Building green
GRASS COVER A PAVILION ROOF IN THE central courtyard, and plants cover a two-storey wall that runs the entire length of the 24-hour restaurant. Add in high energy efficiency and water recycling systems, and you know why the ITC Gardenia Hotel in Bangalore has a platinum rating from the U.S. Green Building Council’s certification system, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED).
The Fortis Hospital in Shalimar Bagh, New Delhi, has no such back-to-nature feel. With an airy lobby full of patients, and air-conditioned rooms, it could be any busy hospital. Yet the building has a three-star rating from the Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment (GRIHA), a certification system created by The Energy Research Institute (TERI) and the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE).
What has Fortis done to get this rating? The primary achievement is energy efficiency. By retrofitting green elements to its original non-green design, the hospital has managed to reduce its energy usage by 53.7%. According to the original design, the hospital would use 605 kW of energy per square metre every year. Hospital representatives say that by switching to energy-efficient light fixtures and reducing their density, as well as other measures, actual usage is 280 kW.
Certifying a building green is all the rage these days, with India in fourth place globally for the amount of green-registered construction under way. More than 30 countries have set up their own green building ratings with more being adopted or adapted from others. In India alone, there are several, with LEED-India adapted for local use by the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC), and GRIHA being the most popular. But are these ratings merely a selling point in a green-conscious market?
Ratings systems certify that buildings use environment-friendly materials and construction techniques, and improve energy and water efficiency, and indoor environmental quality. To most visitors, this means little. To a company, meeting the standards of a ratings system can mean a substantial reduction in energy costs. For example, the Max Super Speciality Hospital in Patparganj, Delhi, with a gold LEED rating, saves about Rs 1 crore annually in energy and water costs.
Visitors and patients don’t see the hospital as being particularly different in design or atmosphere from other similar-sized corporate hospitals. But insiders know better. “We used green measures such as reducing heat exposure through double glazed glass and insulated terrace roofs,” says Prithipal Singh, chief of projects at Max Healthcare. “Since we had an adjoining hospital, we compared costs for the first three months and found that we were using 40% less electricity and 20% less water. By changing the lighting fixtures, we went from using 1.4 watts per square foot to 0.8 watts per square foot, while maintaining a high intensity of light.”
The ratings systems are demanding: LEED-India requires a new building to receive a minimum of 2.5% of the total
energy used from renewable sources such as solar, wind, or biomass. GRIHA, however, demands that a minimum of 10% for internal lighting and a minimum of 50% of energy for heating water must come from renewable resources.
Many builders are sceptical about the extra costs involved in following such stringent formats, especially as construction costs can rise by 10% or more depending on the eco-friendliness of the original design. The CII-Godrej Green Building Centre in Hyderabad, IGBC’s headquarters, was the first building in India to achieve a platinum LEED rating, but construction costs went up by 18%. The green systems that Max adopted resulted in construction costs going up by 3% or Rs 2.7 crore, says Singh. Kolkata’s Technopolis IT Park cost only 6% more. It’s not just the cost of building; projects trying to get certified need to hire an accredited professional who will do constant checks from the design process till the building is operational. Also, simply registering a project to start the GRIHA certification process costs Rs 2.5 lakh. The good news is that the companies can recover the costs within a few years, thanks to their savings on energy costs. Max and Technopolis recovered their capital costs in three years, while the CII-Godrej building took seven years. In addition, as builders and architects grow increasingly environment-savvy, green practices are being built into the original design, further reducing increments.
However, detractors say that LEED-certified buildings are not always energy efficient. In 2010, Assetz Property Group commissioned a study in which four LEED-rated buildings were compared to 22 non-LEED buildings, all from the IT and IT-enabled service sectors in Bangalore. The study, led by Ashwin Sabapathy, general manager, consulting (environment), at Enzen Global Solutions, an energy and utilities consulting firm, found that three of the four LEED buildings were highly energy efficient. But there were few incremental differences between platinum-rated and silver-rated buildings, and some non-rated buildings were equally or more energy efficient. However, the study admits differences in the buildings’ operation times may have affected the results.
George Varughese, president of enterprise development at Development Alternatives Group, a sustainable development social enterprise, points to the group’s world headquarters in New Delhi. It is a zero-emissions building incorporating green-friendly materials, including bricks and stones from the building that used to stand in its place. And yet it is not certified under any system. “At first we were gung-ho about the LEED platinum rating, but once I got into the details I told my colleagues not to bother,” says Varughese. “It is heavily Western-oriented, with points for silly parameters such as having a cycle stand!” When asked about the GRIHA system, he admits it is slightly more appropriate, and that they may apply for a GRIHA rating in future.
“LEED is not always appropriate for the Indian context,” says Manit Rastogi, architect and managing director of Morphogenesis, a Delhi-based architectural firm committed to sustainability in design and construction. “For example, a building without a centralised heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) system is not eligible under LEED, although this increases energy consumption. Nor is it always possible to get the required electricity in some areas,” he adds.
“This is why LEED certification in India was unavailable for Indian homes,” explains Sri Rekha, an architect in IGBC’s Green Building department. But in the 2011 revision of LEED-India, this drawback has been addressed, and the localised ratings encourage natural ventilation. The only residential project registered for GRIHA certification is the Commonwealth Games Village, which is listed “in progress” on the GRIHA website.
The GRIHA system, while more demanding, has a growing list of followers: Rastogi says Morphogenesis builds all its projects according to its guidelines. “We built the Pearl Academy of Fashion in Jaipur according to the GRIHA system. Using stepwells and latticed screens, the building maintains a temperature below 28°C, without any air-conditioning, even when the temperature outside is 44°C.”
Energy efficiency is only one way in which buildings can earn green ratings—a mere 35 points out of a maximum 100 under the new LEED-India system. Other points are far less expensive: One point is awarded for adding no new parking and encouraging the use of existing parking. Both offer points for alternative transportation access, and bonus points for innovations that enhance the overall green intent of the project. This ranges from imparting environmental education or providing a lifecycle cost analysis for GRIHA, to simply hiring a LEED-accredited professional.
In the larger context of India’s construction industry, the number of certified buildings is a mere drop in the ocean: At the time of printing, of over 1,000 IGBC-registered projects, 151 are completed LEED-certified buildings, and 108 projects are being built along GRIHA specifications. The high cost is a primary factor, while the other is the continued lack of government support, unlike in the U.S. or Australia.
For example, in April the Maharashtra state government environmental secretary announced the state’s commitment to greener homes through hastening environmental clearance while refusing to discuss subsidies for green building materials. Similarly, the Bureau of Energy Efficiency launched an Energy Conservation Building Code in 2007, which, although drafted to be mandatory, remains voluntary. Nor are tax breaks or government subsidies provided.
Overall, these ratings offer options for those who want the cachet of a green certification for their environment-friendly building, and are willing to invest more capital with an eye on long-term savings. However, until green construction is institutionalised and supported by the government, its contribution to greening India will remain negligible.