If you want a green home
RANJANI GOVIND
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Sustainable building approaches were discussed at a workshop led by Environment Support Group that helped hundreds of people get novel ideas
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Value addition: The audience at the workshop on ‘Making our homes environmentally just’ organised in the city recently
Building green homes is a topic widely discussed today. Even if one has all the motivation and spirit to have an energy-efficient and eco-friendly dwelling, it cannot be done without the right inputs that help one in the endeavour. Where does one start, what are the building materials that one could choose, how does one save on water and electricity consumption, what are the required lifestyles that we should adopt…Answers to these questions were available at the recently concluded workshop ‘Making our homes environmentally just’ organised by the Environment Support Group (ESG) in collaboration with the Karnataka State Council for Science and Technology (KSCST), that witnessed hundreds of urban residents gather at the Regional Institute of Cooperative Management in Padmanabhanagar.
ESG is a non-profit environmental and social justice action initiative based in Bangalore and promotes the cause of environment through research, documentation, advocacy and training programmes and supports the rights of local communities.
This is the third in the workshop series of the group that earlier came up with ‘environmental education’ for teachers and the ‘status and conservation of lakes.’ Says Bhargavi S. Rao, Coordinator, ESG, “We wanted people to be aware of some remarkable features that some Bangaloreans had implemented in their homes. We brought some of these interesting people to talk at the workshop so that the interaction helped one study and understand the viability of these construction practices.”
“The interface brought the public closer to people who had constructive suggestions, we even had a woman walk in with her contractor to have the novel ideas implemented,” said Sruthi Subbanna of ESG.
In an age where natural materials and practical lifestyles have almost been forgotten, groups as ESG play a vital role in informing people of some meaningful ways of building and living styles to sustain life for generations. Construction techniques that made a telling difference to life and added value were spoken about.
Solar energy
Speakers included Chockalingam, whose house in the city is not connected to a grid for supply of electricity. His entire house is powered by solar panels with a courtyard that brings in abundant ventilation and air circulation even as the skylights in strategic points have his house lit most of the day. It’s sinful to forget the natural sun, and getting power from the centralised network causes adverse consequences to villagers, feels Chockalingam.
Ceiling vents, surfeit of trees and a prudent RWH system (with a tank capacity of approximately 10,000 litres) are his far-sighted interventions for fresh air and water usage. That’s not all, as his house is built of mud blocks and other recyclables (reused old tyres are also there to raise groundwater levels), that add to its green value.
Jaidip K.T. explained how his family shunned the external supply of water, and installed a shallow borewell largely recharged by sub-soil water and not deep aquifers. To sustain the borewell, a series of recharge wells are sunk all around even as grey water recycling helps in toilet-flushing and garden use.
RWH system
The ‘re-use grey water mechanism’ involves a set of filters that run through different graded material and plants. And his model rainwater harvesting helps him in saving every drop from the sky!
Navneeth of KSCST spoke of “capturing rain water where it falls” which had helped them launch a massive programme to address water scarcity in government schools in rural areas. A total of 26,000 schools were provided with RWH.
Vijay Narnapatti spoke of mud blocks and sky-lights that helped in cool living. Pine and bamboo, he said, could help replace timber to a very large extent.
Leo Saldanha of ESG also explained how a simple white paint on the roof reduced the entry of heat drastically. But what matters more than laws is people’s attitude in changing for the better and minimising environmental impacts, said Sunil Dutt Yadav.
www.esgindia.org / 26713559
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