Making Buildings Energy-efficient

By Author: Loknath Swain
Total Articles: 22
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Energy efficient buildings demand less energy, and less water. Also, these buildings produce less waste from its occupants. Therefore, energy efficiency norms should be made an important part of building codes.

But normally, in our search for implementing the codes we lose sight of the fundamentals and scuttle basic objectives that the building sector needs to be pursuing. It is clear that we want such efficiency as the ECBC (Energy Conservation Building Codes) demands, to be achieved in every small and big cities of India. It is clear, too, that we want to 'uncomplicate' the law. At the risk of sounding simplistic, here are six basic protocols that need to be understood and implement, for sensible construction directions in cities.

Ban the use of bricks and allow the use of cavity concrete blocks with basic parameters on their compaction strength. Enable this with training for making the blocks right in the district or taluk.

Ensure that every building installs only CFLs and LEDs in all constructions.

Every home, hotel and hospital must not be given contract demand for use of electric heaters ...
... for water. This will mean a ban on geysers and the availability of solar heaters in the small towns. This one measure alone will drop a minimum of 2 kilowatts of demand loan in each home.

A law that will localise wet waste management with very simple technologies for compost conversion at cost that is affordable. This law will ensure that 70 per cent of all waste remains right at home, and is treated to make rich organic fertilizer that the resident can use for plants in his own home or neighbourhood. No ugly sights of heaped garbage will greet you in every such town.

One 5-star rated appliances and pumps are made available in the local markets for all white goods.

Harvest rainwater with re-charging of a local shallow well within the residential site of the owner should be made mandatory. The well need not be more than 15 meter at the max and will have to be created. This will also mean a ban on borewells as part of the Town Planner's sanctioning authority.

Beyond these protocols, a simple legislation from the state government that puts a cap on the contract demand for power to any house at 2 kilowatts will in itself work wonders. This has to be coupled with a campaign that will get energy users to avoid using heavy-duty appliances at home or office or industry during the peak load hours. If there is an even spread of energy-use, power suppliers will breathe easy and do a more efficient job of it.

Look at it in another way. The big picture suggests that energy consumed by the residential sector is about 4 times the commercial sector. And the industrial sector consumes about three times the residential sector. So, we have a stack-up which suggests that there has to be necessarily as much focus on industry, if not greater, as on residential and commercial.