Why India Should Invest in New Green Technologies in Their Buildings

"Climate change and water scarcity threaten India's economy, one of the fastest growing in the world."

I researched recently that the country has 16 percent of the world's population, but only four percent of its water resources - how can we make this sustainable?"

"In India, buildings are responsible for 4.9% of total GHG, If per capita water availability is any indication, 'water stress' is just beginning to show in India. Beside energy the second most critical issue concerning the building sector, governments, consumers and environmentalists today is possibly water. Infact, water use in buildings accounts for almost 20 per cent of the total water use, which is significant. Hence the Indian construction industry needs to consider where and how they can protect the vibrant Indian economy. In particular, do we need to consider new green technologies?

Buildings in India are prone to many health problems such as:-

•Molds,
•Extreme hot condition
•Waste of energy

The impact is often high electricity bills and occupant's complaining of health problems due to internal environmental quality. "

Children, elderly people, and people with breathing problems, allergies, and lung diseases are particularly susceptible to disease-causing biological agents in the indoor air.

Buildings in India are prone to many problems. Research provides the following interesting such as:-

•The World Health Organisation estimates that up to 30% of new and remodeled buildings worldwide may be subject to excessive complaints related to indoor air quality. 

•Air conditioning systems in commercial buildings consume about 60-65\% of the total energy as compared to various other end uses.

Sustainable buildings can provide:

•Improved learning by students
• greater productivity in workers
• Faster healing by patients.
• Have Higher Market Value

Both residential and commercial buildings retain a high resale value if they include sustainable design components. The value to prospective buyers comes from knowing their utility and maintenance costs will be lower in green buildings that outperform non-green buildings. Occupancy levels are consistently higher, and vacancy rates lower, in sustainable office buildings.

Understandably, it is these measurable benefits, rather than a general sense of well-being, energy conservation resulting in saving money and improved internal environmental quality for better living and good for the environment these can be achieved by implementing green technology in our buildings. India still to capitalize the benefits of green technology as other countries are already using it in their buildings for instance USA, Australia.

On the financial side, going green will save everyone tons of money. The price of electricity will keep going up as oil supplies shrink. As a hedge against rising electric bills it would be wise to invest in green technology today. Plus an additional benefit will be cleaner air. There are still coal plants around and despite the advancements in technology they remain a pollution factor today. Green technology in the form of solar power could result in a tremendous reduction in the need for coal power plants

Energy saving lightbulbs are a great example of green technology that can be installed in every house in the world, easily. The aim of green technology is to make peoples' lives better without compromising on quality of life. 

Examples of green technology subject areas

Energy
Perhaps the most urgent issue for green technology, this includes the development of alternative fuels, new means of generating energy and energy efficiency.

Green building
Green building encompasses everything from the choice of building materials to where a building is located.

Environmentally preferred purchasing
This government innovation involves the search for products whose contents and methods of production have the smallest possible impact on the environment, and mandates that these be the preferred products for government purchasing.

Green chemistry
The invention, design and application of chemical products and processes to reduce or to eliminate the use and generation of hazardous substances.

Time has come to gain from the immense possibilities of Green technologies which will ultimately provide solutions to the entire problem we discussed above.

Sustainable buildings operate from seven simple principles
Sustainable building will:

1.Harvest all their own water and energy needs on site.
2.Be adapted specifically to site and climate and evolve as conditions change.
3.Operate pollution-free and generate no wastes that aren't useful for some other process in the building or immediate environment.
4.Promote the health and well-being of all inhabitants, as a healthy ecosystem does.
5.Be comprised of integrated systems that maximise efficiency and comfort.
6.Improve the health and diversity of the local ecosystem rather than degrade it.
7.Be beautiful and inspire us to dream.

Benefits of Green Building

Environmental benefits

•Reduce the impacts of natural resource consumption

Economic benefits

•Improve the bottom line

Health and safety benefits

•Enhance occupants comfort and health

Community benefits

•Minimize strain on local infrastructures and improve quality of life

We talked about water scarcity which is not only a concern for India but for entire world. So what are we doing for that? The answer is we can certainly look for ways to save water and make optimum utilization of what we have right now. The reason why there is hype for green technology is it's always emphasizes on creating resources and minimum wastage of energy.

If we can reduce the water consumption in the building construction then it can definitely be used in other activities and it should be collective effort.

India has always played a significant role in the global arena. Whether it's growing economy, world's largest democracy and seriousness about environment. Then it is imperative that world should also recognise India's effort for sustainable living. India needs to consolidate its stand on promoting green technologies. And for that government can provide financial assistance to people or organisations to encourage and create awareness about green technologies. India is already doing its bit to save water and other environment friendly measures. Ministry of environment is also seeking assistance from Indian corporate sector to come up with innovative ideas to save the environment. I think we are on the right track and we just need to create more awareness about the biggest threat the world is facing now which is global warming. As we say there is never a wrong time for the right thing so we can certainly give back something to our mother earth.

Resources: Indu_Kant_Mishra