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This brings us to the question of what encompasses a green building and what materials go into building them. To put it concisely, green building is one which increases operational efficiency while minimising wastage during its lifecycle. It addresses aspects such as health, environment and resource conservation while maintaining economy.

A green building, besides using materials that are sustainable, addresses in its structure, various design elements such as orientation, the façade of the building, the level of natural light, ventilation to name a few.

To begin with, green buildings start on the premise that building structures are most sustainable when locally available materials are used and the design elements are those that are closely connected to traditionally established patterns and practices. Buildings are most unsustainable when a design element or practice used elsewhere with different geographic and climatic conditions is blindly foisted on another region without making allowances for local conditions.

While design elements can be numerous to reduce the operational cost of a building, the materials used to build should be sustainable and, here, the options are plenty. Conventional buildings use plenty of cement in their structure, which is environmentally unsustainable. In place of cement, fly ash, a by-product of coal furnaces, can be used to make hollow concrete blocks. These blocks, besides being environment-friendly, act as insulation layers through the hollow space within. They conserve energy by keeping the heat out naturally.

Double glazed aluminium panelled glass, also known as curtain glazing, again acts as a good insulator when used for walls as well as windows. While letting in light, they shut out extreme temperatures, thus saving energy used for cooling or heating the interiors. Besides, the double layer of glass helps to shut out noise and this is an added advantage in buildings situated close to a busy road.

Conventional buildings use plenty of wood in their interiors. While it is often argued that the wood sourced is plantation wood and hence sustainable, particle boards have been found to have high volatile organic content (VOC). A more sustainable option will be to go in for wood such as bamboo which grows easily in any climate, uses less water and takes less time to grow.

Says Saacketh Chawla, National Director, Project Management Consulting, Colliers International, “Bamboo mat sheets are a good option in place of particle boards as these are not only sustainable but have very low VOC. The presence of VOC has a negative impact just as lead-based paints.”

Smaller residences can also use stabilised earth blocks instead of cement or brick blocks.

These are again environmentally sustainable as the mud used here comes from the site which is invariably excavated for construction. Here, not only is the mud put to good use, the transport cost as well as the indirect cost of using cement or brick blocks is avoided.

It is a good idea to use stone on floors in locations facing extreme heat. Stone absorbs heat during the day while remaining cool, thus reducing the ambient temperature.

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