Manoj Godara, 17th Jan., Chandigarh: The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Govt. of India in association with Chandigarh-Punjab Chapter (C-PC) of the Indian Institute of Architects (IIA) organized a one day Symposium on ‘Urban Sustainability and Green Buildings’ on 17th January, 2010 at Govt. Museum and Art Gallery, Sector 10, Chandigarh. This was a part of awareness program of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Govt. of India, which is providing technical and financial support to the states for implementation of various energy efficiency demo projects like seminars/workshops/training courses etc. It was attended by about 300 architects, planners, engineers and students of these disciplines from Chandigarh, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, etc.
The focus of Symposium was on increasing awareness about efficient use of energy and its conservation not only in building design but the design of the cities as well.
President of IIA Mr. Vinay Parelkar was the Chief Guest. He highlighted the fact that 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. Buildings can be designed on passive heating and cooling concepts.”
Ar Surinder Bahga, Chairman of the C-PC of IIA said, “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.”
Other prominent speakers included Architect-Planner Jeet Malhotra, who elaborated upon Environmental Planning Unit.
Engineer RK Kaura, Secretary General of Solar Energy Society of India stressed on need of role of architects in harnessing Solar Energy.
Jit Gupta, Director, College of Architecture Bhaddal, highlighted on planning sustainable cities and designing green buildings. Architect–Planner Archana Chaudhary spoke on Energy Efficient Building Materials. She explained, “Environment-friendly and energy-efficient buildings are increasingly becoming popular and may grow over three times in the next five years, thereby offering new opportunities to the construction industry.” Er AC Verma, Principal Director, Military Engineering Services’ topic was related to saving energy in designing building services. MS Miianwall, Member, Board of Governors of PEDA had chaired the technical sessions. He spoke about the use of three E’s (Energy, Environment, Education) for the benefit of people of the country.