The Indian Green Building Council (IGBC), an organisation engaged in the ‘green building’ movement in India, has introduced a green rating system for schools.
Buildings constructed under special guidelines for providing environment-friendly amenities are given ratings in three categories based on various parameters. The rating could be made applicable to new school buildings as well as existing ones.
The organisation, based in Hyderabad, and having chapters across the country, including Kochi, has already accorded green rating to a school and several others are under various stages of rating, according to S. Raghupathy, a senior official of the IGBC.
The IGBC has already launched specific rating systems for various categories such as houses, factory buildings, townships, and special economic zones. The rating system provides guidelines for design and construction and gives appropriate credits, leading to the award of LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) India certification in the silver, gold or platinum categories. The LEED India rating system is administered by the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) under licence agreement with the U.S. Green Building Council.
The rating system focuses on aspects such as lighting, ventilation, air-conditioning, water efficiency, waste water treatment, reuse of treated water, indoor environment, and roofing, with a view to providing environment-friendly buildings which have higher efficiency in terms of water and energy conservation. The cost of construction could be slightly more, but the operating cost in the lifetime of the building would get reduced.
