Indian Green Building Council Research Articles

EVALUATION OF ENERGY-COST-EFFICIENT DESIGN ALTERNATIVES FOR RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS IN KARNATAKA’S TROPICAL WET AND DRY CLIMATIC ZONES

Introduction: The existing building construction techniques in India account for increased operating energy consumption. Due to this, there is a need to apply sustainable construction methods by including passive design techniques. In accordance with the local climatic condition, a good passive design not only maintains a comfortable environment in the house, but also consumes less energy all the while performing the same basic functions as the traditional structures. Purpose of the study: The present research focuses on residential villas by analyzing parameters such as illuminance, energy, and cost consumption using Revit (Insight 360) software with two different cases. Methods: Considering Case1 as an existing villa of conventional design and Case2 presenting a proposed villa, a remodeling of the existing villa with an increased window wall ratio (WWR), different fenestration designs, and a new building plan. The authors followed the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) guidelines relating to illuminance and generated an analytical energy model using Insight 360 to compare the energy consumption and cost efficiency of the cases. Results: The effectiveness of various fenestration types related to direct heat gain, window orientation that would provide more natural light, total operating energy consumption and costs of two different cases of villas are investigated in this paper.

Analysis and Study of credits for IGBC Green New Building

The green building movement in India has gained significant momentum with over 8,669 registered projects under the Indian Green Building Council. The LEED standards influence the design and construction of environmentally sustainable structures with a focus on resource conservation, waste reduction, and creating healthy spaces. The IGBC criteria encompasses aspects such as sustainable architecture and design, site selection, energy and water conservation, building materials, indoor environmental quality, and innovation. Energy efficiency and water conservation are emphasized through eco-friendly refrigerants, renewable energy sources, and water-wise practices. The use of certified green building materials, products, and equipment helps reduce environmental impact. Indoor environmental quality is maintained through adequate ventilation, low-emitting materials, and indoor air quality testing. Building owners and contractors can employ various strategies to improve the well-being of occupants. Key Words: Green building, Sustainable, Conservation, Environment, Eco-friendly, Renewable

Comparative Study of Green Rating Systems in India

Indian construction industry is highest growth rate from last years, which is having a negative impact on the environment and natural resources available for construction. Following this problem of carbon imprint, concept of sustainable development in construction industry is the need of an hour. With increase in demand of sustainable buildings or green buildings demand of green rating and assessment tools is also increasing. Rating tools set benchmark for green building measurement, which are helpful in reducing negative impact on environment by promoting quality green building. India has two main building environment assessment tools i.e., Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) and Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment (GRIHA). The former is benchmarked with global standards while later is indigenously developed. This paper aims to focus on comparative study of IGBC (LEED India) and GRIHA rating system and compare both with regards to their certification-cost, influence and popularity, performance criteria and benchmarks 9rating score). Through this study, an attempt is made to make clear understanding of IGBC and GRIHA rating system assessment criteria that need to be considered before certification.

A Review on Conversion of Existing Building into Green Building

Green building construction has resulted in a slew of inventive solutions to lower energy usage. The requirement to develop a unified dimensional model for resource-saving, and environmentally friendly is a problem for assessments of green renovation (GR) of existing structures. India has three mechanisms viz. LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), IGBC (Indian Green Building Council) GRIHA (The Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment) are in place to help its fast-rising urban population to achieve ecologically sustainable growth. An attempt has been made here to review the conversion of existing structures into green buildings to save natural resources. It will be beneficial for the people who renovate their buildings or want to change to the green building concept. Green building implementation has become a need to optimize the scarce resources and to eliminate the negative impact of early cost surcharges on the green building idea should be eliminated. This review paper aims to find the solutions for existing buildings to convert them into green buildings and how life cycle cost analysis is important for the building. Keywords: green building, green building rating system, LEED, GRIHA, IGBC, Life cycle Cost

Role of green hospitals in sustainable construction: Benefits, rating systems and constraints

