Case Study: The Green Building Paradigm and ECBC in India Background Energy conservation is a key for India

with its power and energy shortages. To provide a boost to energy conservation activitie,The Indian Parliament passed the Energy Conservation Act 2001, in 2001. The Energy Conservation Act deals with several mandatory as well as promotional measures relating to: Designated consumers (energy intensive industry, commercial buildings and establishments). Equipment and appliance standards and labeling Energy conservation building codes for new commercial buildings with connected load of 500 kW or contract demand of 600 KVA and above. Research and development, training and capacity building. The Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE),an autonomous body under Ministry of Power was set up in 2002 under the act with the following objectives. Provide a policy framework and direction to national energy conservation and efficiency activities. Co-ordinate policies and programme on energy efficiency and conservation with stakeholders. To establish energy measurement, monitoring and verification protocol. To leverage multi-lateral, bilateral and private sector support in implementation of Energy Conservation Act and efficient use energy and its conservation. To demonstrate delivery of energy efficiency services as mandated in Energy Conservation Act through public private partnership. To plan, manage and implement energy conservation programmes as per Energy Conservation Act. With high and increasing energy consumption in buildings, about 149 billion units, energy conservation in buildings is one of the priority area. The regulatory and promotional functions assigned to BEE under the Energy Conservation Act includes development of energy conservation building codes. In order to execute the functions, it is empowered to, BEE has formulated an action plan for carrying out its activities. The thrust areas which are related to the buildings are a) thrust area no. 4: Energy efficiency in buildings and establishments b) thrust are no. 5: Energy conservation building code. The objective of green buildings is to reduce the overall impact of the built environment on human health and the natural environment. Though its concept is being rapidly popularized in India, there are still a few hurdles that prevent mass scale adoption by project developers. The aim of a green building design is to minimize the demand on non-renewable resources, maximize the utilization efficiency of these resources, when in use, and maximize the reuse,

recycling, and utilization of renewable resources. India has seen strong economic growth in recent years. In 2007, its gross domestic product was US$1.1 trillion on a nominal basis. Construction is a major economic driver in India.According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the buildings sector accounted for the largest share of Indias final energy use between 1995 and 2005. In 2005, this sector consumed 47% of the total final energy use. Residential buildings accounted for the lions share (93%) of the total building energy use the same year. However to steer global commerce onto a more sustainable path; the green, energy efficient building concept can prove invaluable for India and need to be addressed with a more collaborative approach. Development of ECBC Under its statutory authority, BEE has developed a draft Energy Conservation Building Code in India. The Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC) 2006 has been developed by the International Institute for Energy Conservation (IIEC) under contract with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) as a part of the Energy Conservation and Commercialization (ECO) Project providing support to the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) Action Plan. The purpose of this code is to provide minimum requirements for the energy-efficient design and construction of buildings. It is planned that the code shall be mandatory (once enforced) for commercial buildings or building complexes. The process of development of ECBE involved extensive data collection and analysis regarding building types, building materials, equipments like Air conditioning, lighting etc. common in India. Further, the code takes in to consideration the climatic condition.There are 5 distinct climatic zones in India and the ECBC take in to account these climatic zones in case of Building envelop design. The Base case models were then developed for buildings in these climatic zones with identification of options for energy conservation in different building systems viz: envelop, lighting, air conditioning, power, hot water. The development of ECBC had participation of all four major stakeholders: Use, Government and NGOs, Industry and Financing institutions. It is proposed to make the ECBE mandatory for all new building that have a connected load of 500 kW or greater or a contract demand of 600 kVA or greater. The code is also applicable to all buildings with a conditioned floor area of 1,000 m2 (10,000 ft2) or greater. The code is recommended for all other buildings. The present ECBC is first such effort in India and thus the ease of implementation has been a criteria while designing the code.The draft energy efficient building code thus developed has been circulated to all stakeholders, mainly the sate government agencies for their feedback. The involvement of state agencies was critical as the implementation would be through state agencies as well as the state government, in consultation with BEE, can modify he code to suit the region. The comments from all the stakeholders have been incorporated. The ECBC thus has been finalized and planned to be launched on 26th May 2007. The provisions of ECBC The building code has provisions for Building envelopes, except for unconditioned storage spaces or warehouses.

 Mechanical systems and equipment, including heating, ventilating, and air conditioning. Service hot water heating. Interior and exterior lighting Electrical power and motors. Steps towards sustainable path Recognizing that energy use and air pollution are important issues in Indias buildings, Indian government enacted the Energy Conservation Act (ECA 2001), which promotes energy efficiency and conservation domestically. ECA 2001 mandated the creation of the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), authorizing BEE to establish an Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC). Under BEE, National Building Code of India (NBC) first issued in 2005, but the issues of energy efficiency were marginally addressed. However, in 2007, the Ministry of Power and BEE issued ECBC the first stand alone national building energy code in India. While it is currently voluntary, ECBC establishes minimum energy efficiency requirements for building envelope, lighting, HVAC, electrical system, water heating and pumping systems. To develop ECBC, BEE collaborated with a diverse group of domestic and international technical experts. Nonprofit organizations like The Indian Green Building Council (IGBC), The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) are actively promoting green buildings in India. Promotion for a whole-building approach to sustainability by addressing performance in the following five areas: Sustainable site development Water savings Energy efficiency Materials selection Indoor environmental quality.

