All industries and infrastructure development projects are bound to comply with Indian and global norms of design, manufacturing, and construction. As the cost of such compliance is normally a bit high, quality takes a lower precedence, said Brigadier Suresh Ramanathan, Deputy Director General and Chief Engineer of Naval Projects, Visakhapatnam.
He was addressing ‘Urjavaran’, a conference on energy and environment, organised by ISHARE (Indian Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers), Visakhapatnam Chapter, here on Saturday.
He pointed out that rural India cannot and has not been able to maintain higher quality norms due to the cost involved. Bodies such as ISHRAE may render yeoman service to the rural population by developing norms for compliance that are economic, hygienic and easily sustainable, he said.
Indoor air quality
Underscoring the importance of quality of air in indoor buildings, B. Anand Babu, associate consultant of Genex Consultants, said healthy indoor air quality in buildings is important for people’s health and safety.
K. Shiva Mohan, Director of Scale Design Collaborative Private Limited, said building systems take up to 50% or more of the capital expenditure. Hence, it is important that all stakeholders be consulted at various stages of construction, he said.
Integrated architectural design has the potential and is the only panacea for designing intelligent, smart, and unique buildings, he said.
Energy conservation
Presenting a case study on the “concepts of energy efficiency” E.R. Ramana Rao, former Superintending Engineer of APEPDCL and certified energy auditor, said energy conservation is not just a social responsibility, but a personal responsibility to ensure a better future for coming generations.
“The State government is taking many measures to conserve energy and promote energy efficiency. Every citizen, on their personal front, can contribute their mite in energy efficiency by following simple steps such as purchasing 5-star appliances, adhering to BIS and ECBC codes. As much as 20 to 25% energy can be saved by adopting these measures by following BIS standards, and 35 to 40% with Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC) norms,” he said.
Madhu Burra, chairman of the Urjavaran, said that the conference is exclusively designed to create awareness and share knowledge on technologies and products, which are not only efficient but are environmentally-friendly to create sustainable buildings.
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