Sustainability is a major concern for everyone. Degradation of resources and increment in the pollution are posing a question mark on the sustainability. This situation is creating a pressure on the firms to be greener. Green hospital is a hospital that improves people's health by continuously reducing environmental impacts on sustainability and meets its share of the burden to disease. The study aimed to know the concept of “Green Hospital”. The site of reputable domestic and foreign institutional electronic databases was searched to identify the patterns of green hospital. Thus, the data for this study was collected from the multiple online sources. It is found that there are various rating systems for the green buildings i.e., Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment (GRIHA), Indian Green Building Council (IGBC), Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE): Star Rating, ASSOCHAM GEM, ECBC Compliance etc. Overlap in terms of energy efficiency, water efficiency and waste management patterns were observed in all other aspects could be due to differences in location patterns and different organizations providing organizations needs to be mentioned. There are several constrains are also available for constructing the green hospitals.

A Review on Effective Use of Daylight Harvesting Using Intelligent Lighting Control Systems for Sustainable Office Buildings in India

Lighting is a fundamental requirement of our daily life. A lot of research and development is carried out in the field of daylight harvesting, which is the need of the hour. One of the most desirable attributes of daylight harvesting is that daylight is available universally and it is a very clean and cost-efficient form of energy. By using the various methods of daylight harvesting, it is possible to attain the global Sustainable Development Goals. Daylight harvesting in the most fundamental sense is the lighting strategy control of the artificial light in an interior space where daylight is also present so that the required illumination level is achieved. This way, a lot of energy can be saved. Recently, in addition to energy efficiency, other factors such as cost-efficiency, user requirements such as uniform illuminance, and different levels of illuminance at different points are being considered. To simulate the actual daylight contribution for an office building in urban Chennai, India before construction, ECO TECH software is used by providing the inputs such as building orientation, and reflectance’s values of the ceiling, wall, and floor to analyze the overall percentage of daylight penetration available versus the percentage prescribed in the Indian Green Building Council to obtain the credit points. Thus, the impact of architectural design on daylight harvesting and daylight predictive technology has experimented with office building in Chennai, India. This article will give an insight into the current trends in daylight harvesting technology and intends to provide a deeper understanding and spark a research interest in this widely potential field.

Principles of Design for Sustainable Group Housing Projects in India

There are three rating systems available to assess the sustainability of Group Housing in India provided by three agencies, namely the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC), Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment (GRIHA), and Eco Housing Assessment Criteria's. The parameters for all three rating systems have some differentials. The building rated under one rating system may not obtain a rating under another rating system. It means that designers' attention is restricted to the rating system's criteria and has lost the sustainable design process's true spirit. This paper aims to establish the Principles of Design that meet all the rating system's maximum criteria. The methodology followed for this paper includes a brief review of all rating systems and a comparative analysis of similarity and dissimilarity to understand the key focus areas of all three rating systems. The Principles of Design are applied to fulfill all the three-rating system requirements with each focus area. The applications of design principles in the project indicate that only a certain number of Principles of Design are applied to achieve the rating system in each project, and many Principles of Design are overlooked. This was due to the designer's approach to sustainable buildings as a product based on the rating system. The Principles of Design generated in this paper will be a ready source of guidance for India's sustainable housing design. The designer should initially approach sustainable design as a design process and, later on, achieve a sustainable design for a specific rating system.

Design & Development of a Voice-Enabled Vending Machine for Green Buildings

Green buildings form a milestone technology for a sustainable and eco-friendly atmosphere. A sophisticated process management and control with advanced warning systems and sustainable user-friendly buildings is their existing norm, as per the Indian Green Building Council. With efficient resource utilization and waste management along with different user-friendly working systems, these optimized building spaces reduce various utilization costs, parallelly increasing the safety, hygiene, and comfort standards. Their norms for the future eye at a sustainable development scheme using different renewable energy technologies with solar energy having developed as a fast-growing alternative due to its usability in various rural and urban dwellings. This paper discusses the concept of an automated voice recognition based vending machine powered by solar energy. The sophisticated Voice Recognition System (VRS) changes the role of humans in the associated process and hence, should be an integral part of future green buildings. Intelligence to the working system is incorporated by Machine Learning (ML) and its flexible Internet of Things (IoT) platform entails high customizability with a good Prognostics & Health Management (PHM) media. An implementation of the framework is worked upon, discussing the design of a food-dispensing unit that can be used in hostels, restaurants, and other areas of medium to a large gathering. Food can be served without any human intervention whilst maintaining high levels of cleanliness, minimizing waste, and reducing operating costs.

