
 Reducing pollution
 Conserving scarce resources.

18.  Saving Energy:-
 Frugal use of artificial lighting:Around 75% of the
daytime working light requirements in CRISIL House
are met using natural light.
 Energy efficient air conditioning:The design and usage
of the air-conditioning system in CRISIL House
conserves energy and minimizes electricity usage. The
building is designed and built to minimize thermal
leakage, both inward and outward.
 Server virtualization: This initiative resulted in a net
reduction in the number of servers in 2011 to 229
from 345, saving around 202,000 Kilowatt hours of
electricity.

19.  Reducing Pollution:-
 Waste sorting for appropriate treatment: CRISIL limits
the areas where food and drink can be consumed in
CRISIL House. This allows food waste and paper waste
to be separated. Liquid waste is treated in a dedicated
Sewage Treatment Plant (STP), while about 1.5 tonnes
of paper and paper products are recycled every
month.
 Avoiding transport of drinking water:
CRISIL offices in Mumbai use Reverse Osmosis (RO)
water purifiers, instead of buying treated bottled
water, the commonest source of drinking water in
Indian offices. A total of 160 kilolitres of water is
treated in this way annually in CRISIL

20.  Conservation of scarce resources:-
 Paper saving:
One of the most pervasive uses of paper is the paper
cup – a company of CRISIL's size can save as much as
12 tonnes of paper in a year, besides on transport and
disposal, by not using these cups. CRISIL has replaced
paper cups with metal cups, which can be washed and
re-used.
 Water saving and recycling in CRISIL House:
The use of dishwashers in CRISIL House saves
upwards of 5 million liters of water in a year. The
recycled water is routed to sanitary use, and is also
used for watering CRISIL House's 17,000 square feet
of green areas.

21.  Renowned as one of the early
adopters of the green building
movement in India, the ITC
Green Centre is still
considered a benchmark for
green buildings. It was the
first 'Platinum' rated building
in India and has endeavored to
adopt green practices that go
beyond recycled waste and
day-lit offices. Within a built-
in area of 170,000 sq.ft., the
building features alternative
transportation facilities, storm
water management system,
solar thermal technology,
reflective high-albedo roof
paint, minimal exterior
lighting, separate smoking
rooms with exhaust system
and zero-water discharge.
More than 10% of the building
materials are refurbished from other
sites and 40% are from within 500
miles of the project site

22.  India’s first Greenfield airport
is undeniably among the top
10 green buildings in India
and the first airport in Asia to
be awarded the LEED ‘Silver’
rating certification by US
Green Building Council.
Featuring 100,005 sq. m. of
glass encased terminal, this
green building ensures
optimal use of natural light
and minimal wastage of
electricity or energy
consumption. Yet another of
its green features includes the
recycling of treated
wastewater for landscaping,
air conditioning and flushing
requirements.
This Greenfield airport has been built
at a cost of Rs 2,478 crore

23.  The Tamil Nadu
Legislative Assembly in
Chennai which is being
inaugurated on 13
March 2010 , has been
designed and
constructed based on
green building
principles. The building
has been awarded the
prestigious 'Gold' rating
from Indian Green
Building Council.

24.  Energy efficient measures to conserve 15-20% of
energy.
 Water efficient fixtures to save water to the tune
of 40-45%.
 Roof gardens to reduce heat island effect.
 On-site rain water harvesting system.
 Reuse of 100% treated waste water for
landscaping and flushing requirements.
 Over 90% of the construction waste recycled and
reused on the site.
 Electric charging refueling stations in the parking
lots.

26.  The Shanghai Tower is a super tall skyscraper under
construction in the Pudong district of Shanghai,
China.
 It is designed by Gensler, it will be the tallest of a
group of three super tall buildings in Pudong.
 Shanghai Tower is built based on the Green Building
concept. The tower employs 43 green and energy-
saving technologies to reduce energy usage by 21%
and water consumption by 40%.

27.  The building will recycle 235,000m³ (62.1 million gal)
of water per year, and deploy an additional 20,000m³
(5.28 million gal) of grey and storm water.
 The sustainable features of the tower will reduce the
carbon footprint of the building by 34,000t per year.
 Variable Air Volume air conditioning systems and
brightness sensors will be installed in the building.
The carbon monoxide (CO) sensors will activate the
garage fans when CO levels reach unacceptable
levels.
 The vertically aligned wind turbines on the top levels
will generate 1,189MWH of green electricity annually.

28.  Even though green buildings cost 5-10%
more to build than regular buildings, this
cost can be recovered within 2 years by
saving water and energy.
 The green building movement & technology
is here to stay for the benefit of individuals,
society and the country at large.
 It’s a step to optimum use of relevant energy
sources.