The Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) of CII, today organised the first edition of Conference on Green Existing Buildings at New Delhi.
D.Diptivilasa, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD), Government of India in his Chief Guest address, emphasised the need to address environmental issues in a holistic manner.
He said that we need a strategy to make the Existing Buildings more sustainable and efficient. He lauded IGBC for launching the exclusive IGBC Green Existing Buildings Rating System.
The concept of green buildings should reach every nook and corner of the country and the MoUD will extend all its support and will be happy to jointly work with IGBC, added Diptivilasa.
Dr.Prem C Jain, Chairman, IGBC and Chairman, AECOM India, spoke about India’s challenges to conserve energy and water.
“Today, we have about 25 billion square feet of existing building stock, of which over 2,400 projects amounting to over 1.86 Billion square feet are going green with IGBC,” said Dr. Jain.
He emphasised that there is tremendous opportunity to convert existing buildings into green by effective operations and maintenance.
Ramesh Sanka, Chairman, Conference on Green Existing Buildings and Managing Director, Rental Business, DLF said, converting existing buildings into green is not only environmental friendly but also helps in enhancing the bottom line.
By 2025, the retrofit potential of existing buildings in India is worth USD 25 Billion , he added.
Gurmit Singh Arora, Chairman, IGBC Green Existing Building Rating System and Managing Director, Rajco Metals, said, “it is now time that we divert our attention to existing buildings to solve energy and water crisis.”
“India is the fourth largest carbon emitter and in the next 20-30 years, the demand will increase to 132 per cent, making it the highest emitter in the world,” he added.
“The only solution to these existing problems is making our existing building green. By doing that, we can save 20-30 per cent in energy, 30-40 per cent in water and at the same time, enhance great occupant, health and comfort,” said Arora.
S.Raghupathy, Executive Director CII – Godrej GBC concluded the inaugural session by highlighting that IGBC aspires to have five Billion Sq. ft of Green Building footprint in the country by 2016. He suggested the Government to consider providing incentive on Property Tax for high performance buildings.
Diptvilasa launched an exclusive link in IGBC website that provides information on the possible retrofit technologies in existing buildings.
The Chief Guest awarded IGBC Gold Rating to Tata Group’s corporate headquarters ‘Bombay House’ in Mumbai, which is India’s first building to be certified under IGBC Green Existing Building Rating.
Other green projects felicitated with IGBC Awards included: DLF Mall of India – Noida, Eicher Good Earth Pvt. Ltd – Gurgaon, MoUD’s GPRA New Residential Township, New Delhi, and Thyagraj Sports Complex, New Delhi. (ANI)