Abraham Lincoln once said ?The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew.? While these inspirational words were uttered in a different era, the fact remains that today too we face insurmountable problems and that too on a far larger scale. Everyone knows there are green house gases and carbon emission into the atmosphere. This, combined with global warming, climatic changes and environment deterioration have prompted people to start changing their ways.

The first changes were sought in the energy sector, where sustainable energy was sought and harnessed, as well as non-sustainable energy was being conserved. While the stereotypical view people have is that automobiles are the main energy users, the fact remains that it is the real estate sector that consumes the most energy. In developed nations like the US, buildings account for 37% of all energy use and 68% of all electricity use, with building trades doing about six times more damage than automobiles in terms of energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions. This is one of the unfortunate areas however, where India is not far behind, with real estate development using 40% of the energy and buildings consuming 20% of the counties total electricity. The pressure these facts and figures put mounted on builders. Also, a few environmentally-conscious decisions made by others within the builder community having learnt the graves of an energy crisis, led to the beginning, acceptance and growth of green buildings.

The global real estate industry has been growing at the rate of 5.2%, while in India the rate is 10%. The real estate industry uses 20% of the electricity produced by the country, and with the industry rapidly growing, the concerns surrounding its impact on our national resources is very real. However, given the fact that we are a developing nation and the fact that most developed nation’s use 40% of their energy for real-estate, the opportunities going green now provides us, are substantial.

What is a green building?

Globally, the Green Building movement started in 1990 with the establishment of the first Green Building rating system – BREEAM in the UK. This was followed by the formation of the US Green Building Council (USGBC) in 1993. The Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) was instituted in 2001 and we got our first USGBC LEED Certified Platinum Rated Green Building – CII Sohrabji Godrej Green Building Centre in Hyderabad in 2004. Green buildings are more efficient in the way they use natural resources like energy, water, and materials. All this, while reducing the building’s impact on human health and the environment during the building’s lifecycle, through better design, construction, operation, maintenance, and waste disposal methods.

They are designed to reduce the overall impact of the built environment on human health and the natural environment. They broadly do so by efficiently using energy, water, and other resources, protecting occupant health and improving employee productivity, reducing waste, pollution and environmental degradation.

Basically, to sum it up, a green building uses less energy, water and natural resources, creates less waste and is healthier for the people living inside compared to a standard building.

What are the cost benefits of going green?

Apart, from the intangible benefits mentioned above, the real question any economist or financially-prudent person would want to know is the cost-benefit analysis of the green building. While this is not always easy to accurately gauge due to the nature of the variables involved, if one is to consider the cost premium one pays in a green building, to the more tangible and calculable benefits and savings they provide, one would have be in a better position to judge the financial viability of the investment. The table on cost premium to go green is a useful indicator for the higher costs you would incur on your investment. Since each green building is different across India and the globe there is no standard or average cost benefit that one can go by. Thus, rather than believing what you hear, it is better to use your investment specifics to try and ascertain what is your cost premium and is it correlating to the features it should offer. Yes, well know that green buildings are morally correct to invest in. However, this does not mean that it will prevent the unscrupulous from taking advantage of the ignorant. Hence, before jumping to decisions understanding what you are buying and why you are paying so much for it, is the right way to evaluate. Once you have ascertained the costs, it can then be compared to the benefits and savings that this investment provides.

Green buildings are operationally more efficient than a standard building, allowing it to make savings, especially in energy and water costs, as well as via waste reduction methods it employs. These buildings are 25-30% more energy efficient, and a LEED gold-rated building can be as much as 37% more energy efficient. Green buildings obtain 2% of their energy from renewable sources of energy and all this energy efficiency proves beneficial during peak periods, when energy costs rise due to higher demand. This also reduces the strain on our fossil fuels and reduces pollution and the emission of GHGs. The buildings also use 20-30% less water, reducing the operational water expenses and the pressure on civic amenities. In most cases 70-100% of used water is treated and reused for landscaping and air conditioning as well. This reduces the load on an area’s sewage system and helps conservation and the reuse of water.

Construction wastes and debris are the main wastes left post the construction of a building. These are harmful to the environment, and since green buildings lay a lot of emphasis on waste reduction, they divert both construction wastes and debris to recycling units. These buildings also use existing building structures and reclaimed building materials to form the core of their projects. This increased usage of recycled content in construction materials, designs the structure to produce less scrap. Overall, green buildings reduce construction waste by approximately 50%.

The savings one seems to make from green buildings have to be again quantified by you based on the information available. What a 30% savings mean to a building in one part of the city or country might not be true for the next. The cost-benefit analysis of any individual building must take into account the LEED certification level and corresponding credit points of the building. Also, the investment required, the cost savings and revenue-generation opportunities. Using these figures, one can gauge the payback period or break-even point of the investment as well as the return on investment.

Sustainability

The word sustainable is the buzzword in the green buildings world, with sustainable development being the key focus of green buildings. The need for sustainability has always been to ensure that we do not over exploit our resources to such an extent that future generations struggle to sustain themselves. Hence, the rise of green buildings in India, which has led a modest 25,000 square feet of green buildings in 2003, to a phenomenal 25 million square feet in 2007 and is expected to touch one billion square feet per year by 2010.