Green hospital - A necessity and not option

Green hospital - A necessity and not option - JMRA- Print ISSN No: - 2394-2762 Online ISSN No:- 2394-2770 Article DOI No:- 10.18231/j.jmra.2020.010, Journal of Management Research and Analysis-J Manag Res Anal

The Green Building Model for Existing AIET Building

The Conventional building effect on greenhouse gases ( co2), global warming and human health related. 90% of the time we are inside the building, so conventional building great effect on our health as well as environment. The first aim of this study is to existing Apollo Institute of Engineering & Technology (AIET) building convert into Green building without their demolition by use of natural source, save energy and green materials. The second aim is to study of Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) Green Existing Building Rating System.

Performance Assessment of Green Rated Built Environment using Post Occupancy Evaluation

Green Rating Certification is one of the important mechanism developed in last few decades worldwide to achieve sustainability in Built Environment life cycle. The early generations of Green Rated Built Environment from India have occupied for several years now. Therefore, it has become inevitable to assess whether these Built Environment are living up to expectations in their objective terms. Post Occupancy Evaluation is a process of systematic monitoring of Building's performance with predefined parameters and objectives after it is occupied for few years. Present research focuses on assessment of Green Rated Built Environment on the basis of performance parameters. Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) and Energy Efficiency are two performance parameters identified for current research. Seven Green Rated Institutional/office projects have been selected for Post Occupancy Evaluation. Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) has rated three projects and Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment (GRIHA) has rated remaining four buildings. All seven projects are located in warm and humid climatic zone of India. Questionnaire Survey, on site measurement of Indoor Environmental Quality parameters and Energy consumption records are selected as a tool to measure performance of Green rated project.

Performance evaluation of a certified green-rated housing development in the warm humid climate of India

The Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) claims that India has the second largest registered green building footprint in the world. However, there is no evidence-based approach to ascertain the actual energy performance and occupant satisfaction vis-a-vis the building design and indoor environment. This paper seeks to apply a customised post-occupancy building performance evaluation approach for Indian green buildings (I-BPE), to evaluate the actual performance of a certified green housing development in the warm humid climate of India, from both technical and occupants’ perspectives. Electricity consumption, environmental data, and occupant opinion of 29 flats are gathered and assessed over a period of one month in the monsoon season of 2018. Results show that flats with air-conditioning (AC) units tend to have slightly higher electricity use than those without; however, mean temperature and relative humidity measurements tend to be about the same and the level of perceived comfort is no different across the two groups. Building and occupant surveys revealed that storage facilities were insufficient, resulting in corridor space becoming a dumping ground, making it unsightly and unhygienic. The methodological approach developed in the study can be used for gathering empirical data on the actual energy and environmental performance of housing in India.

Weaving Sustainability into Affordable Housing : Anna Builders

Anna Builders has been building affordable housing units since 2000. Founded by Mr. Venu, who is taking forward his late father’s vision of housing for all, Anna Builders has till now handed over 30,000 sq. m. of built up space aimed at the first time buyer and user. Mr. Venu had recently attended a seminar organized by CII and the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) to educate small and medium builders regarding the benefits of building with eco-friendly materials which had got him thinking. The case traces his dilemma in striking a balance in the affordable housing sector between the green building norms and the base line profits of the company. Will he be able to do it?

Optimization of Energy Efficiency of Educational Building Using Green Building Rating System and Cost Analysis Approach

Green and energy efficient buildings in accordance with international standards has now become a forefront of sustainable development in this century that takes the responsibility for balancing long-term economic, environmental and social health. Energy Retrofitting of existing building is more cost-effective than building a new facility. To initiate energy conservation retrofits to reduce energy consumption and the cost of heating, cooling, and lighting buildings, improving indoor environmental quality. This paper represents study based on green and energy retrofitting of educational building in detail as per Indian Green Building Council’s Green Existing Building, Operational & Maintenance (IGBC EB O&M) rating system. The study has been carried out on AIIM Educational Building of Adani Institute of Infrastructure. The existing building having total build up area of 4044 sq. m and it consumes total electric units 931050 kWh per year. The buildings have scope to reduce energy consumption through energy efficient-lighting, air conditioning systems, motors, pumps etc. The operational energy savings can be achieved by adopting existing natural resources and commercially available energy efficient products, which can be used to the tune about 20% electric energy in existing building, which is concluded based rating system and cost analysis.

