Mr Deepak Gupta secretary, ministry of new and renewable energy released the “Draft Guidelines and benchmarks for green large area developments such as townships, neighborhoods, educational and institutional campuses, special economic zones and medical college hospitals.”
The Guidelines have been formulated by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy in association with the Association for Research and Development of Sustainable Habitats, ADaRSH. These guidelines will be useful for developing a campus or a township as a “Green Campus/Township”. The Guidelines include details of various incentives which are available under different schemes of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy for deployment of Solar Hot Water Systems, Roof Top PV System, Waste Recycling for Energy Generation, Solar Power Plants etc while constructing green buildings and green campuses.
The large developments such as townships, educational and institutional campuses, medical colleges and hospitals and special economic zones go beyond building level and several macro issues need to be addressed if they have to be planned in a green way. Some of these issues are socioeconomics, hydrogeology & watershed development, urban ecology, comprehensive energy resource planning with effective utilisation of renewable energy resources, sustainable mobility systems, and project & construction management.
The National Mission on Sustainable Habitats intends to address holistic environment friendly development by harmonising Energy Conservation Building Code with building bye laws, mainstreaming efficient transportation modes and solid waste management programmes. The National Building Code of India is introducing a section on Sustainable Buildings and the Low Carbon Strategies for Inclusive growth spearheaded by the Planning Commission lays a road map for low carbon growth in the country. The Solar Cities program of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy is another flagship initiative to mainstream energy efficient solar cities.
The MNRE is also promoting Green Building and GRIHA Rating System through some promotional incentives under which 117 projects have been registered with 4.98 million sq. m built up area. All Central Government Buildings are to be constructed as green buildings with GRIHA rating. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy is providing financial support for capacity building, awareness, exemption in rating cum evaluation fees, promotional incentives for architects, engineers etc under the scheme.
