The BCIL ZED Eco-Pulse Green Homes survey annually measures the progress of Bangalore's multitudes on various sustainable measures concerning their daily lives. This year, the survey measured the awareness of home-owners on the eco-impact of their homes, and mapped their sensitivity towards lowering it.
Despite high-decibel activism from environmentalists, the fact that a staggering 82 per cent of those surveyed stated that their homes were not “green” and over half of the target group admitted to not regretting this aspect, exposes the abject apathy towards the environment.
A cross-section of 400 home-owners (aged between 21 and 50 years) participated in the survey.
The monthly household income ranged between Rs. 20,000 and Rs. 40,000, majorly in the two and three-bedroom independent house category.
Water conservation
It's puzzling that given the city's annual average rainfall of 859 mm and a government that vociferously promotes its harvest, a mere 12 per cent of homes have installed rainwater harvesting (RWH) systems. The rest cited reasons such as cost, space constraints and even lack of proper guidance for not installing the systems. But errant water supply and severe summer shortages have also not encouraged the use of recycled water.
Cauvery or borewell water is used widely for cleaning cars (73 per cent), flushing in toilets (upwards of 84 per cent) and for watering plants (78 per cent) all through the year.
Gardens
Green cover in the city is fast dwindling, and the reason is not just the cutting of trees. Private gardens are taking up less square footage, as is evident in the study.
A mere 19 per cent of those surveyed maintained plants, most of which grew in pots on terraces. These largely comprise ornamental plants (92 per cent), with little importance given to vegetable or fruit-bearing plants — a sign that the ‘zero food miles' concept has cut little ice with Bangaloreans.
To add to this woeful scenario, as much as 54 per cent with gardens use chemical pesticides, further damaging the immediate environment.
Eco-friendly gadgets
Popular eco-friendly measures such as solar power for water heating, CFL / LED lamps for lighting and recycled wood for doors have found little takers within Bangalore.
As few as 19 per cent of the survey respondents preferred energy-efficient lighting over incandescent bulbs (these emit more heat than light, thus wasting energy), and 94 per cent used jungle wood for doors rather than recycled or plantation wood.
Jungle wood is expensive on the environment, as it is a product of deforestation.
On the topic of energy conservation, fixtures such as water flow regulators and motion sensor lighting, less said the better.
As many as 90 per cent of the respondents admitted they did not have these. However 56 per cent were aware of the star rating on electrical appliances.
Despite government advocacy and easy availability, solar-powered water heaters are less popular, as over 50 per cent of respondents have not installed them, although a majority of them want to do so.
Waste segregation
Questions on waste segregation threw up a can of worms for the survey. Little impetus from governing authorities and clear lack of waste recycling systems play spoilsport as 70 per cent of those surveyed did not segregate their waste into wet and solid. Moreover, kitchen waste was not being used to make compost to fertilize garden plants.
Chandrashekar Hariharan, Chairman-BCIL, said, “The onus of going ‘green' is not merely on the home-owner. The Government needs to bring in regulations and make eco-friendly measures compulsory. I've always maintained that legislation can promote adoption of sustainable measures, and is a surefire way to increase the share of Bangalore's currently tiny fraction of green homes.”
This survey is the fifth in the series; the first four were on water, fuel, energy and waste management.
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