Benchmarking green building attributes to achieve cost effectiveness using a data envelopment analysis

Green building construction has been considered to be an essential practice for achieving sustainability. To achieve sustainable development, greater attention has been paid to environmental, social and economic impacts associated with the construction and operation of buildings. Hence, the importance of a more integrated approach to green building design with cost effectiveness has gained momentum. The present study focuses on developing appropriate constructs to benchmark green building attributes in construction such that, with limited funds, the sustainable performance of the building is improved. In this study, Indian green building assessment tools, such as Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment (GRIHA), Indian Green Building Council (IGBC), eco-housing, and a newly developed rating system, are reviewed. A Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) has been employed to benchmark the green building attributes. Buildings in different climatic conditions, such as hot and dry, warm and humid, and composite climates, were chosen for benchmarking purposes. Efficiency was calculated using a constant return to scale with an input-oriented Charnes-Cooper-Rhodes (CCR) formulation method. The following attributes were observed: (1) utilization of the Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS) recommended waste materials in the building, (2) increase in environmental awareness, (3) dedicated facilities for service staff, (4) design for universal accessibility, (5), low-impact design (6) construction management practices and (7) use of low-volatile organic compounds (VOC) paints that contribute to more green points at a lower cost.

Adoption of Green Practices in Industrial Buildings: An Action Research on Capacity Building of Stakeholders Towards Green Factories

The Industrial sector, being the most prominent driver of economic growth in India, has significantly contributed to climate change. Consequent negative impacts have been seen on resources, human health and wellbeing. This indicates a need to steer growth towards green industrialization through the adoption of green practices in industrial buildings. The research looked at various aspects of the green factory rating system developed by the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) as a tool for the greening of industrial buildings. The researcher identified fully operational green factories as case studies. A training programme was developed and implemented for randomly selected non-green factories to generate awareness among managers. Case profiling of green factories revealed newer technologies and practices adopted by management, such as building flush out breakout spaces, entryway systems, high efficiency filters, etc. The training programme helped the managers understand and appreciate how their practices and preferences in their factory buildings can contribute to good working environments, thereby leading to accomplishing the holistic goal of sustainable development. The authors call for sensitization of stakeholders towards green building guidelines so that the green movement can move forward toward the creation of a more sustainable future.

Facilitating Green Building Adoption -- An Optimization Based Decision Support Tool

The US Environmental Protection Agency defines green buildings as the practice of creating structures and using processes that are environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a building's life-cycle from site selection to design, construction, operation, maintenance, renovation and deconstruction.The adoption of green building norms in India is a relatively new phenomenon. The Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) has been the torch bearer for this effort since 2001. There are three major green building guidelines currently being adopted in India: (1) LEED®-New Construction LEED-NC); (2) GRIHA® by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) that was established voluntarily to rate buildings; and (3) LEED®-INDIA released by the Indian Green Building Council which is inspired by LEED-NC and includes alterations based on Indian construction environment.The decision to opt for green construction and the level of green aspirations is constrained by the extra cost of going green, i.e. the green premium. The level of environment friendliness, given by the rating of the building, is not arrived at in a scientific manner by considering the options and their cost implications. Risk averse owners, in spite of their desire to go green, are hindered by a lack of information on the various options and ability to decide which options to choose. This information, if made available as a decision support tool, can be valuable in bringing green buildings into the mainstream. The non availability of such a tool is a major barrier in the growth of the green building movement (USEPA report “Removing market barriers to green development”).The objective of this work is to develop an optimization based decision support tool that can be used to either arrive at the optimal green rating given the budget and choice constraints; or at the optimal green premium given the green rating aspirations. These can help a builder optimize green ratings or greening costs, as desired, or by a policy maker to come up with appropriate and effective policies. The Indian GRIHA rating guidelines are used as inputs for measuring the green rating of a building. In addition sensitivity to costs, of socially important parameters such as use of solar energy, fly-ash etc., of choices made for achieving desired green ratings are studied. This can help drive appropriate policy initiatives for adoption of such technologies.

