Regulatory measures are needed to promote energy efficiency in buildings. Simple lifestyle changes like using white roofs, facades, and vehicles can help reduce energy consumption and combat climate change. Buildings currently consume a large portion of global energy, so making new construction energy efficient and green certified can help reduce energy usage.

1. 8
greenlifestyle
pg.
A T i m e s o f I n d i a P r e s e n t a t i o n , M U M B A I , F E B R U A RY 6 , 2 0 1 0 T I M E S P R O P E R T Y
[FAST FACT] Regulatory measures are a must to promote energy efficiency in buildings
I WHITE ROOFS AND PIC: SUBHANGI V
KAMAL MEATTLE
FACADES AND WHITE is Chief Executive Officer
cement, steel etc. We need carbon storage,
Alternative Energy - Nuclear, Wind, Pho-
VEHICLES REFLECT Paharpur Business Centre &
tovoltaic, Fuel Cells, Bio - fuels, besides
Software Technology
LIGHT AND HEAT, Incubator Park increase of forest cover. Regulatory meas-
THUS HELPING TO ures are a must to promote energy effi-
ciency in buildings.
COOL SPACES Water could pose a larger threat than
energy. Solutions lie in better manage-
ment of water resources. Our policies
should include efficient water usage and
reduction of water wastage in transmis-
sion. Similarly, water harvesting should
be compulsory for green areas and build-
ings.
Outlaw conventional lamps and en-
QUICK courage CFL, use only 4-5 star air condi-
BYTES tioners, refrigerators, electric motors,
transformers etc. Charge a high excise
duty on energy inefficient products and
zero duty on energy efficient ones. Use so-
I IF WE ARE lar heating in all the buildings as far as
TO ACHIEVE possible.
OUR
NATIONAL Promote use of energy from waste. Set
GOAL OF up gobar (cow dung) gas plants in each
REDUCING village and use the methane gas for cook-
ENERGY BY
25%, WE CAN ing and the residual material as fertilis-
LOOK TO THE er. Some of the gas can also be stored to
75% OF INDIA run a fuel-cell electric generator for pro-
THAT IS YET ducing electricity at night for powering
TO BE BUILT
NO SMALL CHANGE
AND MAKE mobile telephone towers, and LED and
SURE THAT CFL based electric lighting.
NEW Encourage lifestyle change, keep tem-
BUILDINGS
ARE ALL perature in offices between 24 - 25 degrees
ENERGY Centigrade and do away with wearing
EFFICIENT AND neck-ties in offices in summer. Let the
GREEN colour of green be white: encourage the
CERTIFIED
I WATER,
Simple lifestyle changes could go a long way towards combating global warming, use of white colour roofs and facades and
white colour vehicles, as they reflect light
ENERGY,
WASTE
says KAMAL MEATTLE and heat.
MANAGEMENT As responsible people we should take
TOGETHER insurance and do what we need to do now
WITH INDOOR and not any later.
AIR QUALITY
C
ARE VERY
limate change is happening and which is to collectively limit the CO2 levels all Energy efficient and Green certified- ment strategies should be attempted and
IMPORTANT humans are contributing to it. Rising in the air, to under 450 ppm. IGBC or TERI GRIHA or BEE Energy Star encouraged to curb the climate change
VERTICALS IN temperatures vouch for this: the av- We are already at 390 ppm, increasing it rated. impact. We can reduce emissions by Kamal Meattle is Chief Executive Officer,
ANY BUILDING erage temperature has risen globally, by by 3 ppm or more each year. And the time IGBC Green building registered projects switching from Coal based energy to So- Paharpur Business Centre & Software
Technology Incubator Park, which is
more than 0.7 °C over the last 100 years. is running out for all of us. Today, build- are about 322 million sq. ft at present and lar, Hydro, Nuclear, Wind or Geo thermal
currently developing GreenSpaces™, a
We have a consensus that we cannot have ings consume 40% of the World's energy this is very little compared to the potential. (the Earth's temperature is more than 200 Special Economic Zone near Delhi. This is a
a temperature rise of more than 2 degrees and it is about 30% in India and 60% in Water, Energy Waste Management togeth-
, degrees centigrade about 2,000 meters be- 'Flagship Project' for the Asia Pacific Partnership, a
centigrade, as after this there will be un- USA. er with Indoor Air Quality are very impor- low ground level). Government partnership of seven countries - USA,
controlled consequences. The challenge is If we are to achieve our national goal of tant verticals in any building and we need Clean and efficient energy technologies Canada, Australia, Japan, China, South Korea and
to find a solution that involves all the coun- reducing energy by 25%, we can easily look to stress on health and quality of indoor air are essential in all uses including vehi- India, and is being described as the world's most
tries in the world to agree to keep the tem- to the 75% of India that is yet to be built more than we have in the past. cles, pumps, electric motors, automobiles, energy efficient green commercial building.
