Cost of Green Building in India

I am a student doing final year architecture in India, I am interested in practising sustainable architecture. i would like to know about the details of the extra cost incurred and the payback period for residential projects. is there any minimum built-up area so that the sustainability can be practised in residential level?

Advice provided by: Yusuf Turab, InHabit and Buildscape

First of all, congratulations on making the smart decision of pursuing green architecture. I think that this term is more accurate than “sustainable architecture”. A building requires a great deal of materials and processes to meet its most basic function, which is human comfort. No building can truly be sustainable unless we go back to the Stone Age.

The idea of green building is to limit the impact on the environment without compromising human comfort. Green building aims to achieve more with less, which is what makes this sector so interesting. I have been consulting for just over a year now and it is very satisfying to see that some of our ideas make a meaningful difference.

The Growth of Green Building

I recently received the following statistics from a World Green Building Council mailer. It says, "In 2003, only 24% of construction firms worldwide were significantly involved with green building. In 2013, 94% of the firms are expected to be significantly involved with green building; more than half of the firms will be largely or exclusively dedicated to green building”.

While this is great for the sector, it also means that there will be increased competition, copying, green washing and lack of differentiation in projects. Therefore, one’s success in the industry will depend on how one can differentiate him or herself and the pace at which he or she innovates.

The report has many other interesting statistics that indicate trends in the green building sector. For the convenience of readers, I have made the report available here for download under “Statistics on Green Buildings”.

Costs and Payback Period of Green Buildings

Since this question is asked often, most green building professionals will simply state that most green buildings have an added cost of 5% - 15% (compared to a conventional building) and that the payback period is usually 3 - 5 years.

While this is true in many cases, I personally believe the cost of going green is relative and cannot be accurately quantified. I know developers and building owners who always use high performance building design and materials, efficient lighting and HVAC, wastewater treatment, rain water harvesting, waste management and other green building materials and techniques. They simply believe that it’s common sense to build that way. For such builders, the cost of going green is minimal or nonexistent, since they would have spent this additional amount anyway.

That being said, many developers do not automatically incorporate green building strategies. The following list indicates some of the features and building practices that might require an investment that is significantly greater than those for conventional buildings practices in India: