Already acknowledged as one of the leaders in environmentally-friendly construction, India could surpass the United States within four years to become the country with the most space covered by 'green buildings', according to the agency that sets standards and certifies eco-friendly real-estate development.
The Indian Green Building Council (IGBC), which today has about 110 million sq ft of green real estate registered with it, is targeting a nearly ten-fold increase in eco-friendly property development to a billion sq ft, the council's chairman Prem C Jain said. Modern technologies, including Integrated Building Management Systems (IBMS), would play a key role in the ensuring the success of the green-buildings movement, he said.
IBMS functions with the help of an intricate network that runs throughout the building and gives the operator complete control of all lighting, heating, air-conditioning and other systems from a single room.
"Green buildings are ecologically sustainable developments. In other words, construction that causes the least damage to the environment, both during and after construction. We are striving to reduce our carbon footprint. IGBC is doing its best to educate developers to recycle air and water and use energy-efficient materials and technology to reduce wastage and save precious resources. In this regard, we must learn from Singapore, for the island nation has achieved a lot in terms of ecologically-sustainable development," Mr Jain observed.
The council's main emphasis in the Indian context is on water conservation. Water shortages are common throughout the country and, according to Dr Jain, the best solution is to conserve the resource and recycle used water. The building management system helps here, too. Also, monitoring and managing energy usage is a big challenge.
"India receives 320 days of sunlight. We need the light but have to keep the heat out. As such we cover windows and end up using lights across the building. Which is why you need a building management system that controls daylight through shading and activating lighting dimmer controls when the light in a room is sufficient. From a user's perspective, any automated system will help reduce energy bills.
From a larger environmental perspective, we end up consuming less electricity and that in turn puts less pressure on our power generating stations that consume vast amounts of precious natural resources."
"I only wish we could use more solar energy in powering our buildings. Photovoltaic cells are still not cheap for us to go in for massive solar farms. But there's enough sunlight in the Thar desert to meet the country's energy demand, both present and future," he added.
Heating, ventilation and air-conditioning equipment that run all day inside large campuses are environmentally problematic, too. IBMS can help in maintain indoor air quality throughout a building by controlling the sequencing of the chiller and reset the temperature of chilled water.
"Indoor air quality is a serious concern today. The air inside an office seems fresh when we enter work, but the quality drops drastically by the end of the day. Building management systems use a carbon dioxide monitor to check the levels of the gas and decides how much fresh air is to be drawn into the building."
The usage of IBMS in green buildings is about 50 years old - the first large-scale deployment of a building management system was at America's space agency NASA. In the late '50s, with NASA gearing up to send a man to the moon, it employed consultants to design an IBMS for 60 of its buildings. Mr Jain was part of the team that worked on this project.
And the costs of installing hi-tech building management systems in India are much lower now. For instance, what would have cost Rs 6-crore ten years ago, will cost you Rs 60-lakh now, Mr Jain said.
"If a miracle could convert all existing buildings on the planet into green buildings then we would not have to invest in any new power generation project; because, the power generation capacity across the world would be sufficient to power future development."
The Indian Green Building Council (IGBC), which today has about 110 million sq ft of green real estate registered with it, is targeting a nearly ten-fold increase in eco-friendly property development to a billion sq ft, the council's chairman Prem C Jain said. Modern technologies, including Integrated Building Management Systems (IBMS), would play a key role in the ensuring the success of the green-buildings movement, he said.
IBMS, which functions like a nerve centre, automates mechanical, electrical and security systems in large complexes and could prove an invaluable asset for eco-friendly property management. Till recently, buildings were provided with individual controls for some operations, while programmed gear was available only for select areas.
IBMS functions with the help of an intricate network that runs throughout the building and gives the operator complete control of all lighting, heating, air-conditioning and other systems from a single room.
"Green buildings are ecologically sustainable developments. In other words, construction that causes the least damage to the environment, both during and after construction. We are striving to reduce our carbon footprint. IGBC is doing its best to educate developers to recycle air and water and use energy-efficient materials and technology to reduce wastage and save precious resources. In this regard, we must learn from Singapore, for the island nation has achieved a lot in terms of ecologically-sustainable development," Mr Jain observed.
The council's main emphasis in the Indian context is on water conservation. Water shortages are common throughout the country and, according to Dr Jain, the best solution is to conserve the resource and recycle used water. The building management system helps here, too. Also, monitoring and managing energy usage is a big challenge.
"India receives 320 days of sunlight. We need the light but have to keep the heat out. As such we cover windows and end up using lights across the building. Which is why you need a building management system that controls daylight through shading and activating lighting dimmer controls when the light in a room is sufficient. From a user's perspective, any automated system will help reduce energy bills.
From a larger environmental perspective, we end up consuming less electricity and that in turn puts less pressure on our power generating stations that consume vast amounts of precious natural resources."
"I only wish we could use more solar energy in powering our buildings. Photovoltaic cells are still not cheap for us to go in for massive solar farms. But there's enough sunlight in the Thar desert to meet the country's energy demand, both present and future," he added.
Heating, ventilation and air-conditioning equipment that run all day inside large campuses are environmentally problematic, too. IBMS can help in maintain indoor air quality throughout a building by controlling the sequencing of the chiller and reset the temperature of chilled water.
"Indoor air quality is a serious concern today. The air inside an office seems fresh when we enter work, but the quality drops drastically by the end of the day. Building management systems use a carbon dioxide monitor to check the levels of the gas and decides how much fresh air is to be drawn into the building."
The usage of IBMS in green buildings is about 50 years old - the first large-scale deployment of a building management system was at America's space agency NASA. In the late '50s, with NASA gearing up to send a man to the moon, it employed consultants to design an IBMS for 60 of its buildings. Mr Jain was part of the team that worked on this project.
And the costs of installing hi-tech building management systems in India are much lower now. For instance, what would have cost Rs 6-crore ten years ago, will cost you Rs 60-lakh now, Mr Jain said.
"If a miracle could convert all existing buildings on the planet into green buildings then we would not have to invest in any new power generation project; because, the power generation capacity across the world would be sufficient to power future development."
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