Rating system for environment-friendly buildings launched

New Delhi, Nov 1 (UNI) A national rating system for assessing the environment-friendliness of a building is in place.

A MoU was today signed between the Energy and Resources Institute(TERI) and the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) for the development and Opertionalisation of the system 'GRIHA' for rating green buildings.

The system would evaluate the environmental performance of a whole building over its entire life cycle, providing a definitive standard for what constitutes a green building.

The rating system, based on accepted energy and environmental principles seeks to strike a balance between the known established practices and emerging concepts, both national and international.

The guidelines/criteria appraisal may be revised every three years to take into account the latest scientific developments during this period.

The GRIHA rating system takes into account the provisions of the National Building Code 2005, the Energy Conservation Building Code 2007 announced by BEE and other IS codes.

The rating would be applied to different types of new buildings, whether commercial, institutional or residential.

The system was initially developed by TERI as TERI-GRIHA has been modified to GRIHA as National Rating System after incorporating various modifications suggested by a group of architects and experts.

Expressing his views on the occasion, Minister of New and Renewable Energy Vilas Muttemwar commended the effort made by TERI in developing the system.

He said MNRE proposes to incentivise the National Rating System with a view to promoting large scale design and construction of green buildings in the country.

Speaking on the occasion, Teri Director General R K Pachauri said the rating system conforms to the building code and guidelines developed by the BEE and MNRE.

''The GRIHA system is a proof that near self-sufficiency in energy is not a utopian idea but a reality cast in brick and mortar.

India needs to devise such technologies customised for the needs of our on people,'' he said.

On a broader scale, this system, along with the activities and processes that lead up to it, will benefit the community at large with improvement of environment by reducing GHG ( greenhouse gas) emissions, improving energy security, and reducing the stress on natural resources.

MNRE will provide a funding for functioning of National Advisory Council (NAC), Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), capacity building and training, and promotion of the rating system as per the scheme provisions of MNRE on Solar Buildings.

This will be approved on yearly basis, and proposals for this will be drafted by GRIHA secretariat.

Some of the benefits of a green design to a building owner, user, and the society as a whole are reduction in energy consumption without sacrificing the comfort levels, check on destruction of natural areas, habitats, and biodiversity, and reduced soil loss from erosion and many more.

Also it implies reduced air and water pollution (with direct health benefits), reduced water consumption, limited waste generation due to recycling and reuse, reduced pollution loads, increased user productivity and enhanced image and marketability.

UNI