Govt to Rope in Major Developers to Promote Green Housing in India

With a view to reduce carbon emissions, the government will soon rope in major real estate developers for voluntary adoption of a set of new guidelines on building low energy consuming green housing complexes. The move is part of the government’s national action plan on climate change.

The ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE) has asked an expert agency set up by it in partnership with The Energy & Resources Institute (Teri) to evolve a set of guidelines on how to build large housing complexes in the most environment friendly and energy efficient way. The new guidelines would include requirements such as meeting about 5% of the energy requirements through renewable sources.

While development of townships is the mandate of the ministry of urban development and partly, the housing ministry and urban poverty alleviation, the proposed green rating for housing complexes is an initiative of MNRE because it is an extension of the projects it is already doing. Officials from other ministries are part of a technical panel of MNRE dealing with green infrastructure for large development. The expert agency—the

Association for Development and Research of Sustainable Habitats or ADARSH—which now gives green ratings for individual buildings, will evolve the new norms for large residential complexes. ‘‘The rating called Griha would be voluntary for builders in the initial few years, after which it could be made compulsory,’’ the rating agency’s CEO Siva Kishan told FE.

The idea is to rope in top five real estate developers to voluntarily adopt the guidelines, which would then set the benchmark for others. The rating agency is now in talks with various developers and the first partnership with a real estate developer may be announced soon, he said. The rating agency is also talking to various state governments for giving incentives to developers to adopt the new norms that would reduce energy consumption and the impact of construction on ground water levels and the environment.

Shiva Kishan said the Maharashtra government is open to reducing property tax for green buildings as an incentive, while some other states are open to let builders construct more floors if they follow green building norms. This would allow them to recoup the rating fee as well as the extra initial cost of environment-friendly construction. The ministry now allows some incentives for individual buildings to get green rated. These include reimbursement of 90% of the rating fee and rewards for the architect.

CFL lamps to prune MCD’s electricity bill

13 Mar 2010 11:35 PM PST; New Delhi

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), which spends Rs 30 crore over electricity bills every year, is planning to adopt energy efficiency measures. It will be replacing the 40W bulbs with retrofit type T5 bulbs and CFL lamps in hospital buildings, office buildings, dispensary and health centres.

A resolution on this was passed in the standing committee meeting. While MCD will spend Rs 2.5 crore in changing its bulbs under phase-I, it said the amount will be recovered in about one year.

According to officials, this will help cut down power consumption by 25-30 %. In terms of power, it will save 3.74 lakh per unit per month and in terms of money it will help save Rs 18 lakh per month and Rs 2.25 crore per year.

Said an MCD official: “We will start by replacing bulbs in hospitals like Hindu Rao and Kasturba Hospital, etc, and the 12 zonal offices. We are taking this step in order to cut down on the amount spent on electricity bills. A survey was done by companies to see where the maximum power was consumed by the agency and since hospitals were one of the major areas where power was being consumed, we decided to start from there.”

According to officials, MCD is also going to write to the World Bank to get carbon credits against this. We have the plan ready and will write to World Bank and Clinton Foundation. According to MCD,all together there are around 2,500 MCD buildings where bulbs will be replaced to save energy besides taking other steps.

Added the official: “The stormwater pumping stations are another area where a lot of power is consumed.Since the pumps installed in these stations are very old we will replace them with new energy efficient pumps.”

MCD launched a new system of remote monitoring and operating streetlights by which sunrise and sunset timings will coincide with switching on and off of streetlights.This will not only conserve energy but will also reduce the amount of carbon dioxide emission in the city. Source: Magic Brick

Maharashtra to reward green buildings

Our Bureau
Mumbai, Feb. 16
From April 1, Maharashtra Government is planning to introduce an amendment in Development Control rules, which will help in adhering to the norms of eco-friendly housing projects in the State, said the Chief Minister, Mr Ashok Chavan, at an industry function on Tuesday.
The government is also planning to offer free FSI to housing projects who will manage to get Zero Energy Certification, he said.
“The need of the hour is to take note of the climate changes recorded, which unfortunately is not encouraging. Hence, the State Government is inclined to introduce legal provisions by April 1 for stricter adherence to eco-friendly projects, more so in the housing sector. At the same time, we also intend to incentivise such initiatives. The incentives will not only be offered to upcoming projects, but also to constructed buildings that initiate eco-housing,” Mr Chavan added.
He said that the Maharashtra Government will soon sign a memorandum of understanding with The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) which will guide the State in conservation of water, electricity, solid waste management and keeping the right balance of industrial growth and environment. Source: Hindu Business Line