GRIHA
NEWSLETTER


October, 2021

Message from CEO

Mr. Sanjay Seth, CEO GRIHA Council

With less than a month to go for the critical climate summit COP26, which will accelerate action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement; I take this opportunity to highlight the steps taken by India to move towards a carbon-neutral future. We have already lowered the energy intensity of our GDP by almost a fourth compared to 2005 levels. At the recent session of the UN General Assembly, India pledged to install 450 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy by 2030, a promising step towards balancing both economy and ecology.

As a part of our sustainability commitments of raising environmental awareness, the annual awards by GRIHA provide recognition to our rated projects which have demonstrated exceptional accomplishments and made significant contributions to the advancement of sustainability in India. Such recognition boosts awareness and encourages the building sector to build greener and better. We invite nominations from projects that demonstrate commitment to the cause of sustainable development for the GRIHA Exemplary Performance Award under different sustainability parameters such as passive architecture design, energy management, sustainable building materials/ technologies, integrated water management and more.

Meanwhile, I am pleased to share that GRIHA activities have, over the last few months, resumed in full capacity and with a vaccinated workforce, we have recommenced on-site due diligence visits across the country. The GRIHA Certified Professional Exam for GRIHA v2019 is now being held online once a month, with the upcoming one scheduled on 22nd October 2021. An upcoming event is the GRIHA trophy at NASA, which is an attempt to imbibe in students’ sensitivity towards the environment and create awareness about the concept of green buildings and sustainable habitat through the GRIHA platform.

While we resume business as usual, for GRIHA, this includes first and foremost, continuous efforts in the developing, adopting, implementing and evaluating of sustainable habitats. With GRIHA v2019 projects gaining traction, we are surely and steadfastly moving towards our goal of a future-ready and sustainable habitat.

Save the Date - The GRIHA Event 2021

Over the years GRIHA Council has been hosting its annual flagship event, The GRIHA Summit to deliberate on issues which are of national discourse in association with national and international entities. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, this year, GRIHA Council is hosting –“The GRIHA Event” on the 10th of December, 2021.

The theme of this year’s GRIHA event is “Restoring a Green Economy”. A green economy is resource efficient, low carbon and socially inclusive. Within this type of economy, income growth and employment is driven by both public and private investments that reduce carbon emissions, enhance resource efficiency and prevent the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services. The overall aim of the transition would be ensuring economic growth and investment while also preserving environmental quality and ensuring social inclusivity. The focus must be on directing our efforts toward leveraging technology to rebuild sustainably.

Exemplary Performance Award

GRIHA Council is organizing “Exemplary Performance Awards”, to recognize the efforts of projects that have met sustainability goals and acknowledges their commitment to the cause of sustainable development. The entries will be evaluated on different sustainability parameters such as Passive architecture design, Energy management, Sustainable building materials/technologies, Integrated water management etc.

We are pleased to witness an overwhelming response for Exemplary Performance Award. On request received from various projects, last date for submission for ‘Exemplary performance award for Existing Building’ has been extended to 22nd October, 2021.

Empanelment of GRIHA Consulting Firms

GRIHA Council offers an opportunity to Green Building Consulting firms to associate through empanelment for being associated with GRIHA Council and promoting the GRIHA rating and its variants PAN India.

Empanelment of GRIHA consulting firm has been developed with an objective of creating a database of firms that are proficient of providing technical support to prospective projects that are registered under any variant of GRIHA.

Interested firms may submit their applications to GRIHA Council. The firms will be empanelled based on specific evaluation criteria. The empanelled consulting firm will be listed on the GRIHA website with their contact details and the link to their websites.

The Energy & Resources Institute, VK:E Environmental LLP and Green Tree Building Energy Pvt. Ltd are empaneled with us.

GRIHA Certified Professional Examination on V. 2019

Registrations for the GRIHA Certified Professional Examination on version 2019 scheduled on 22nd October, 2021are now open. More details such eligibility, examination format; validity and calendar for the year 2021-22 can be referred on https://www.grihaindia.org/griha-community.

SUNREF India providing incentives for GRIHA rated buildings

French Development Agency (AFD) launched the SUNREF (Sustainable Use of Natural Resources and Energy Finance) Green Housing India programme in August 2017, in partnership with the National Housing Bank (NHB) and with the support of European Union (EU). AFD has developed this programme to provide support to develop innovative green investments through environmental credit lines for local financial institutions. The programme includes both extension of technical assistance and credit lines to local financial institutions so that they can finance small and medium-size projects of public and private promoters.

