15 Sep : The world energy scenario shows that buildings and construction consumes the major share of the global energy. There is a close connection between today’s building designs and the increasing energy crisis, which is rising day by day. However, comfort can also be achieved with less consumption of energy. Thus introduction to sustainable building design measures can make an important contribution to minimize the energy crisis.
Today, India has close to 30 million square ft of green buildings; an amazing achievement given the fact that it had only about 20,000 square ft in 2003 when the movement about green buildings was started. Market estimates take the figure to over 100 million square ft in the next five years, opening big opportunities for the industry.
To discuss the significance of green buildings and the architectural approach towards building green cities, a conference on “Building Green Cities” was held on 15th September, 2009 at Govt. Museum and Art Gallery, Sector 10, Chandigarh.
The conference was organized jointly by the Embassy of Switzerland in India, Indian Institute of Architects Chandigarh Punjab Chapter and Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich.
Mr Surinder Bahga, Chairman of Chandigarh-Punjab Chapter of Indian Institute of Architects adds, “A green building uses less energy, water and natural resources, creates less waste and is healthier for the people compared to a standard building. We should adopt various mechanisms for reducing power consumption substantially in a bid to combat climate change.”
Dr Matia Celio, Science and Technology Counsellor, Embassy of Switzerland expressed that “Sustainable Urban Development” and “Renewable Energy Sources” have been pinpointed by the Swiss and the Indian governments as priority research areas in the programme of cooperation. Besides, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation has very recently signed an agreement with the Indian Bureau of Energy Efficiency for undertaking a joint programme aiming at reducing energy consumption in new commercial buildings in India, notably by utilizing Swiss experience and expertise. Evidence shows that time is ripe and propitious for addressing today’s conference theme: “Building Green Cities”.
The Ambassador of Switzerland HE Mr. Philippe Welti was the Guest of Honour of the occasion. Mr Welti is an Associate Member of the International Institute for Sytrategic Studies (IISS) in London. He publishes in the fields of International Relations, Strategic affairs and on historical and cultural topics. He expressed that today’s conference is a part of an array of events that the Swiss Embassy in India is organizing this year which was specially designated as the ‘Year of Science and Education’. He further spoke about the relevance and importance of sustainable buildings and cities at large in today’s scenario of energy crunch.
In the technical sessions, Prof. Dietmar Eberle from Federal Institute of Technology, Zürich talked about “Resources”. He explained that one of the basic purposes within the architecture is the creation of sustainable buildings. He said, “Their structure is therefore determined by the optimised relationship between skin, development and primary construction. Sustainability means longevity and a reduction of the resources consumption. Besides, buildings should be taken seriously for what they are and as metaphors, in order to produce far-reaching social and emotional acceptance.”
The second technical lecture was by Prof. Daniel Spreng, Centre for Energy Policy and Economics, ETH Zürich. He discussed that in industrialized countries, all activities connected with the construction, maintenance and use of buildings consume about a quarter of the entire energy supply. This is not sustainable. He further emphasized that in developing countries, not only the per capita energy consumption of buildings is much lower, also the fraction of the total energy consumption that is used for buildings is smaller. The low environmental impact of the building stock in developing countries contributes to one aspect of sustainability; however, poor housing conditions are likely to be unsustainable in terms of social sustainability. The talk will show how energy analysis can contribute to the analysis of the sustainability of development and will point to methods of sustainability analyses, based on transdisciplinary work, yet to be developed.
Another presentation was Prof. Gerhard Schmitt, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zürich. He expressed that our ambition should be to develop future-oriented strategies that implement new aptitudes regarding sustainability. Future cities research requires investigations ranging from the micro-scale of building components to the mezzo scale of urban clusters and the macro-scale of mega cities or metropolitan regions—thereby saving energy at all scales. He elaborated on the concept of Science City at ETH, Zurich which is being developed as a role model and various methods and instruments relevant for future cities have been developed in that.
The sessions were chaired by Mr Jit Gupta, Director, Bhaddal College of Architecture, Ropar. He impressed upon that the accelerated urbanization in the Indian context imposes immense pressure on the dwindling energy resources. However, the resource crunch confronting the energy sector can be effectively alleviated if we plan, design and develop human settlements and buildings by using appropriate strategies and incorporating sound concepts of energy efficiency and sustainability.
In the panel discussion, the other panelists were Ar S D Sharma and Ar Manjit Tangri. Ar Sharma emphasized on the sustainable development of the cities in general and the buildings at large. Ar Manjeet Tangri discussed about the ‘Architecture 2030’, a U.S. based group whose mission is to create and quickly respond to, opportunities that shape the dialogue and address the crisis situation surrounding the ‘Building Sector’ and its contribution to global warming.
The vote of thanks was presented by Architect Parveen Chopra. The event was co sponsored by Kohler India Corp. Pvt. Ltd., Ferrari Architectural Textiles, Mumbai and Lubrizol Advanced Materials (I) Pvt Ltd.