Go Green Initiative - ECO Friendly Homes

With modern design and beautiful interiors, my friends bungalow in Bangalore looks like just another building made of concrete and bricks, while its not. they moved into its new home two years back, which

• Harvests rain water for drinking and cooking. 
• Treats waste water in the garden. 
• Has a basement which gets day light and is visually connected with the rest of the house.

Overall cost for consutructing Allamsetti house was around Rs 1,350 per sqft, including construction and fittings. This is the same as what we would have spent to build a traditional house.

Green Apartments
With an increase in awareness about conserving resources and lowering the carbon footprint-the amount of greenhouse gases an entity emits-going green is the in thing in the real estate market, both residential and commercial. More and more developers are marketing their buildings as eco-friendly. Pirojsha Godrej, executive director, Godrej Properties Ltd says "The awareness level of Eco friendly homes is much higher in case of commercial projects. We have started getting enquiries about such residences. As consumers become increasingly aware of the advantages of living and working in an eco-friendly environment, we will see a gradual increase in interest in such properties."

All properties being advertised as 'green' or 'eco-friendly' may not be so. Many small- and mid-sized builders call their projects eco-friendly just because they have lawns and landscaped gardens, which is incorrect, because a lawn consumes four times more water than the native species. 'eco-friendly' label is a eyewash, so what are the criteira to call a building GREEN? How are they evaluated ?

• Site planning and eco-friendly building design
• Preservation and protection of top soil and landscape during construction
• Heating, air-conditioning, ventilation, lighting and electrical and water heating systems
• Optimisation of building design and structure to reduce demand for conventional energy
• Integration of renewable energy sources to generate energy
• Water and waste management
• Selection of ecologically sustainable materials for construction
• Indoor environmental quality (indoor thermal and visual comfort and air quality)
• Conservation of soil during construction and proper top soil for vegetative growth
• Renewal energy-based water heating system such as solar water heaters

Who validates all these factors and certifies this Green building?

Institutions such as Indian Green Building Council (IGBC), which is part of the CII, and the Association for Development and Research of Sustainable Habitats (ADaRSH), a joint initiative of Teri and the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, analyse buildings and give them ratings based on parameters such as design, construction materials, energy efficiency, ventilation, lighting, and water and waste management. Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment (GRIHA) by ADaRSH has been made mandatory for new government buildings, which must score at least three Griha stars out of five.

An eco-friendly home also helps you get loans at cheaper rates. State Bank of India charges lower interest rates for the first three years for loans taken to purchase properties in green projects which reduce carbon emissions and promote renewable energy. You also get other incentives from the bank.

With active support from the government and the private sector, green buildings will soon become the norm. "Corporate houses such as Infosys, Wipro and Tata have a policy to occupy only green buildings. Two years from now, only green buildings will be in demand.