Why This Will Inspire You To Go Green

Governments today are taking many initiatives to promote the awareness on energy savings,
the concept of Green Building still has to go a long way !rchitects, Building contractors,
engineers, and "uilders are still hesitant to touch upon this su"#ect Why is this so$
Image Courtesy: %eteran photo&#ournalist 'r T( )agara#an*s well documented images on
+%anishing ,omes of India*
While constructing or "uying our living space, we are not giving importance to-
.ost of the life cycle of the "uilding
!vaila"ility and cost of locally availa"le construction material
Benefits of using recycled material
Building performance analysis, after occupation
'otivation
Government regulation and "enefits
When I insisted that my electrical contractor e/plore the possi"ilities of energy efficient 012
lighting system, for my new house at 3ancheepuram, he is not ready to accept that 012 will
save the energy 4urther he argues saying that such materials are not easily availa"le, and it is
going to cost 5 to 6 times higher than conventional lighting, says 'r 3 B Goplakrishnan of
%adapalani There is no information on the life cycle cost of the 012 light readily availa"le
which helps to compare against a conventional "ul"
To run a "usiness esta"lishment, there is capital investment and reoccurring running
e/penditure like, rent, electricity, staff salary, maintenance, security etc This running cost keeps
on increasing every year, due to escalation on various fronts There is constant effort to reduce
the e/pense, to maintain our profit 7ur 0iving spaces also have a similar recurring e/penditure
whose costs also escalate year on year due to various reasons
The initial investment on designing a energy efficient Green Building, the cost of material and
la"or is more or less e8uivalent to 9many cases less than:, what we pay for constructing a
conventional design !n energy efficient design, will significantly save the reoccurring cost on
energy consumption, without compromising 8uality of life of living standard of the occupants
(till many of us will not "e ready to accept this, saving of costs on life cycle 'ost common
arguments are that, the saving is negligi"le, when compared to the pro#ect si;e <ecently we
have all seen and appreciated the veteran photo&#ournalist 'r T( )agara#an*s well
documented images on +%anishing ,omes of India* 9=u"lished "y ,1.!< foundation: 9 <efer
an article on this "ook "y The ,indu dated >?th @an 5A>B
http-CCwwwthehinducomCnewsCcitiesCchennaiCa&story&of&indian&homes&in&
"wCarticleDE>D>B6ece: ,is pictures speak volumes on energy efficient design, living comfort,
style and its "eauty When our ancestors mastered the comforta"le living design, without using
power, can*t we design on saving the energy, with so much technology support$ There are
already many "uilding designed and operational in India, which rely a lot less on commercial
power 9(uch "uilding references are availa"le we" sites like 01129wwwusg"corgF
wwwig"cinF:, G<I,! 9wwwgrihaindiaorg:, B119www"eeindiain: etc
! simple Green "uilding design, will save the electricity consumption "y 6AG If you are paying
<sDAAA 1B charges in a month, 6AG saving for >A years life cycle will work out, with the
calculation of DG cost escalation every year, we will save <s5, 5E,BAAHH
)ot only are we are "enefitted "y cost savings, our living style in natural air and light will
"enefit our health Indirectly, we further save on air conditioner and lighting system
maintenance charges 7n top of this, we will have the self&satisfaction of participating in the
national priorities of energy conservation, ecology, and environmental pollution
,ere we discussed only saving on energy consumed, (imilarly we can is save on water,
material used for construction, waste reduction, cost saving on "uilding maintenance like
painting, cleaning, and get many more "enefits if you have desire to go Green Building