Making green block by block

“We want to promote our green products which would be cost-efficient, eco-friendly and help conserve energy,” says Rajiv Upadhyay, COO, Aerocon Blocks & Panels, HIL Ltd.
Since 1999, HIL has been paving the way for new-age building solutions like panels for drywalls partitions and blocks for wall construction. In an interview with ACE Update, Rajiv Upadhyay talks about green buildings and HIL’s unique “five-way green” philosophy.
Role in green buildingsThe 60s witnessed a green revolution in the rural mainland. Three decades later, it was urban India gearing up for a green revolution with a difference. This was all about building solutions. In 1999, HIL Limited kick-started a revolution as a new green alternate conventional building material solution, which comprised of panels and AAC blocks under the banner of Aerocon. The company foresaw the industry trends and paved the way for new-age building solutions like panels for drywalls partitions and blocks for wall construction.
As a company, HIL had adopted a unique “five-way green” philosophy, which ensured that the products and processes are eco-friendly from end-to-end. Today, 30 per cent of its energy needs are met from renewable sources. The company sources green raw materials with a low carbon footprint and processes them using green manufacturing that produces least effluents, by-products and emissions.
The products are green, recyclable and have minimal environmental impact. These products further help in reducing structure cost by 30 per cent. They also have superior insulation and are 100 per cent termite and remain mould resistant.
Essential products for green buildingsAerocon Blocks remains high on the priority list as essential products for green buildings. They are autoclaved aerated concrete lightweight building blocks used for construction of walls. Aerocon Blocks are extremely eco-friendly. Some characteristics that make them stand out are:•   Fly ash, a waste from thermal power plants, is a major raw material for producing these blocks•   Aerocon blocks’ production is 100 per cent recyclable, whereby all its production wastes are recycled and don’t contain any toxic substance which reduces CO2 emission. They also use only one third of the raw materials from mother earth to produce these blocks which helps in minimising environmental impact•   Aerocon blocks have good thermal insulation which reduces energy consumption in the system that results in 25-30 per cent energy savings•  The blocks, due to their low density, reduce the dead load on any structure, thereby providing the opportunity to reduce the steel and concrete usage. This reduction in steel indirectly reduces the requirement of steel as a whole and thus reduces dependence on high energy-intensive steel products.
Aerocon panelsAerocon panels are sandwich panels made of two-fibre reinforced cement sheets enclosing a lightweight concrete core composed of fly ash, cement, sillicaceous and micaceous material aggregate. Aerocon panels are green products as they are energy efficient, made of recycled material, timber free, don’t contain any wood particles and conserve precious natural resources like wood, water, power and so forth. These panels are perfect alternatives for structures using steel reinforced concrete or pre-engineered steel buildings. Hence usage of these panels also reduces the dependence on high-energy intensive steel products.
Trends and opportunitiesThe green building space is expanding rapidly in India. It has come a long way from a single green building in 2001 to 2,204 green buildings in 2013. According to the Indian Green Building Council, this is further expected to witness a surge to 1 lakh buildings by 2025, indicating the demand for green building materials. Government initiatives coupled with the current market scenario conducive to infrastructure growth with a special focus towards “green”. As the world steps into a new generation, Aerocon Blocks & Panels aims to play a prominent role in the building solutions. It is poised to be a leader in the AAC blocks and panel market. The infrastructure market today wants materials which are faster to construct, cost-efficient and green. Therefore, HIL is primarily focusing to create awareness for panels across markets in India for dry-wall solutions and its diverse applications like partitions, prefab structures, mezzanine flooring, cladding fire separation walls and many more.
HIL is also focusing on the government’s endeavour towards creating low-cost housing and “Swachh Bharat Abhiyan” movement. The company wants to promote its green products which would be cost-efficient, eco-friendly and help conserve energy. HIL has also aligned with a few agencies to provide low-cost toilets for rural India. HIL looks forward to being the green partner of the government in providing low-cost housing material which is not only green, but also beneficial in terms of energy conservation.

8