Green buildings face the heat

In a move to make green buildings more energy efficient, the Centre has decided to lower the connected load of such buildings to 100KW (kilowatts) from the existing 500KW.

The Union ministry of power has already tabled the Energy Conservation Amendment Bill 2009 in the parliament to change the norms of green buildings, Ajay Mathur, director general, Bureau of Energy Efficiency, said.

“Once the parliament gives it approval, all green buildings will need to have a connected load of maximum 100KW,” Mathur added. “The amendment is required to change the Energy Conservation Building Code to certify the buildings as green or energy-efficient buildings.”

Speaking at the inaugural ceremony of a two-day workshop, Moving towards Green ‘09 held in Pune, Mathur said that the new norms for green buildings will be more stringent.

Currently, there are only 50 structures in the country, including the Reserve Bank of India building in Mumbai that have the green and energy-efficient building tag. Mathur said that the government has also decided to label buildings and then rate them like brands. “The more energy-efficient structures will have a better label. Labelling is needed to reduce the energy consumption,” he added.