About

A two-day conference on 'Innovations in Sustainable buildings' by TERI was organized in association with ADaRSH (Association for Development and Research of Sustainable Habitats) on 15 and 16 November, 2013 in Bangalore.The conference was attended by more than 100 participants, including architects, employees of public works departments, international agencies, financial institutions, state nodal agencies, public sector units, and educational institutions.

The first day of the conference focussed on the theme, Green cities: To attain sustainability, sustainable tourism, and how green are green products'. The second day focussed on 'Sustainable and affordable housing: Less is more'; 'Green data centres and new technologies'; 'Can green buildings sell faster?'. These sessions were followed by a panel discussion on 'Career options in sustainable habitats'.

The conference witnessed the presence of eminent luminaries including Mr K Jairaj, Former Additional Chief Secretary; Dr Ashwin Mahesh, CEO, Mapunity; Mr P R Dasgupta, Distinguished Fellow and Director, TERI, Southern Regional Centre; Ms Mili Majumdar, Director, Sustainable Habitat Division and Secretary, ADaRSH, TERI; Prof Krishna Rao Jaisim, Architect, Jaisim-Fountainhead; Mr Rohan Parikh, Infosys; Mr Niranjan Khatri, ITC Welcome Group; Ms Chitra Vishwanath, Biome; and Mr Satya Prakash Varanashi, Sathya Consultants.

Welcoming the delegates, Mr P R Dasgupta emphasized that GRIHA - a tool developed by TERI as an evaluation tool - would find wide acceptance. Dr R K Pachauri, Director-General, TERI, gave his inaugural address through video conference. He highlighted the fact that Bangalore is the third largest city in India where the decadal population growth has been 37 per cent and the building growth has taken place exponentially. This provides sufficient and compelling reasons to reduce energy and water consumption in buildings.

The conference had a parallel exhibition on green materials and technologies. The exhibition had various technologies on display that are relevant to green buildings, insulation material for building envelope, high performance glass, efficient cooling systems, low emitting paints, high albedo coatings, smart utilities, lighting technologies, and renewable energies were the categories. The exhibition was well received by the participants.