Construction waste management in India: an exploratory study

PurposeThe growth of Indian economy has brought with it significant increase in construction activities. These increased construction activities have further highlighted the problem of waste generation on construction sites. The purpose of this paper is to provide important insights and highlight some issues related to the implementation of effective waste management practices on construction sites in India.Design/methodology/approachThis paper presents two cases and results from semi‐structured interviews which shed light on some of the major issues, challenges and drivers associated with the implementation of waste management in construction in India.FindingsOne of the key findings was that client preference and enforcement of existing laws could actually facilitate the implementation of waste minimisation effectively. Some of the practices being followed, and which are gaining more popularity, are waste quantification, waste segregation, and the implementation of 3Rs (reduce, recycle, and reuse). Congested construction sites, sites in heavily built‐up areas with no ability to have an alternate storage or staging location for materials, lack of ownership of waste due to the presence of multiple contractors on the construction site and lack of awareness and education among the construction workforce were regarded as major challenges associated with the implementation of waste minimisation practices in India.Research limitations/implicationsThe cases and the interviewees chosen were through the authors' links with the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC). The cases were LEED registered projects therefore issues dealing with green construction had been taken into account. These cases might not be representative of the entire country, as there are significantly high proportions of construction projects that are not as green, especially in smaller cities in India. However, the two cases do provide important insights and highlight some issues related to the implementation of effective waste management practices on construction sites in India. The individuals interviewed also had link with IGBC. They had been involved with the green building movement in India for a significant length of time. But the length and breadth of their experience gave them the ability to comment on state of the construction sector and its green as well as non‐green practices associated with waste management.Originality/valueThis paper presents an exploratory study which assesses the implementation of waste management practices in the Indian construction industry. It also highlights activities within different stages of a construction project that can lead to more effective waste management in the construction sector.

Cost and time overrun analysis for green construction projects

Green construction projects are initiated in complex and dynamic environments resulting in circumstances of high level of uncertainty with respect to cost and duration. This is attributed to the fact that construction of green buildings requires stricter norms in terms of environmental conservation, carbon emission, construction footprint, pollution, etc. which can cause an addition to ‘cost and duration’. This paper describes a systematic way to identify and quantify uncertainty in the green construction process based on the LEED rating system adopted by the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC). The system incorporates knowledge and experience acquired from many experts, projectspecific information, decision analysis techniques, and a simulation model to predict risks for different green ratings in the construction schedule at the conception stage of a project. The model provides sensitivity analysis for different outcomes wherein the effect of critical and significant risk factors can be evaluated. The study focuses on lessons learned from past projects and describes a risk assessment process involving typical inputs and expected outputs.

Mere Wala Green : Explorations Of A Design Practice Using Common Knowledge And Common Sense

The concept of "Green Buildings" has become popular in the built environment sector, with architectural practices, builders, and clients competing for recognition through Platinum, Gold or Silver awards. The US initiative of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) and the US Green Buildings Council (USGBC) established targets for designers and manufacturers, providing incentives through certifications and awards. In India, the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) adopted the US standards for Green Buildings but has since begun to alter them to suit Indian conditions. "Mere Wala Green" is a term coined to clarify that Green is only a direction towards greater sustainability, not a recipe, and should be understood in the context of India and its regions. "Mere Wala Green" focuses on understanding sustainability, human comfort in buildings, questioning needs, ensuring sustainability, maximizing the use of traditional wisdom, assessing new technologies, being aware of embodied energies of materials, taking decisions based on measurable levels, pursuing goals and addressing issues through value engineering. The approaches to Green Buildings are "Top Down" and "Bottom Up," with the former being more popular, focusing on energy savings, using high technology, and being driven by recognition based on intent, rather than performance.