Green buildings have been in the news for quite a long time now. With each passing day, it is seeing an unprecedented rise among both the sellers and the consumers. The rapid growth of urbanization and energy scarcity in several places in India has made  the energy efficiency a very important issue to look out for the present generation. India is the world’s fourth-largest energy consumer and will likely overtake China soon.

The government has taken some serious and great initiatives o encourage both the builders and the end consumers. Bodies such as Indian Green Building Council (IGBC), Energy Conservation Building Codes (ECBC), Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment (GRIHA)  etc. have been formulated by the government to set up a basic guideline for green building. Prakash Javadekar, Union Minister for Environment and Forests, is leaving no stone unturned to set up a set of standard guidelines for giving environmental clearances to real estate sector.

Formulation of  these bodies and initiatives by Government  are suggestive enough of the potentiality of green building markets. In this regard, comes a good news for green building sector in India. The US Green Building Council (USGBC) has recently announced the findings of the Dodge Data & Analytics World Green Building Trends 2016 SmartMarket Report, in which the USGBC participated as a contributing partner.

According to the report, Green building industry in India is expected to grow by 20 percent in the next three years, mainly on the grounds of environmental regulation and spiraling demand.

The report was conducted in almost 70 countries. Some underlying observations and market predictions of this report are given below:

• The report states that the increase in consumer demand has thrust the world’s green building market to a trillion dollar industry,  which is expected to reach USD 234 billion by 2019
• New high-rise residential, communities and mixed-use development are expected to achieve top three  sectors for green buildings
• The green buildings offer significant operational cost savings compared with conventional buildings. respondents expect 14 percent savings in operational costs over five-year for new green buildings and  13 percent savings  for green retrofit and renovation projects.

Mahesh Ramanujam, COO, USGBC, believes that the growth of LEED reflects its global reach as the world’s most used and adapted system of green building. In India alone there are around 1,990 projects, comprising of more than 822 million sq ft of space, participating in LEED.  

For developers, green certification can have a pivotal  impact on sales of a project. The star benefits, water-saving advantages, energy efficiency and sustainability will surely attract consumers to pay extra bucks for green residences. Green is the future and has a long way to go in the near future. The ‘green building’ prospect seems to be bright in India.

Curated by editor at  Wienerberger India

Source- IndianExpress,  Economictimes

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