The Greener Architecture

Green buildings are environment friendly buildings with respect to construction, components, operation, maintenance and even demolition."A building which can function using an optimum amount of energy, consume less water, conserve natural resources, generate less waste and create spaces for healthy and comfortable living, as compared to conventional buildings, is a green building", defines Indian Green Building Council (IGBC). All the appliances used leave no carbon foot print and help in environmental protection. They greatly reduce the impact  on the fellow beings and also the Mother Earth.They avert pollution by having efficient methods of waste disposal and management . By this way they contribute to sustainable environment.

The construction is made in such a way to utilize the natural resources (sun,wind , etc.)to the maximum extent.This green architecture combines the efforts of architects , environmental engineers, energy engineers ,corporates,landscape architects , interior decorators, Government agencies and all other experts who work for the Nature. Greener aspects can also be retrofitted to the existing non-green buildings.

The Green Building Certification Institute is the prime body to certify Green buildings globally. They do it through third party certification."Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) " is a suite of rating systems for the design, construction, operation, and maintenance of green buildings, homes and neighborhoods. It was developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC).

LEED provides certification in  four levels - Certified( 40–49 points) , Silver ( 50–59 points) , Gold   ( 60–79 points) and Platinum ( 80 points and above ). Points are distributed across major credit categories such as Sustainable Sites, Water Efficiency, Energy and Atmosphere, Materials and Resources, and Indoor Environmental Quality.

The nodal agency for green building certification in India is the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) . Its vision is "To enable a sustainable built environment for all and facilitate India to be one of the global leaders in sustainable built environment by 2025".It was formed in the year 2001 by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

ISO 21931-1:2010 provides a general framework for improving the quality and comparability of methods for assessing the environmental performance of buildings and their related external works.

The most "sustainable building" in the world as of June 2013 is "The Change Initiative (TCI)"  on Shaikh Zayed Road, Dubai. It has been rated Platinum by the LEED with 107 points out of 110.“Congratulations on setting a new record with your LEED for Commercial Interiors Platinum project. The store is a great prototype for sustainable real estate applicable worldwide,” S. Richard Fedrizzi, President, CEO and Founding Chairman of the US GBC and Chairman of the World GBC, said in his letter to Gundeep Singh, TCI Founder and CEO.

India's first Platinum rated green building is "CII-Godrej GBC, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh ". This building located in an area of 20,000 square feet  was rated in 2003 .

Recently on august 16,2013 India got certified for its first Green Stadium .  The Thyagraj Stadium, built by Delhi Government ahead of the Commonwealth Games was rated Gold by the IGBC.

The world is pushed to go green in almost all aspects of life. Greener construction is in no way an exception .

                   Go Green !