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HVAC
Articles |
GRIHA – Green Building
Design Evaluation System.
What is a green building?
Buildings have major environmental impacts over their entire life cycle. Resources such as ground cover, forests, water, and energy are depleted to give way to buildings.
A green building depletes the natural resources to the minimum during its construction and operation. The aim of a green building design is to minimize the demand on non-renewable resources, maximize the utilization efficiency of these resources, when in use, and maximize the reuse, recycling, and utilization of renewable resources. It maximizes the use of efficient building materials and construction practices; optimizes the use of on-site sources and sinks by bio-climatic architectural practices; uses minimum energy to power itself; uses efficient equipment to meet its lighting, air-conditioning, and other needs; maximizes the use of renewable sources of energy; uses efficient waste and water management practices; and provides comfortable and hygienic indoor working conditions. In sum, the following aspects of the building design are looked into in an integrated way in a green building.
I. Site planning
II. Building envelope design
III. Building system design ((HVAC) heating ventilation and air conditioning, lighting, electrical, and water heating)
IV. Integration of renewable energy sources to generate energy onsite.
V. Water and waste management
VI. Selection of ecologically sustainable materials (with high recycled content, rapidly renewable resources with low emission potential, etc.).
VII. Indoor environmental quality (maintain indoor thermal and visual comfort, and air quality)
GRIHA- the green building rating system
The context
Internationally, voluntary building rating systems have been instrumental in raising awareness and popularizing green design. However, most of the internationally devised rating systems have been tailored to suit the building industry of the country where they were developed. In India a US based LEED rating system is under promotion by CII Green Business Centre, Hyderabad, which is more on energy efficiency measures in AC buildings. Keeping in view of the Indian agro-climatic conditions and in particular the preponderance of non-AC buildings, a National Rating System - GRIHA has been developed which is suitable for all kinds of building in different climatic zones of the country. The system was initially conceived and developed by TERI (The Energy & Resource Institute) as TERI-GRIHA, which has been modified to GRIHA as National Rating System after incorporating various modifications suggested by a group of architects and experts. It takes into account the provisions of the National Building Code 2005, the Energy Conservation Building Code 2007 announced by BEE and other IS codes, local bye-laws, other local standards and laws. The system, by its qualitative and quantitative assessment criteria, would be able to ‘rate’ a building on the degree of its ‘greenness’. The rating would be applied to new and existing building stock of varied functions – commercial, institutional, and residential.
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