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Green rating is the term used by Indian architects for a self-sustaining, energy efficient home. If any home is rated as ‘green’ by any of the 3 Indian green rating systems (GRIHA, IGBC or BEE), there is no second thought on how healthy, effective and comfortable the house owner’s lifestyle is. Architect Onal Kothari shares the key considerations for green homes.
- Sustainable site development: For a home to be sustainable it needs to pass questions like how effective your structure is responsive to the site typology and vegetation, how effective it blends with the natural surrounding and how effectively it is designed for differently abled. These are important factors.
- Water management: Applications like rain water harvesting, water metering, irrigation systems, waste water management are factors that make a house self-sustaining, different and gives it a green rating.
- Energy efficiency: The energy consumed by homes should be less and efficient. This concept is never new to Indians as we were aware of green building concepts. There are conventional concepts like baked red colour roof tiles, clay made walls and building technology with naturally available materials like clay, wood, jute ropes, etc in the country.
- Material selections: If you have decided to change the way the facade looks or change your existing interiors, make sure you purchase eco-friendly products. Replacing waste emitting materials with environment friendly things should be the first step towards green design.
- Indoor environment quality: Enhanced air quality, excellent day lighting, comfort, health and wellbeing of the occupants not only assure the home to get a green rating but also enhance the marketability of the project. The indoor quality of a home is rated based on its daylight treatment, fresh air ventilation, smoke control, good exhaust system, low VOC materials and building flush out.