SUNREF Green Housing India will support NHB in providing more funding to the green housing sector by refinancing home buyers and developers of eligible green building projects certified by local labels via banks and Housing Finance Corporations.

Sunref India is providing financial incentive for the projects which are GRIHA and GRIHA AH 4/5 star rated.

GRIHA Council presented a workshop on GRIHA AH (Affordable Housing) on 22nd September for Haryana Housing Board under the SUNREF India affordable green housing. The programme was designed to create awareness on general concepts and processes under GRIHA AH.

SVAGRIHA Four Star Rating awarded to Six Bungalows for Hon. Judges at Nyayamurtinagar High Court Campus

The project has demonstrated 39% of building water demand has been reduced by installing low flow plumbing fixtures and 45.52% of water savings was achieved in landscape water requirement through use of highly irrigation system. Furthermore, 91.96% of the habitable spaces are day lit. LPD of the project is 7.42 W/m2, which is lower than the ECBC specified limit of 7.50 W/m2 for residential buildings.

GRIHA Three Star Provisional Rating awarded to Construction for Upgradation of Thanjavur Medical College

The project has demonstrated 87.56% reduction in energy consumption compared to GRIHA benchmark. 70% of building water demand has been reduced by installing low flow plumbing fixtures. Activated Sludge Process (ASP) type STP of 500kLD capacity has been installed to treat waste water generated on site. Furthermore, 52% of the habitable spaces are day lit and meet the daylight factors prescribed by the National Building Code of India.

New products have been enlisted in the GRIHA product catalogue

Company name: Krrish Product name: Autoclaved Aerated Concrete Block Product typology: Fly-ash bricks/AAC Blocks
Company name: InRain Product name: Inrain Filtration System Product typology: Rain Water Harvesting Filtration Systems

Editor's choice

India on track to achieve 450 GW renewable energy target by 2030: power minister
With the spectre of extreme weather events hovering upon the world, India’s power and new and renewable energy minister Raj Kumar Singh said that India is on track to achieve its renewable energy target of 450 gigawatt (GW) by 2030 at a US India Business Council (USIBC) meeting.

Singh added that electricity distribution reforms and the promotion of open access to the electricity grid will enhance renewable energy consumption.

This comes at a time when India’s push for green energy has borne results, with the country crossing the 100 GW milestone of installed renewable energy capacity. India is running the world’s largest clean energy programme to achieve 175 GW of renewable capacity, including 100GW of solar power by 2022.

Bioplastics - A Sustainable Solution to our Plastic Waste Problem
From packaging in industrial and commercial sectors, to medical application at hospitals, and storage at homes, commercially available plastics (synthetic plastics) have entered almost every sphere of our lives despite the short span of time in human history in which they've existed. "Due to their ease of production, processing, mouldability, almost inert nature, and light weight, plastics have found usage in various fields," said Dr R R N Sailaja, Senior Fellow at the Environment & Waste Management Division of The Energy and Resources Insititute (TERI) Southern Regional Centre in Bengaluru.

However, despite their multitude of uses and conveniences, usage of petroleum-based plastics are accompanied by a range of environmental issues. Dr Sailaja said, "With the host of applications that plastic offered due to its properties, its production boomed. But what we didn't know in all this was how to deal with the waste."

This Unique Mud Hotel Harvests Rain, Has No ACs & Runs on the Sun
Welcome to the 21st year of the 21st century, where many businesses and individuals are focusing on operating buildings in an eco-friendly manner by using solar energy or reducing water usage through Rainwater Harvesting (RWH) systems. However, only a few are focused on following sustainable construction practices. According to reports, construction amounts to 30 per cent of air pollution in India

But, an eight-month-old Chikmagalur-based Sunyata Hotel is a building that has both — sustainable construction while its residents also use eco-friendly practices.

Spread across 6,000 square feet, the hotel was built using eco-friendly bricks made from scratch with minimal cement and concrete. They have installed solar panels to provide electricity, RWH systems to supply water, and earth tunnels to keep their premises cool.

SVAGRIHA Training Programme

As a part of the MoU signed between GRIHA Council and the Indian Institute of Architects, Northern Chapter, a one day training programme on SVAGRIHA (Small Versatile Affordable GRIHA) rating system was conducted on 25th September, 2021.

The training session started with a detailed presentation on various aspects of the rating. It focused on criteria covered under the landscape, architecture, energy, waste; water, materials and lifestyle sections, to enable participants understand the rating system. Subsequently, the participants were also engaged with a hands-on exercise of the online SVAGRIHA tool, to reiterate the simplicity of the tool.

The programme was very well received and was attended 30 practicing architects and was well received. Register your interest for training on GRIHA

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