India to show world way on 'star-rated' green homes

Indian Bureau of Energy Efficiency has developed star rating programme for buildings

Time is not too far when you would be living in a 'five or three-star home', certified by the government recognizing its energy efficiency.

The Indian Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), under the ministry of power, has developed the star rating programme for buildings which is based on the actual performance of a building in terms of its specific energy usage in kilo watt hour per square metre a year.

As per the programme, office buildings are given ratings from 1-5 star based on their energy efficiency.  Soon, this is likely to be applicable for homes too.  The rating is as per the Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC) by BEE.

Though implemented on a voluntary basis, many government offices like Yojna Bhavan (3 star), the Reserve Bank of India offices in Delhi, Orissa and Kerala too hold star ratings. The rating looks into operational characteristics like building use, hours of operation, climatic zone and conditioned space.

During last week's Clean Energy Ministerial, India indicated the future course of the programme. Energy ministers from 23 nations took part in the fourth CEM.

"India hinted at moving towards giving star rating for homes, to boost green building efforts," said an official.

Executive director of the International Energy Agency Maria van der Hoeven batted for more “visibility” on green energy initiatives by member countries. Following which the idea of giving “star rating” for homes came up for discussions.

Responding to this, the planning commission of India Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia indicated that India has already taken steps toward the concept star homes and has started implement the “starring process first on government buildings”.

As an effort towards green buildings, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) through Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) is into building of green homes which utilizes less water, optimizes energy savings, consumes less natural resources, brings better access to daylighting and has enhanced construction management.

According to CII, these homes can have energy savings to the tune of 30 - 40% and water savings to an extent of 20 – 30% over conventional homes. This also fit into the ECBC standards of BEE. IGBC has so far done 667 green home projects, while 1,957 registered green building projects are there.

Recently, the Godrej Bhavan in South Mumbai captured attention through its green initiatives, there by cutting its electricity costs by 28%.