Hyderabad, September 14: The realty community that had gone into a trance over three days of eco mantra chanting at the Green Building Congress was jolted into real thinking on the concluding day today when a participant asked aloud whether what they were doing was really green or merely a “greenwash”.
Giving his presentation on “It’s all about attitudes’’, architect Shirish Beri traced the genesis of global warming and environmental degradation to the changing attitude of humans towards the nature.
“From staying close to nature and being part of it, man assumed the pose of a conqueror.
When his inner space becomes commercial, it reflects in the outer space,’’ Beri explained.
Through case studies, he advocated working closer to the nature using traditional and locally- available material while going for evolved green materials and techniques only when they really become necessary.
The cynosure of all eyes, however, was tiny Avani, the schoolgoing kid who unveiled for the gathering India’s first platinumrated green home of her father, Arjun Valluri, built here recently.
Step-by-step she detailed the eco-friendly features of the structure, such as its energy and water efficiency, leaving the audience in awe.
Taking over from her, Krish Murali Eswar gave a presentation on the first platinum-rated multi-dwelling residence built by his company, BCIL, in Bangalore.
And, during the course of describing Tata’s foray into the low-cost segment, Vachan Singh, assistant vice-president of Tata Housing, announced that all construction by the company, irrespective of segment, would comprise green-rated buildings.
There were other interesting presentations on ancient and contemporary design, rainwater harvesting and landscaping.
Addressing the Congress earlier, Metropolitan Commissioner S Jawahar Reddy said the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) was fully committed to the cause of the Green Homes movement, and would follow green building guidelines for all future residential and commercial complexes coming up in the city. Incentives were being planned to encourage builders and architects to follow such norms, he said.
S Raghupathy, senior director & head, CII-Godrej GBC, announced that the Indian Green Business Council (IGBC) would come up with green rating guidelines for SEZs by the month-end and for cities by the year-end.
-Agencies