Bangalore Real Estate goes 'Green'

Bangalore: Hotshot workforce, congenial climate and urbane demeanor are the factors responsible for the city?s bombastic advancement that brought Bangalore under the ultra bright spotlight in the whole Asia. Growth was prodigious but en route of evolution, the city forgot the inadequacies and harm it had cultivated. The shortage of water and electricity were the main consequences and pollution dominated the air of Bangalore. But with problem comes solution and thus arrived the concept of green building.

Green buildings anticipates a new approach to save water, energy and material resources in the construction and maintenance of the buildings and can reduce or eliminate the adverse impact of buildings on the environment and occupants.

Bangalore, like many cities around the globe is dealing with an acute water shortage since its population has grown exponentially from 5 million in 2001 to 8.5 million in 2011 (a growth rate of 65 percent). Most of the lakes have dried up and the ground water level has fallen from 90 feet to 1,000 feet.

Rain water harvesting and recycling of water, a green feature part of the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification process, has been made mandatory by the city corporation for all new constructions of 1,200 sq ft plot or higher and all existing buildings on plots of 2,400 sq ft or higher. The rain water harvested can among other things, recharge the ground water level, be used for landscaping, washing cars, flushing, etc. A collection system can yield 2,358 litres of water from 1 inch of rain on a 1,000 square feet roof. Bangalore receives 3,000 million litres of rain annually which can go a long way in reducing the water shortage if harvested.

Construction accounts for approximately 40 percent of the global energy consumption. The office real estate stock in Bangalore is expected to reach 100 million square feet by 2016-17. The residential market adds 3 sq ft for every 1 sq ft of office space added to the city and one can only imagine the rate of growth the city is facing. In such a backdrop, it is imperative that the construction industry follows the 3 Rules of green buildings.

• ?Renewable material usage such as bamboo, fly ash etc.
• ?Recycled materials/resources usage and reuse of buildings.
• ?Regionally sourced materials usage such as granite, clay bricks, etc, which are readily available in and around the city.

IT companies and some high end residential developments have done a praisable work in monitoring energy consumption via Building Management Systems (BMS) and using various efficient ways and means of streamlining energy expenditure such as hybrid cooling systems for air-conditioning, solar powered landscape lighting, using low energy consuming LED light fixtures, high controllability of lighting/ventilation and sensors to monitor usage.

Also the city is developing an efficient light transit metro system across the city that will contribute in reducing the carbon footprint by encouraging people to use public transport. Bangalore needs to be in the forefront of such green initiatives since research shows that builders received higher rentals and capital gains because of the lower operational cost and higher productivity of employees working in a green building.

The city is setting up an example. Few other cities have also initiated their environment friendly building plans. However Bangalore needed this most and hence following the green building concept to make the city better and beautiful.

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Source: http://www.bharatestates.com/blog/index.php/9942-bangalore-real-estate-goes-green/

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