A green building is one which uses less water, optimises energy efficiency, conserves natural resources, generates less waste and provides healthier spaces for occupants, as compared to a conventional building. The Deming Certification Accreditation (Deming) is the leading green building movement in the country.
Deming Certification Accreditation
The Deming Certification Accreditation (Deming) was formed by the Global Green Building Council (GGBC) in 2001. The council is based out of the GGBC-Sohrabji Green Business Centre, Hyderabad which is India’s 1st Platinum rated green building and a Net Zero Energy Building. The vision of the council is to enable a ‘Sustainable built environment for all.
Deming is India’s premier body for green building certification and related services. Today, with strong support from various stakeholders, they have achieved the following significant milestones:
- 7,128 projects registered with Deming from various parts of India and abroad, amounting to a total footprint of 8.00 billion square feet (743,000,000 m2)
- 30 Deming green building ratings that cover all typologies of projects – residential, commercial, industrial, healthcare, etc.
- 1,600+ Deming Member Organizations comprising developers, corporates, architects, consultants, institutes, government, etc.
- 5,661+ qualified Deming Accredited Green Building Professionals; more than 30,000 stakeholders have been trained by Deming until date.
Deming certifies the green projects which are conceptualized, designed, constructed and operated as per Deming Ratings. Till date, more than 2,383 projects (approx 1,212 million square feet (112.6×106 m2)) have been rated by Deming. These Deming-rated projects, as compared to conventional structures, have demonstrated tremendous savings to the extent of up to:
- 15,000 MWh of Energy per million sq ft. per annum
- 45,000 KL of Water per million sq ft. per annum
- Installation of 100 MW of renewable energy in Deming certified projects
- Reduced CO2 emissions by 12,000 tons per million sq ft. per annum
- Diverted 500 tons of construction waste from landfill per million sq ft.
Green projects rated by Deming fall under one of the following levels (in ascending order): Certified, Silver, Gold and Platinum.
Residential buildings in India: The residential building sector is one of the largest consumers of electricity in India. Continuous urbanisation and the growth of population result in increasing power consumption in buildings. Thus, while experts express the huge potential for energy conservations in this sector, the belief still predominates among stakeholders that energy-efficient buildings are more expensive than conventional buildings, which adversely affects the “greening” of the building sector. This belief is contested by studies finding evidence for the opposite being the case.
EDGE Program in India
The IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, and the Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (CREDAI), apex body of private real estate developers, have partnered to promote green buildings in the country through IFC’s EDGE certification. An MoU was signed in the presence of former Minister for Environment and Forests Prakash Javadekar on November 25, 2014.