CONCEPTS OF GREEN HOUSING

Prof. Nitesh AsvadiyaGrowmore School of Architecture.Gujarat, India

What is “Green Housing”??? Green Housing is a type of housing designed to be environmentally friendly and sustainable.

Focuses on efficient use of energy, water and building materials.

Type of housing that is built in order to conserve energy or water; improve indoor air quality; use

sustainable, recycled or used materials and produce less waste in the process.

Reduces or eliminates the adverse effect of buildings on environment and occupants.

Environmentally responsible and resource efficient buildings are becoming an integral part and

future of the construction industry.

Sustainability in a real estate context is not only limited to energy conservation but also includes

use of resources, impact on the surrounding environment and living conditions for the

inhabitants.

Green building incorporates sustainable features like efficient use of water, energy, use of

renewable energy and recyclable materials, effective use of landscapes and building

management systems.

A green building creates less waste and provides a healthier living environment.

India’s growing housing sector is one of the highest contributors to the country’s carbon

emissions accounting for 22% of India’s total annual carbon emission.

Buildings account for upto 40% of the total energy consumption in India, of which residential real

estate accounts for over 60% of it. Hence, it is important to move towards green housing.

Optimal allocation of land

Built Environment

Buildings

Surroundings

Efficient appliances and fixtures

Choice of materials

Location of Building

Smart Buildings (bldgs. as generators of energy)

Transport systems and infrastructure

Environmental management - Water & wasteEnergy security – renewable sources and energy efficiency

Elements:

Advantages of Green Housing: Health and Wellness- Data from several researchers have shown that respiratory problems drop

in green buildings.

Environment friendly- Saves huge amount of resources like power and water, use of renewable

resources for construction, waste efficiency, reuse and recycling, etc.

Increased revenue- For both end user and developer. Added cost of LEED (Leadership in Energy

and Environmental Design) certification is about 2%-5% of overall cost of a building. Developer

can charge a premium for “Green Building” certification and the consumer will, in turn, have

higher resale value and higher rental yields.

Lower Costs- Green building saves 30%-40% of the power consumption. Hence reduced

electricity bills will bring in huge savings.

Government Incentives- Tax and premium rebates for buildings that meet certain minimum

conditions under rating programs; many states in India offer incentives to developers by extra FSI

for efficient buildings, for no cost increasing value proposition for them.

Marketing Tool- Builders can add Green Building certification to their list of credentials to attract

more customers and investors, as well as draw interest to their projects.

Environmental Benefits: Reduce Wastage of Water

Conserve Natural Resources

Improve air and water quality

Protect bio-diversity and Ecosystems

Economic Benefits: Reduce operating cost

Improve occupant productivity

Create market for green product and services

Social Benefits: Improve quality of life

Minimize strain on local infrastructure

Improve occupant health and comfort

Additional construction cost, price constraints, difficulty in sourcing green building materials,

technologies and service providers or facilitators in India and a long gestation period makes

developers hesitant.

Design must consider the entire supply chain- from material sourcing, energy modelling,

resource reuse, civic amenities and waste disposal.

Buyers not keen to pay a premium for green residential projects. Lack of demand and awareness

among buyers also makes developers hesitant to invest in this segment.

Buyers need to be convinced that total ownership cost, including maintenance, over the life

cycle of the property will actually offer significant savings.

Challenges:

The overall benefits of green buildings depends on the extent to which sustainable features are

addressed in the early planning and design stage.

A green building is most likely to succeed in its objective if sustainable features are envisioned

and incorporated right at the beginning.

A challenge is to retrofit the existing residential buildings into reasonably energy-efficient

buildings.

Sustainable Site Development

Water Savings

Energy Efficiency

Materials and Resources

Indoor Environmental Quality

Innovation in Design

Landscaping

Waste Reduction

Cost and Payoff

Regulation and Operation

Life Cycle Assessment

Goals of Green Housing:

Choosing a building’s site and managing that site during construction are important

considerations for a project’s sustainability.

The sustainable sites category discourages development on previously undeveloped land;

minimizes a building’s impact on ecosystems and waterways; encourages regionally appropriate

landscaping rewards smart transportation choices; controls storm-water runoff, and reduces

erosion, light pollution and construction related pollution.

The foundation of any construction project is rooted in the concept and design stages.

The concept stage, in fact, is one of the major steps in a project life cycle, as it has the largest

impact on cost and performance.

In designing environmentally optimal buildings, the objective is to minimize the total

environmental impact associated with all life-cycle stages of the building project.

1.Sustainable Site Development

Buildings are major users of our potable water supply.

The goal of the water efficiency credit category is to encourage smarter use of water, inside and

out.

Water reduction is typically achieved through more efficient appliances, fixtures and fittings

inside and water-wise landscaping outside.

The Green Building by its design shall not disrupt the natural flows.

Rain falling over the whole area of complex shall be harvested in full either to replenish the

ground water table in and around the building or to be utilized in the services of the building.

