Green building's life size replica unveiled

The life size model of a green building called SPARSH was inaugarated here by Power Secretary P.K. Pujari on Monday.

Launched by the Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment (GRIHA), SPARSH has been designed to enhance the user experience of a "green building".

According to a statement by the GRIHA Council, SPARSH "is an effort to bring an economically viable and structurally sound green building option to the masses. The cost of building a structure of any size on the SPARSH platform would be much less than the cost of traditional building of an equivalent size with similar amenities".

GRIHA, developed by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) together with the New and Renewable Energy Ministry, has been endorsed as the national rating system for green buildings in India in 2007. It is an indigenous green building rating system developed specifically to suit Indian climate and construction practices.

"SPARSH is a brilliant initiative to integrate green technologies for efficient green buildings. This would chart the way forward for all the future green buildings and address the issue of energy security and energy efficiency, as well," Pujari told reporters at the inauguration.

--IANS

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