The time for voluntary compliance and incremental rise in energy saving is long gone,
Afriend called me on a Sunday afternoon.He had little to ask of me but to share his dismay at the relentless pace of construction everywhere in every city,big or small."I think it is far too late to hope for a reversal,"he moaned.There was another architect who wryly observed at a recent green workshop,which was rated to be the city's greenest: "How come this large conference hall has these energy-intensive metal halide bulbs A simple combination of CFLs and LEDs will drop the energy in this room by nearly 50%."
Another senior architect who has been working in a few cities in India said at a recent gathering of facility management professionals: "Who,just who,are these architects who design and devise these glass and metal curtains for buildings Can't they understand that by sealing the building they are increasing the temperature by at least 7 degrees in our warm and humid conditions Can't they see that these buildings double the airconditioning loads"An oft-quoted 2009 report of The Times of India's Mumbai edition comes to mind: "Airconditioners consume nearly 1,000MW of the 2,700MW power used daily by the city."The figure is not any different in Bangalore - with the surge in business,55% of the city's commercial energy is devoured by centrally airconditioned buildings that have been built in the last 12 years or so.
For nearly the whole of the year,barring 4-5 weeks in April-May,Bangalore has really no need for airconditioning even to this day.This despite the unbridled growth in population and growth concentrated in specific areas alone,which increases the heat island effect.But look at some of the dense pockets of commercial constructions for the back-office callcentre business,and you'll see the sort of heat-generating buildings that have risen chock-a-block in Whitefield or off the old airport road.The heat that these buildings and the airconditioners spew is absorbed by each of these neighbouring towers while the chiller plants work overtime to cool the interiors!
After two days of deliberation at a recent gathering of facility management professionals,who had got together to see how they could combat the combined legacies they are given by architects,service professionals,and contractors,one thing emerged clearly: building green is not something that will happen with these pleas for voluntary compliance.Mandatory provisions are is about the only way to make the building industry and all its stakeholders - from developers to consumers - toe the line.
That's a harsh conclusion,but the experience of a few sensible industry professionals bear this out.The government's own perception for long has been that offering latitude to industry does not increase responsible behaviour.So,how can the government bring in legislation on a few things that our homes need,and a few other things that our commercial buildings need,without its demonstrable inability to monitor implementation,coming in the way
If you take an overview of such abuse beyond our big cities and in our small towns,you will see how daunting the challenge is going to be ahead of us.But there are some solutions - all that the town planning authorities across our district and taluk headquarters as well as our big cities have to do is to ensure that anyone who wants to build a house or an apartment has the following mandated on the 'sanction drawing' itself.This must ensure that builders,end users and companies do not secure occupancy certificates without having implemented:
CFLs for all houses in the interior
LEDs for all common lighting on the exterior
Solar water-heating systems with electric backup only in the toilets of the homes
Individual UPS for backup for every home if it's an apartment or an individual home An STP setup in a way that the treated water is used for flush tanks and car wash,which means that the quality of water treated has to be higher than what is mandated today Aerators and flow restrictors in taps such that the water flow is a minimum 7 litres per minute Rainwater harvesting with the harnessed water used for charging bore wells or for car-wash and gardens A law that will ensure no kitchen waste is sent out of every home,be it a standalone or part of an apartment block Spot fines for washing cars by a hose pipe;washing must be done by a water bucket These simple provisions in the law will bring a sharp drop of over 50% in the demand for fresh water and for energy in any city.What's important is that these laws should be enforceable for existing homes too.That's a tough challenge considering that most regulations are only prospective and can't,for some reason,be made retrospective.And the government should not be cowed down by 'noise' from the articulate middle class who usually manipulate resistance with clever use of the media.
We have seen that every time: the backlash of responses to the rainwater harvest legislation in Bangalore is one such recent instance - it put the state government on the back foot and slowed the implementation of the law.
