Lets take the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board as an example. TNEB charges a varying tariff which means that the more electricity you use, the more you have to pay per KWH or 1 unit of electricity. For the sake of this blog, lets assume you use 1000 units at your home, say in a month. This will cost you Rs 3690 and after subtracting the subsidy which is Rs 1350 (I know! ridiculous) the net tariff comes down to Rs 2340. That is 2 rupees and 35 paise per unit of electricity. With a domestic tariff as low as this why should I not operate my air conditioner 16 hours a day?(I did not say 24 because there is no power for 8 hours anyway). Why should I not keep all my appliances on standby when not in use? Why should I go through the pain of educating my 7 year old nephew the importance of energy conservation?

The only answer to these questions is "because it is the right thing to do". Well, I don't expect you to buy that.

Why do we need a subsidy when we cannot even generate enough electricity to cater to even our most basic needs? Or why can't the government simply double the tariff to Rs 5/unit or even more during the peak consumption hours (say about six hours a day)? Or if that is an administrative hassle then why not a blanket increase in all power tariff? Would this not be the most practical way of conveying to the people that there is a problem and we are doing our best to address it in the short term. So you can carry on operating your air conditioners for as long as you want and carry on wasting as much electricity as you want, but you are going to have to pay for it.

Money talks and it is a no brainer to assume that consumption during peak hours will drop sharply. It might even drop to the levels that we need not resort to any load shedding at all. This will also bring in additional revenue to the department which can be used to fund future renewable energy projects. More importantly, this will also be the best way to educate people on the importance of using energy more efficiently. This will get people to think about energy, talk about energy and they will start finding ways to save energy. People will start employing energy auditors to survey their homes, they will invest in retro-fitting their homes to ensure maximum efficiency, they will only buy the most energy efficient appliances and actually care to use them more smartly, they will start replacing their incandescent lights with LEDs, they will plug every gap that allows conditioned air to escape, they will install the best ventilation systems, they will start creating roof gardens, they will get their roofs insulated, they will get their windows double glazed, they will start investing in renewable energy, they will insist on only investing in green buildings, the possibilities are endless.

Even if only half the above statements come true this will still create thousands of Green Collar jobs. Sustainability will not just be a word that green consultants use to show-off their vocabulary, it will actually be a sector in business. Our architects will start designing smarter and greener homes. Consultants like InHabit and Buildscape will research more and more ways to offer energy savings to its customers. Again the possibilities are endless.

The Arguments

Will this not increase the price of goods and commodities?

No. There is no need to make any changes to the tariff structure of commercial establishments and who says the above recommendations need to be permanent. It only needs to be a desperate measure. The TNEB commercial tariff work out to Rs 6/unit for 1000 units consumed which seems appropriate considering the current circumstances. Being an owner of a commercial establishment myself, I can say that I would prefer paying a little more than to run my diesel generator which inflates my cost of energy to Rs 12 / unit (these are my own calculations and can vary for different machines). If you factor in the cost of the generator, the carbon emissions caused, the potential health problems that can be caused by the burning of diesel and the subsequent loss of productivity the cost can be unjustifiable for a business.

What if this causes electoral losses in the next elections?

If the current scenario continues the leadership is going to change hands in any case. An immediate solution even if unpopular can reverse fortunes in the long run. And there is no point in subsidising power when there is no power to supply anyway.

What about the poor people?

That calls for another story. Just for the sake of it I am going to call this story "Looking at the glass half empty":

Let's flash forward ten years and lets hypothetically assume that India's economy has grown to slightly more advanced levels and the government has somehow managed to provide access to electricity to every single citizen of the country. In spite of this there are still 300 million poor people in the country because just as in the past the rich and the middle class have reaped all the benefits of economic growth. There is still acute power shortage because of increasing demand.

Now lets ask all those 300 million poor people what would they like. Would they prefer 8 hour power cuts or would they rather prefer paying double the tariff for 6 hours. Again, it is a no brainer that 299.99 million people would say they would prefer paying the premium and use electricity as conservatively as possible.

Let's hope common sense prevails. Only a sustainable present will create a better future. Green is here to stay and the future looks very green to us. The air feels clean and the grass looks green and Coimbatore is Ooty again. Only this time it is not the Poor Man's Ooty because we will all be rich, won't we?

Article by: Yusuf Turab

Most amenities are just tools used by promoters to make a development look attractive to home buyers as these aspects of a development are visible and can be felt. But the real good qualities of any residential development lie in the bits not visible to us and require a little probing and prodding on the home buyer’s part. Here is a list of questions a home buyer should really be asking and these should be the areas of primary focus when buying a home:

Due to the constant demand supply gap, India is likely to remain a severely energy deficient country in the foreseeable future. When screening potential realtors, ask them how much they know about home energy performance and other environmental issues that matter to you. You can tell a lot just by taking a careful look around. Take a gander at the windows, and check if they're single or double-paned, and at the doors, to see if you feel a draft coming through around the edges. Never buy homes that are not fully day-lit or have too much direct sunlight coming into the home (in warm climates). Insist on energy efficiency measures like appropriate shading, cool roofs, high performance glazing, efficient lighting, controls etc. Power outages are here to stay and it is always better to have a home that can be comfortable without too much dependence on electrical appliances.