perature rise to below 2 degrees centigrade, and make sure that the new buildings are Conservation and sustainable develop- lighting, air-conditioning, production of
PIC: KALPATARU
There are no predetermined
solutions. Environmental ar-
chitecture is an evolving con-
Architectural Association in
London, UK, Priya Vakil has
pursued a green agenda in the field
Aid MiEdk®iN1
cept and practice and not a fixed or architecture and related avenues.
set of objectives and techniques; After spending initial years as a
Insurance
it has to be continually redefined graduate in architecture with John Accidental Death .
QUICK and reassessed. Assessment of
environmental sustainability
Portman and Associates in Atlanta,
Priya returned to Mumbai to initiate
Insurance
Co .pp
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CONTEXT, THUS
LEADING TO
INEFFICIENT USE OF
RESOURCES
I THE RESULT OF
THIS APPROACH IS
THE CONSTANT
CREATION OF
PROBLEMS THAT
CLIMATIC
REQUIRE EXPENSIVE
AND
TECHNOLOGICALLY
ENHANCED
SOLUTIONS
CONTEXT
I THIS REQUIRES US
TO RETHINK OUR
APPROACH TO
DESIGN- TO
INTEGRATE CLIMATE
RESPONSIVE
ARCHITECTURE WITH
APPROPRIATE
BUILDING SKINS,
Defining sustainable architecture is necessary, especially TECHNOLOGY AND
CONTROLLABILITY
when it is the foreseeable future, says AR. PRIYA VAKIL
E
nvironmental architecture has PRIYA VAKIL that combine tradition with innovation.
taken on a number of different Partner, EdEn, Educated On that note, we could draw from ver-
meanings as a result of rapid Environments nacular architecture for its climate re-
changes in building and design tech- sponsive design and passive strategies
niques, energy performance and 'intel- best suited to the function of the space.
ligent' systems. However, with changing building
Every new building or retrofit is functions and the need to mimic the
claimed to be an environment-friendly west or adhere to the notions of 'mod-
or low-energy development. How real ernism', buildings are increasingly un-
are these claims? How low is "low en- responsive to the climatic context, thus
ergy" then? Does low stay the same, or leading to inefficient use of resources.
does it get lower with time? How im- The result is the constant creation of
portant is energy anyway, compared to problems that require expensive and
other functional, architectural, engi- technologically enhanced solutions.
neering, environmental issues of build- This requires us to rethink our ap-
ings? If energy and environment are proach to design - to integrate climate
important and brought into the design responsive architecture with appropri-
process, how will they affect the archi- ate building skins, technology and con-
tectural expression of a building? Most quires us to go beyond the certification trollability resulting in enhanced build-
importantly, is sustainability the same - such that our buildings become inde- ing performance.
as energy and environment issues? pendent of non-renewable energy sys- Therefore, how is sustainability de-
The quick answers to the above are: tems- a state where zero conventional fined? It is to be established at all scales
no, we should not believe any such energy and zero emissions from build- of the project - the macro-scale (urban
claims without looking at them criti- ings is achieved. planning), meso-scale (building archi-
cally and being able to compare them Therefore, while energy might seem tecture orientation and layout) and the
with benchmarks. Detailed answers to to be just one parameter, it is a direct micro-scale (façade elements and con-
the above emerge from the very basis or indirect indicator to most other is- trollability). It should percolate into
of sustainability that require the intent sues and can provide insights on all as- every aspect of the built environment.
of the architect and developer to go be- pects of building design and operation. Therefore, while striving for zero fos-
yond a 'greenwash' and strive for high- The holistic approach requires ar- sil fuel energy for all building types in
er performance standards and more ho- chitectural design to be informed by cli- all climates is a global objective, the
listic approach. Sustainability can, in mate, site, building type, and design means for achieving this objective must
principle, address a wider set of issues brief; and in wider terms by social and be based on local conditions that re-
than just energy and environment - but, cultural conditions and aspirations. spond to the context and appropriate
unfortunately, today, it often does not An appropriate response to 'where, building and construction techniques.
do so. for whom, for what purpose, when, for Now we only need to question why
In an attempt to define low-energy the
, how long, and why' translates into all buildings are not built
shift toward green building certification creative architectural design solutions inherently sustainable.
is increasingly popular. How- Guaranteed
ever, the need of our times re- AA preciation
p
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