Grey water from kitchenette, bath and laundry shall be treated and reused for gardening or in

cooling towers of air-conditioner.

2. Water Savings

The energy and atmosphere category encourages a wide variety of energy strategies: energy use

monitoring; efficient design and construction; efficient appliances, systems and lightings; the use

of renewable and clean sources of energy, generated on-site or off-site; and other innovative

strategies.

The solar energy at the top of a green building is harvested to supplement the conventional

energy.

The natural light is harvested on the intermediate floors to minimize the usage of electricity.

High efficiency windows and insulation in walls, ceilings and floors are used for the benefit of

better temperature control.

3. Energy Efficiency

During both the construction and operation phases, buildings generate a lot of waste and use a

lot of materials and resources.

This credit category encourages the selection of sustainable grown, harvested, produced and

transported products and materials.

It promotes the reduction of waste as well as reusing and recycling, and it takes into account the

reduction of waste at a product’s source.

4. Materials and Resources

It is estimated that Indians spend about 90% of their day indoor at their residences, schools and

workplaces, where the air quality can be significantly worse than outside.

The Indoor Environmental Quality credit category promote strategies that can improve indoor air

as well as providing access to natural daylight and views and improving acoustics.

In a designed green building the occupants shall feel as if they are in outdoor location.

The interior and exterior designs shall go hand in hand by blending the natural and artificial

lighting and presenting transparent views wherever possible.

5. Indoor Environmental Quality

This category provides bonus points for projects that use new and innovative technologies and

strategies to improve a building’s performance well beyond what is required by other credits or

in green building consideration that are not specifically addressed elsewhere in the rating

system.

This category also rewards projects for including an Accredited Professional on the team to

ensure a holistic, integrated approach to the design and construction phase.

Green Building Rating Systems provide a roadmap for measuring and documenting success for

every building type and phase of building lifestyle.

6. Innovation in Design

The landscaping and the exterior design in a green building shall be in such a way that there is

more shaded area, the light trespass is eliminated and local species of plants are grown.

7. Landscaping

Green architecture also seeks to reduce waste of energy, water and materials used during

construction.

Well designed buildings also help reduce the amount of waste generated by the occupants as

well, by providing on-site solutions such as compost bins to reduce waste.

8. Waste Reduction

The most criticized issue about constructing environmentally friendly buildings is the price.

New- appliances and modern technologies tend to cost more money.

Most green buildings cost a premium of <2%, but yield 10 times as much over the entire life of

the building.

9. Cost and Payoff

No matter how sustainable a building may have been in its design and construction, it can only

remain so if it is operated responsibly and maintained properly.

Ensuring operations and maintenance personnel are part of the project’s planning and

development process will help retain the green criteria designed at the onset of the project.

Every aspect of green building is integrated into the operation and maintenance phase of a

building’s life.

The addition of new green technologies also fall in this category.

10. Regulation and Operation

A life cycle assessment can help avoid a narrow outlook on environmental, social and economic

concerns by assessing a full range of impacts associated with all cradle-to-grave stages of a

process: from extraction of raw materials through material processing, manufacture,

distribution, use, repair and maintenance, and disposal or recycling.

Impacts taken into account include, global warming potential, resource use, air pollution, water

pollution and waste.

11. Life Cycle Assessment

Some people feel that they just can’t go green because it will cost them more money, but that is

really a common misconception.

It may cost you more to get started when you are going green, because green materials and

products can be more costly, you really have to consider the type of savings that you will be able

to reap.

You will be able to save on energy costs because going green also means conserving energy.

You should really look at the green building as more of an investment than anything else.

An investment that will be able to save you money, as well as an investment that will be able to

help the environment. It is a win-win situation for everyone.

Does Going Green Really Cost More?

International Green Building rating systems such as LEED, BREEAM(Building Research

Establishment Environmental Assessment Method), Green Globes and Green Star are tools

developed to rate and/or quantify the performance of buildings against defined guidelines.

Specific rating systems for residential development also have been developed. These rating

systems rely on the achievement of defined credits or points based on performance and/or

prescriptive parameters for evaluating the Green quotient of the building.

Currently in India, there are 3 green building rating systems that are applicable to residential

development- GRIHA(Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment), IGBC (Indian Green

Building Council) & BEE (Bureau of Energy Efficiency)

All the 3 rating systems are similar in their overall intent and broad focus areas, differences lie in

the evaluation requirements of the parameters.

Rating Systems:

India is currently witnessing a construction boom owing to rapid urbanization and the increased

housing and infrastructural needs of a growing population.

When the IGBC(Indian Green Building Council) was established in 2001, one green building with

a floor area of 1858 sq.m. marked the beginning of green buildings in India. Today, more than

2100 IGBC certified buildings occupy almost 140 million sq.m.

Following are the rating systems:1. LEED (US)2. BREEAM (UK)3. CASBEE (Japan)4. DGNB (Germany)5. Green Star (Australia)6. IGBC/LEED (India)7. TERI-GRIHA (India)8. BEE (India)

THANKYOU……