In addition, LEED-India has adopted several benchmarks for building performance. The rating levels Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Certified indicate the extent to which a building excels the requirements of the national codes. Over last few years, IT/ITeS has been the primary contributor in the acceptance and development of go green philosophy. A case in point is Turbo Energy Limiteds (TEL) R&D and Administration block in Paiyanur, Chennai, which has been certified by LEED as the greenest building in India and 2nd greenest in the world. Other prominent green projects would include ITC Green Centre (Gurgaon), IGP Office Complex (Bengaluru), Kalpataru Square (Mumbai) and CII-Godrej Green Business Centre (Hyderabad), though the concept is yet to catch on a wider basis. Also a key supportive role is shown by Indias biggest bank, SBI is offering concessions on constructing green developments (lower upfront margin up to 5-10%, and reduction in interest rate by 0.25%) that could start similar trend across industry.

Barriers in Code implementation In consultation with IIEC, the agency that developed the energy conservation code and are involved in facilitating the implementation process, the following were identified as barriers to code implementation: Technical barriers: The market for the energy efficient products (glazing , chillers, insulation) is still not developed and product availability to meet the code requirements is a major barrier. Associated barrier is inadequate testing facilities to certify products as per code requirement. The technical capabilities of code implementing agencies are not adequate to support code implementation and verification. There is lack of knowledge among designers to analyze designs based on code requirements. Energy simulation capability to quantify savings based on energy efficiency parameters as defined by the code is very limited. The building construction industry (contractors, services providers) are not geared to apply these measures practically on site. The energy conservation act empowers the state government to amend the energy conservation building codes to suit the regional and local climatic conditions. This provision may in longer run lead to large deviations from the ECBC that has been developed by the BEE. This may lead to confusion among builders/developers/designers/confusion Institutional barriers: Although there are state designated agencies for code implementation, the institutional framework to support the same is yet to be in place.There is no defined mechanism within the states, as to how the code shall be enforced. Financial barriers: As initial boost on promotion of energy efficient products and services is required in form of import duty relaxation, reduced tax , excise duty . The government could play a major role in realizing the same. Some challenges in mass scale adoption of sustainable architecture in India With recent drive initiated by private and government stakeholders, green building development is expected to pick up momentum in India as illustrated in a survey by DTZ showing one million square feet of land down under green concept under different benchmarks specified by LEED. But along with these milestones there are some hurdles in the path of energy conservation addressed below which are to be resolved. Implementation First and foremost requirement is the implementation of ECBC.Till now, ECBC is currently voluntary, but in the future, either the central or state governments should decide to adopt it as a mandatory standard. No states have adopted it yet. BEE is working closely with national and state-level government agencies to promote ECBC.Once ECBC becomes mandatory at either the central or state level, one can assume that the implementation and enforcement approach will be similar to that employed for other mandatory building codes. Though the draft ECBC mentions that the code would be mandatory for certain type of buildings, with above mentioned barriers it is expected that these would be implemented on voluntary basis initially. Based on the experience of implementation, the would be made

mandatory as well as scope would be increased in terms of types of building as well as building systems covered under the code. To help the implementation of ECBE, various facilitative measures are being undertaken/planned by the BEE. These include The energy conservation awards scheme Awareness generation and training related activities Capacity building of State and Municipal implementing agencies Design Manuals, Software, and Training and Technical support for Architects, Engineers, and Code Officials Awareness programs for building owners, designers,and users Lack of seriousness and leadership All these initiatives towards conservation measures taken by the government remained as an appendix to the long term energy policy (if there was any!). All the measures taken were reactive to certain events, not proactive by nature. The establishment of the BEE in March 2002, coincided with the Rio+10 summits at Johannesburg. Moreover, even after three years of its formation, BEE remained almost non operational. Until September 2005, it did not even have a full time head! A more mobility is needed from administration side so that long term goal for India as an energy efficient, developed economic giant can be traced on realistic grounds even if in short term we have to pay for it. Awareness for global Marketing needs Signs of improvement in the energy intensity figures were only observed with the opening up of the economy during the last one and half decades. Increased competition both at home and abroad, has compelled the business leaders to look into alternative options to save energy cost. In this new century, when most of the industries were gearing up to boost exports, they realized that the cost of energy was robbing off their competitive edge in the international market. In India, the cost of power has escalated three fold in the last ten years. This probably can explain better why the green buildings which are estimated to reduce energy cost by 40% are likely to be the fighting front in the global markets. Addressing with economics perspective Arnulf Grubler recently wrote in Environment, To minimize environmental impacts by significant orders of magnitude requires the blending of good engineering with good economics as well as changing consumer preferences. Recent experiences, provides a valuable lesson on how to avoid the common pitfall of green buildings myopia. While noble, the benefits of the concept appealed to only the deepest green niche of consumers.The vast majority of consumers, however, will ask, If I use green building concept, whats in it for me? In practice, green appeals are not likely to attract mainstream consumers unless they also offer a desirable benefit, such as cost-savings or improved product performance.

Conclusion Therefore, ways to fulfill consumer needs and interests beyond what is good for the environment are needed to be deciphered. Efforts in crafting effective green marketing and product strategies are the leading ways to achieve the concept. Moving on, it is expected that the trend of green building would see better acceptance and implementation in India, but a collaborative approach not only from the government perspective but from the industries, real estate firms, nonprofit organizations and most importantly from the general mass is required to blow away the tag of energy inefficient country from India.