Vice President of India urges Finance Commission and local bodies to encourage green Buildings

 He also wanted all states to create online portals to provide single window clearance to green buildings.

Virtually inaugurating the 12th GRIHA (Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment) Summit, organized by the GRIHA Council from Hyderabad today, the Vice President said that India has the potential to lead the Global Green Building Movement and emphasized the need to promote green building concept by both the private sector and the government.

Recognizing that there is a lack of awareness among people about the green building concept, he also called for the launch of a mass media campaign on the advantages of building green homes. “Green buildings movement should become people’s movement”, Vice President said.

Quoting the World Green Building Council data, the Vice President said that buildings and construction account for 39% of energy-related CO2 emissions in the world and called for accelerating the process of total de-carbonization of the built environment. Noting that “Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan” envisions making India self-reliant in all spheres, the Vice President re-emphasised the need for sustainable development and wanted awareness to be increased among the people in this regard.

The Vice President wanted every future building to go green mandatorily and said that this should apply to all kinds of building. Not only new buildings, the existing buildings too have to be retrofitted to make them environment-friendly, he added. Observing that our ancient civilization values teach us to live in harmony with nature, the Vice President called for revisiting our traditional and nature-friendly house designs refined over thousands of years by our ancestors. “Unfortunately, our modern structures are such that no sparrow can come and make a nest in our house. This is not our culture” he said.

Warning that climate change is real and impacting us, Venkiah  Naidu called for a balance between economic development and environmental protection. Economy and ecology can coexist if one respects nature, he said.

Noting that least half of the country’s population will live in towns and cities by 2050, the Vice President said that this will create a lot of pressure on housing sector and green solutions will have to be developed to meet the emerging needs. Opining that the roof cooling should be an area of priority for all, Venkiah  Naidu said that in India, over 60 percent of roofs are made from metal, asbestos, and concrete - thus trapping heat inside buildings and contributing to heat island effect in urban areas.

 Observing that cool roofs offer a simple and a cost-effective solution that can lower indoor temperatures by 2 to 4 degrees Celsius as compared to traditional roofs, the Vice President said that these can be very effective for low-income households and slums in urban areas. Stating that need for air conditioners is expected to rise substantially with improvement in living standards and rise in temperatures due to global warming, he said that Cool roofs can reduce the heat stress in homes and offices and bring down the dependence on air conditioners.

 Praising the work done by GRIHA, VP said that since its inception, it has been a catalyst for the widespread adoption of green development in India and congratulated GRIHA Council on the launch of the upgraded version of its rating system, the GRIHA Version 2019. He also expressed happiness over the fact that despite the pandemic, GRIHA Council has continued in its endeavours to promote the sustainability agenda and has developed the Building Fitness Indicator (BFI) tool - a free-to-use self-assessment tool that allows organizations to measure the preparedness of workplaces to prevent exposure to COVID-19.

On the occasion, he  launched three e-publications of GRIHA Council.

Union Urban Development Minister,  Hardeep Singh Puri, President of GRIHA Council, Dr. Ajay Mathur and CEO, GRIHA Council, Sanjay Seth were among the dignitaries who participated in the virtual event.(Hindusthan Samachar Hyderabad Ratna Chotrani  )