From a time when going green implied shelling out a premium on green-friendly material, the green building movement has reached a stage where green material is so widespread that over 95 per cent of the green rated material is available at affordable prices.
“With a green building footprint of 10.42 billion sq ft, and with over 11,000 projects conforming to Indian Green Building Council’s 34 rating systems, the green building movement in India has taken off,” C Shekar Reddy, Chairman of IGBC (Hyderabad Chapter) and CII (Telangana Chapter), has said.
IGBC now has a network of 29 local chapters across the country, with about 7,000 accredited professionals (IGBC-APs), and 360+ student chapters.
With a view to furthering the discussing and spread awareness on the green building movement, the IGBC is organising a three-day Green Building Congress beginning November 23.
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Scheduled to be held at Chennai Trade Centre, the conference would provide a platform for the stakeholders in the construction industry learn and discuss the benefits of migrating to green building.
Marking the conference, the IGBC has launched the IGBC Nest programme, which is an eco-friendly, self-developed tenements framework and certification. It is aimed at bringing awareness and drive the individual owners to build a sustainable home with no or meagre additional cost.
The IGBC claimed that the framework and certificationn would help homeowners reduce energy cost by 20-30 per cent and reduce water requirements by 30-50 per cent.
“The initiative encourages the owners to adopt green measures that are simple and have profound impacts in addressing resource efficiency and occupant’s health and wellbeing. The framework throws light on building envelopes, water and energy efficiency and harnessing solar energy,” he said.
Net zero goals
“The certification programme will go a long way in building an integrated approach to help the country achieve net zero carbon emission goals,” he said.
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The programme, which will focus on the theme Advancing Net Zero Through Decarbonisation, is being organised in association with the Tamil Nadu government.
“The IGBC will provide a platform that brings together eminent industry leaders, policy makers and technology providers to exchange insights and vision on sustainable building practices. The conclave will also showcase over 500 innovative green products, materials, and technologies as part of the expo,” he said.