Green building practices need all around involvement from major stakeholders

“Coming years are hopeful as we expect clearer political intention to implement environmental practices in all major sectors,” says Biswajit Roy, Manager – Building Solution, U.P Twiga Fiberglass Ltd.
In the month of May, it was reported that the new civic headquarter of Navi Mumbai which claims of being a low-maintenance green building had to pay a surprising amount of more than ` 30 lakhs to Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Co. Ltd.
The civic administration had sworn to deploy latest technology to reduce power consumption within the new building premises. However, this occurrence has raised questions on understanding on ‘low maintenance’ and ‘eco-friendly’. It also raises questions if green building practices are actually implemented by the management. Biswajit Roy gives his insights on green building practices.
Green building is an emerging topic in India, do you think it is actually being implemented?Green building features are getting implemented in the commercial projects with bigger capacity and hence most office complexes, cyber parks, hotels and hospitals are generally more environment friendly than before. However, the green building movement is not much present in residential sector specially large-scale group housing projects that are comprising larger pie of the building stock in India.
What are the major obstacles in employing green building practices? I think all around involvement from major stakeholders like architect, manufacturer, installer, energy simulator etc. is necessary which is missing at present. Custom-made product solution, right application, and quality compliance is the key area where we need to work upon.
What are the initiatives taken by your company to promote growth of green building practices? We manufacture and supply thermal and acoustic insulation for buildings. For almost all possible building insulation application, we have formulated our product and application technique. Insulation areas like RCC-under-deck, cavity masonry wall, metal building insulation, dry construction etc, need different kind of application techniques and different set of tools and accessories.
In green building projects we try to closely work with architect to promote right product and application methodology. In this regard sometimes we tailor make the product to address specific thermal (U-value) and acoustic criteria and during implementation interact and occasionally supervise to ensure most efficient installation.
Please mention the range of green products your company offers. We offer a range of products which include Insulation for building envelope, Energy efficient roof, wall and facade. Twiga Insul helps to comply with Energy Conservation Building Code -2007(India) recommended U-values or R-values for 12 or 24 hour-buildings. Products like faced and un-faced fiberglass wool insulation boards are suitable for underdeck, cavity wall, wall lining and facade assembly.  Insulation for HVAC is another product, It is recommended for duct wrap and pipe insulation for central air conditioning systems. Aluminium or special polypropylene faced flexible blankets are used as duct thermal along with compatible sealing system.
Twiga also provide flexible insulated or un-insulated ducts and prefabricated non metallic duct boards against conventional metal ducting plus insulation. AHU room, mechanical room and duct acoustic lining can have Twiga Insul fiberglass wool acoustic boards with laminations like tissue or woven glass textile.  We have Insulation for drywall partition. Low density resilient fiberglass wool helps to achieve high acoustic isolation in dry wall partition without increasing the load in the assembly. Different acoustic tests as per international standards established the compatibility of Twiga Insul with drywall system/products of various manufacturers. We also have insulation for pre engineered factory buildings and light gauge or pre-fabricated structures (e.g. low cost housing).Tough and flexible insulation blankets of customised lengths with special facing and tabs are applicable for metal building roof and wall insulation. The product is easy to handle, install and meets best thermal, acoustic and fire safety features.
What are the Government policies which push the subject of green buildings? Ministry of Power has formed Bureau of Energy Efficiency to address the need of energy conservation. BEE made Energy conservation building code in 2007 and also conducted several workshops, pilot programs to implement energy efficient features in buildings. Ministry of Non and Renewable Energy also has taken several steps to reduce consumption of fossil fuel. New building projects under central government are now coming up with green or energy efficient features and apply for local green ratings. Central Public Works Department (CPWD) are mainly working with organisation like The Energy Resource Institute (TERI) to implement these green features in the buildings.
According to you, to what extent will green building practices gain efficiency in coming years? Coming years are hopeful as we expect clearer political intention to implement environmental practices in all major sectors. The target reduction of energy intensity of GDP is quite challenging and need very focused and synergic approach.

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