Imparting concepts of sustainability and green buildings via a case study on an educational building

Abstract

Abstract Sustainable building construction is the need of the hour for any developing nation. Sustainable or Green buildings mainly focus on the conservation of energy, water, and other scarce resources. Indian Green Buildings Council (IGBC) and Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment (GRIHA) are two organizations in India which certifies buildings of various categories based on the sustainable practices adopted in the buildings. Certification is given for existing as well as new buildings. This paper attempts to evaluate the sustainable features of an existing school as per IGBC standards. The study revealed that the school under consideration has few sustainable features. Very few points were scored in the most important criteria i.e., water efficiency and energy efficiency, which contributes to more than 50% of the total points. The existing school building can be converted into a green building with certain modifications to the existing school infrastructure. This detailed study on various existing features of the building will help the school authorities to improve the building for a sustainable environment to the school students.