Niranjan Hiranandani, of the Hiranandani group, during the World Green Building Congress-2008 had said, ?Green buildings are a sensible investment. The construction industry in India is one of our largest economic activities and is growing at an average rate of 9.5% as compared to the global average of 5%.? As per the National Housing Bank, India has a shortage of 8.9 million urban housing units. All of the above figures reiterate that if we can successfully build green buildings and sustainable real-estate development grows like it is expected to, then we can save ourselves from the mistakes of the West, and go green as we endeavour to fill up the housing gaps.

Kamal also adds, ?Green buildings help in water conservation, as they use energy saving lighting and do water recycling too. There are usually two sinks in a kitchen, one for washing and one for drinking. We use the food waste, which has a separate disposal to convert it into manure.

This works out like one kilo of waste gives us one kilo of manure, which in turn gives us Rs 8/kilo. We segregate pet bottles, newspapers, etc and recycle everything except batteries and other non biodegradables. This is what keeps are buildings sustainable.?

Another area of sustainability that one should clarify before making this investment is the maintenance of the green building itself. Who will maintain it? How will it be maintained?

And, other questions insuring the fact that the building remains green all its life should be clarified clearly, especially as this investment is a long-term one, with most investments having a break-even point itself of 2-7 years, based on their ratings and facilities.

Once these aspects are covered, one can easily decide how green is his/her green investment, and accordingly enter into this new age world.

Tracing the roots

Architecture within the western civilisation and real estate development through out the world has been closely related post the 1930’s. David Gissen, curator of architecture and design, at the National Building Museum in Washington DC had once noted, ?Structures such as London’s Crystal Palace and Milan’s Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II had used methods that decreased the impact of the structures on the environment. Systems like roof ventilators and underground air-cooling chambers were used to regulate indoor air temperature. In the early twentieth century too, several skyscrapers like the Flatiron Building and the New York Times Building in New York utilised deep-set windows, while the Carson Pirie Scott department store in Chicago had retractable awnings. Both of these techniques were effective in controlling interior temperature, while lessening the buildings impact on the environment.?

Between 1930 and 1960, global architecture took a different outlook. Incorporating new technologies, buildings and city formations changed, giving shape to the way things presently are. The invention of air conditioning, reflective glass, and structural steel, diffused the enclosed glass and steel buildings that are a symbol of our civilisation today. These buildings were heated and cooled with massive heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HDAC) systems that consumed huge amounts of fuels and energy. With these modern-looking glass boxes like structures being the new flavour of the day, a bunch of architects, environmentalists, and ecologists were inspired by the growing environmental movement and the higher fuel costs prevalent then. The genesis of these two simultaneous movements, ultimately resulted in the modern build green movement. In April of 1970 and then later in 1973, the first Earth Day and the Opec oil embargo, finally gave the green movement the desired kick-start. Since then, alternative sources of energy have been studied, harnessed and pushed to make it a viable source of energy. Come 1993, one of the world’s most prominent buildings were ?greened?, namely the White House. The ?Greening of the White House? project seen through by Bill Clinton would be a ?model for efficiency and waste reduction? he felt. In March 1996, it was reported that through the first two years of the ?Greening? project, more than $150,000 per year in energy and water costs, landscaping expenses, and expenditures associated with solid waste were saved. Since 1996, $300,000 has been saved annually due to additional modifications made. In all, 845 metric tonne per year of carbon emissions were eliminated during Clinton’s presidency.

Ironically, his successor, an astute politician whose very name echoes greenness, is still struggling to define global warming.

What are the benefits of going green?

Well, from the definition itself, one would very clearly see many good reasons to go green, should they choose to do so. For the environmentally conscious, such innovations are a boom, and in the wake of threats like global warming, green buildings seem like a step in the right direction.

Kamal Meattle, CEO, Paharpur Business Centre (PBC) tells us, “In some of the green buildings we have built, something as basic as air quality is so much better. The air is as clean as the air in the Himalayas or Switzerland for that matter. To achieve this, we used green plants and foliage strategically all over the building. This technique was developed by NASA to help people breather better in space. We also noticed a productivity increase of 14-20% in the building occupants and found that in a mere ten hours of being in the building, your blood oxygen levels would increase by 1%.”

A pretty impressive task for a building to achieve is putting it mildly, though collaborating the thoughts echoed by Kamal are research reports and comparisons of green buildings worldwide. One of the reports by Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj while analysing such intangible benefits, noted, “Green buildings provide better air quality, natural light and an optimal and pleasant indoor environment. Enhanced IEQ (Indoor Environmental Quality) for occupants can be achieved by initiatives like using less toxic interiors, low-emitting adhesives, paints, carpets and composite wood.

Also, illuminating 75-90% of the space with natural light and controlling thermal comfort by better ventilation helped.

These factors are most important in improving the quality of work life and the efficiency of occupiers. It directly translates into improved productivity and decreased ailments for occupants. The productivity loss due to the lack of IEQ is estimated to be $250 billion for US commercial buildings.

However, green buildings tend to reduce the absenteeism rate by 40% and increase productivity by 5%. Therefore, green buildings’ health and productivity gains could be quantified to $130 for each US employee. A similar result can be expected in case of India.”

Green funds which are specially dedicated to invest in green buildings are prevailent abroad and may soon catch on in India.

Well there we have it, enough points to convince most folks to join the green band wagon with great gusto and enthusiasm. However, the only deterrent for many seem to be the additional costs involved in making green buildings.