While the ‘green building’ movement began in the U.S. about 25 years ago, it has gained currency in India in the last 10 years. The Green Business Certificate Institute (GBCI), a part of the U.S.-based Green Business Certification Inc., commenced India operations in 2014, acting as a catalyst to aggressively promote the concept. India is now the fourth-largest country in the number of LEED projects after the U.S., Canada and China. The GBC, which has been organising its sustainability conference Greenbuild in the U.S. for the last 15 years, decided to hold the event in India this year for the first time.
P. Gopalakrishnan, MD, APAC, Middle East, Green Business Certificate Institute (GBCI), speaks on the subject. Excerpts:
How do you define the ‘green building’ scenario in India?
Today, India has got 2,500 LEED certified projects spread over 1 billion sq.ft. India has shown that green buildings are not just for offices; it is into every industry segment — manufacturing, hotels, hospitals, schools, colleges, temples, data centres, metro stations, airports and shipping terminals. So, we are satisfied.
The work has just started. India’s development in terms of infrastructure and buildings is going to happen — from now until 2020. So, [there is going to be] more penetration. While the metro cities have now gone for Green Buildings in a big way, and even tier 1 cities are adopting them, the action will now shift to tier-2 and tier-3 cities. Maharashtra is number one because Mumbai is one of the early adopters. It is closely followed by Delhi and Bengaluru. Chennai and Hyderabad are picking up.
Why it is important to have green buildings?
If you take the LEED rating, there are five pillars to it: energy, water, human experience, waste and carbon footprint. All these five are important for any city, town or building. Whether we are energy- or water-surplus or facing a shortage, we will be able to save energy and water in green buildings. It creates an economic value proposition and is linked to an entity’s bottomline.
Treating waste has now becoming mandatory. Human experience is becoming very important. Human beings are today spending 80% of their time inside built-up spaces, be it in offices or inside residences. So, the quality of air that we breathe inside the buildings dictates the [quality of our] health. Carbon footprint is today much talked about.
How you commute to work and back, whether you are able to pool your cars or are taking public transport, will make a lot of difference. In Green Buildings, all these factors are more or less becoming commonplace.
Where does India stand as compared with the top three countries?
U.S. and Canada may not be good comparisons because they started 25 years ago. China could be a good comparison. China has six times the construction activity that India has. But if you go by the green buildings in India, China is three times ahead of us. Which actually means India’s adoption of Green is ether as good as or better than China’s. It gives a perspective that India is doing very well. 2,500 buildings is not a big number; it is the tip of the iceberg. We need to see more stakeholders coming in. It could be smaller cities, Small and Medium Enterprises, Public Sector Undertakings and even the government.
There is a perception that ‘green’ is expensive.
10 years ago, to construct a green building, you needed to have green materials and technologies. At that time, they were costly because manufacturing units produced very small quantities. But today, it is completely reversed... with large manufacturers of green building materials.
Because of economies of scale, prices have come down dramatically. Today, possibly a green building would be 5% costlier than a normal building but because of savings from energy and water, your payback period is as low as 12 months.
What is the new trend in green buildings?
Now, health and well-being are big contributors for green buildings. Today, every CXO is worried about how to retain employees, how to engage them and how to ensure that their productivity goes up. The employees are inside a built-up environment. If something can control their carbon oxide and oxygen levels and can bring daylight inside, that would make a significant difference to the lifestyle of the employees. That would be the next thing to happen in India.
How are you building capacity? After all, execution is key...
Today, 120 firms across India are issuing LEED certificates. These are typically architects and engineers who have been trained. We have a curriculum on LEED which can be taken by a student of architecture or a structural engineering or by a working professional. We see immense potential here.
We are going to colleges and showing a career path. It is a great opportunity for Indian architects and engineers to become global LEED consultants. What software did to India 15 years ago, ‘Green’ can do the same now.
India has a strong case to become a [global] manufacturing base for green materials. Also, whether in sensors or building management solutions or IoT. India has a tremendous advantage.