Have an understanding of the equipment on offer; inefficient lifts, pumps, motors, sewage treatment and RO plants are irreversible maintenance costs that hurt in the long run. It might even be worth bringing an energy expert to analyse these for you before making an investment.

Most parts of our country are inevitably heading towards a major water crisis in the coming decade. It is only wise to insulate oneself form this oncoming crisis. Hence, one should never invest in a project that does not have a proper water management plan and seems unlikely to be prepared for drought situations. Check if the project is harvesting the maximum rainwater possible and is treating all its waste water on-site. Stored rainwater and treated wastewater can easily be reused for landscaping, flushing and external uses. The project must have installed water efficient low flow fixtures in bathrooms and kitchen. Water and energy are intrinsically linked so saving water saves energy as well. These measures can take care of up to 70% of your water needs leaving you to only worry about 30% in case of a sustained drought.

Does the home ensure a healthy indoor environment?

On average Indians spend more than 80% of their time indoors and the quality of the indoor environment has a huge bearing on our health, well-being and productivity. Never invest in a home that does not have enough fresh air ventilation and cross ventilation. Insist on fully operable windows and check if the window area is at least 13%-15% of the floor area. Look for exhaust systems in bathrooms and kitchen. Get a list of all the paints, varnishes and adhesives to be used in your home and ensure that these chemicals are eco-friendly and free of toxic Volatile Organic Compounds. These chemicals may off gas for as long as five years and when coupled with poor ventilation, it causes the sick building syndrome. Never make compromises here as problems related to indoor environmental quality are very expensive to fix.

How do I operate the house?

It never ceases to amaze me that a new house doesn't come with an owner's manual. You wouldn't expect a new car to come without guidance how to operate and maintain it; shouldn't we expect the same with something we're spending ten or twenty times as much money on? This owner's manual should explain in English, such issues as how to operate and maintain heating and cooling equipment, the importance of cleaning out gutters, what homeowners' need to know about the various comfort features of a home, the names of products and materials used in constructing the house, and how to inspect for termites or other problems. A homeowner's manual is also a great place to aggregate all the information that comes with appliances, cooling equipment, and any other systems in the house.

One of the best and perhaps the least technically challenging method of judging a home is to check if the project has been certified GREEN. Today any developer has the option of getting their project certified GREEN from the Indian Green Building Council or The Energy Resources Institute. These certifications come with varying slabs which inform a home buyer how energy & water efficient the home really is. These certifications also require the project to have sustainable site planning, enhanced indoor environmental quality, use of non toxic environmentally friendly materials and onsite waste management. All these aspects are well documented and can be made available to the home buyers to ease the painful process of choosing the best home.

There is nothing to say that a project that does not have a certificate is not high performance, the fact is that there are many uncertified developments that take a stronger approach towards environmental performance than certified one's but who is to check this? It the duty of developers and promoters to help home buyers lead a comfortable, affordable and hassle free lifestyle. Any project must enable and encourage its residents to live in an environmentally responsible manner. It is the duty of the home buyers to buy responsibly, put in a little extra effort gathering project information and demand highest performance achievable within a budget.

Below is my list of areas one should focus on when building green in the order of importance for Indian conditions:

1. Water efficiency - capture, reduce, reuse
2. Energy efficiency and Renewable energy (always energy efficiency first)
3. Site sustainability
4. Indoor Environment - health, comfort and well being
5. Material sustainability - reduce, reuse, recycle
6. Waste management - during construction & post occupancy
7. Durability
8. Measurement, verification and action
9. Make it easy for occupants to be green
10. Show off (Spread the word)

My contention is that only buildings that show improved performance (compared to conventional building standards) in all the above criteria can be termed as GREEN BUILDINGS. Everything else is NOT.

A net zero energy building with poor water management or problems with the indoor air quality cannot be termed as a GREEN BUILDING unless it meets all the other environmental performance parameters. Such a building should just be termed "Energy Efficient Building" or a "Net Zero Building" but not a GREEN BUILDING.

We need to have a serious discussion on how we can better inform the consumer as to what a green building is and more importantly what a green building is not. At the moment the terms GREEN BUILDING is being misused in many cases and there is a distinct possibility that people will lose faith in the whole concept if this continues.

Most green building certification programs address the focus areas mentioned above but in reality a building can be GREEN with or without the certification. And therein lies the issue that allows misuse and sends the wrong signals to the consumers.

If there could be a formal agreement within the industry that a building cannot be termed GREEN unless its performance has been verified by the a trusted third party institution then this would largely clear the confusion among consumers. Further, the industry could also push for copyright of the terms GREEN BUILDING such that only projects certified by selected third party institutions can be called Green Buildings. All other projects are free to use other terms of choice.

Article By

Yusuf Turab

IGBC AP, GRIHA CP, WELL AP, LEED AP & ECBC Master Trainer 

InHabit and BuildScape

Coimbatore, India