IGBC certified green buildings – its impact on the environment

What is Green Building?

A green building is a sustainably designed building. It is built on the concept of enhancing the efficiency with which buildings and their surrounding sites make use of energy, water, and materials while reducing the impacts on human health and the environment for the entire lifecycle of a building. A Green-building concept is not just confined within the walls of the building but extends to site planning, community and land-use planning issues as well.

Properties (residential or commercial) built on this concept are termed as IGBC certified. The Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) was formed in the year 2001 with the vision “to enable a sustainable built environment for all and facilitate India to be one of the global leaders in the sustainable built environment by 2025”. The IGBC is the country’s premier body for green building certification.

Rating system of IGBC Green Homes

IGBC-certified Green Home is the first rating program developed in India exclusively for residential housing sectors. This includes construction categories like:

• Individual homes
• High rise residential apartments in hyderabad,
• Gated community apartments Hyderabad
• Row houses
• Existing residential buildings which are re-designed in accordance with the IGBC Green Homes criteria

The IGBC rating system addresses green features under these categories:

• Site Preservation & Restoration
• Site Planning & Design
• Water Efficiency
• Energy Efficiency
• Materials & Resources
• Innovation & Design Process

Each rating system is divided into different levels of certification:

1. ‘Certified’ to recognise best practices
2. ‘Silver’ to recognise outstanding performance
3. ‘Gold’ to recognise national excellence
4. ‘Platinum’ to recognise global leadership

Advantages of Green Buildings to the environment

IGBC certified buildings incorporate alternative and sustainable energy sources like solar panels, high-efficiency light fixtures and natural light. The standards for green buildings include features like energy efficiency, less water usage, better indoor air quality, improved acoustics and green roof systems.

These days residential home developers and home buyers have increasingly shifted their focus to green buildings and most of the gated community apartments or villas are IGBC-certified. This maximizes the economic and environmental performance of the building. Honer Vivantis, a luxury gated community apartment project by Honer Homes is IGBC Gold Certified making the best sustainable use of natural resources. 

Here are some positive impacts of Green Buildings to the environment-

Reduce costs 

Installation of solar panels make use of natural light and costs on CFL or LED bulbs get reduced considerably. This also lowers electricity bill.

Green buildings save 15-25% on electricity bills due to its maximum usage of natural light, use of solar heating systems and energy-efficient walls and roofs. 

It also reduces water bills by 10-20% with its low-flow water fixtures and STP treated water that can be used for watering the landscape.  

Value-added homes

Homes with solar panels and water-conservation features increase the value of the property as such IGBC features homes have low maintenance costs too.

Use of sustainable building materials

Green buildings make use of sustainable raw materials that can be reused and recycled at any time. A residential building usually produces a lot of waste throughout its lifecycle. So it is necessary to plan means of waste reduction in its early stages of construction. Green building uses materials that are organically grown, is biodegradable and free of toxins like bamboo, Straw bales, GrassCrete, HempCrete, Recycled Plastic, Wood, Mycelium and Ferrock that leaves room for recycling purpose. Usage of sustainable materials not only reduces environmental pollution but also makes the atmosphere healthy and breathable. 

Improved environmental quality for the indoors

IGBC-certified homes provide a healthy, comfortable and better indoor environment in terms of indoor air quality, ventilation and thermal comfort. 

Reduce Waste streams

A green building is designed to keep the environment clean and produce less waste and reduce the release of harmful gases. This imparts a pollution-free residential community.

Nowadays the government is focussing on the importance of green buildings for the betterment of the environment and to increase individual productivity. When buying a residential property in the future, look for the IGBC-certified feature. With a little knowledge and awareness, we all can contribute to a healthy environment.