Maharashtra mulling over extra FSI for green homes

With a view to encourage green homes, the Maharashtra government is considering providing extra FSI to developers complying with green homes norms
 
According to Valsa R Nair Singh, environment secretary at Maharashtra ministry, “Right now I would not want to step into the subject of giving extra FSI (floor space index) for green homes but we are looking into it.”
 
“The government of Maharashtra is committed and has many plans to encourage Green Homes, by giving both financial and nonfinancial incentives to these projects. We will give top priority in giving environmental clearances to green projects. We would be announcing reduction in the consent fees for building that follow green house norms, and in some cases even waive it. Besides, we will give a longer duration of consent validity for such buildings,” the secretary said at a conference on Green Homes, organized by the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC), part of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). IGBC is spearheading the green building movement in India.
 
The consciousness of the world towards environment is increasing with global warming, climate change, greenhouse gases becoming common words. One of the largest consumption of resources and environmental pollution comes from the construction industry. With Green Homes there’s not just a scope to reduce this resource consumption during construction, but also in the entire lifecycle of the building. Beginning in 2001, the Green Homes movement in the nation has gathered traction, but there’s a need to do more. 
 
Besides the many other advantages, examples of green homes across the country have shown that they lead to energy saving of 40 to 50 per cent and over 20 to 30 per cent saving of fresh water thus leading to a win-win situation for everyone. Talking about this, V Suresh, Chairman, Conference on Green Homes & Principal Executive Officer, HIRCO, said, “The market potential for green building materials, equipment and services in India is US$ 100 bn by 2015. There is a 2 to 5 per cent additional cost for green buildings, but not only do you recover the costs in just a year because of the various savings incurred by such homes; over the years you actually profit from Green Homes. The consumer profits, the community benefits and so does the nation and nature.”
 
Dr Prem C Jain, Chairman, Indian Green Building Council said, “60 per cent building that will exist in the country in 2030, have not even been made yet. The challenge is to make most of them green. The differential price for green homes is coming down and with greater implementation of green homes across the country it will cost the same as a normal home. Why shouldn’t one want a Green Home? Green Homes will also help the nation achieve its goals of reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.”
 
Architect Sharukh Mistry, Past Chairman, IGBC Bangalore Chapter & Managing Director at Mistry Architects, talked about the triple bottom-line for every business activity – planet, people, profit – in that order. “Buildings need to have empathy and consideration for resources. Like nature that is perpetually evolving, green homes cannot be a one-stop-shop. In the next 20 years, we will build more than we have built in the past 60 years. Where will the resources for this come from? We need to ask another fundamental question, how much should an individual and nation consume? Unless we discuss this, we will drain our resources rapidly.”
 
Over 1,50,000 homes are being constructed as per IGBC green home rating system. This was drafted under the leadership of architect Mistry. Throughout the country in various climate zones over a 1,000 buildings are coming up with footprint of 630 million square feet. Besides this, IGBC is also working with GoM in drafting environmental guidelines for Area Development Projects (ADP).
 
With the obvious benefits of green homes, there is a need to accelerate its execution and implementation in the country. This needs a concentrated effort from the government and the construction industry’s side. The government that is committed to promoting the environment friendly cause of Green Homes needs to walk the talk by making all their new buildings green and retrofitting existing buildings as per green building standards. To support green homes, they can fast track clearances for green homes. The key points such as need for a central agency to assess whether green provisions are met by those that claim it was also discussed. The speakers talk about the need for the government to give financial incentives to green homes and subsidize private and community solar and wind energy projects to propagate their spread with regulations that stipulate a little area in every large projects for solar and wind power.
 
The event also highlights that though the environment awareness amidst consumers is spreading, there is a need to promote this awareness further. There is a need for specialized educational courses like a course in environmental engineering to create requisite skill-set that is focused on environment.

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