New Delhi – Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) as a part of its Climate Change Conference Series co-organized a day-long conference on “Moving towards Low-carbon Buildings in India” on December 20, 2010, at India Habitat Centre in New Delhi.
The conference was organized in collaboration with CASLE (Commonwealth Association of Surveying and Land Economy), UK, and Oxford Brookes University, UK. In addition, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) and Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) supported the conference. ThinktoSustain.com was associated as the ‘Knowledge Partner’ for the event.
As one of the key areas for action identified in a similar conference by RICS last year, it was highlighted that there was a need for greater interplay and communication between policy, research and practice. While the Government and policymakers are doing a commendable job on this front, participation is required by the private sector to leverage those policies and build more low carbon buildings.
To facilitate this objective, the conference started with a comprehensive review of the energy policies we have today, going on to how the low carbon buildings can be made a reality with the relevant interventions in design and innovative materials and how the value and cost savings from operational performance would make these buildings a viable proposition.
Distinguished experts and policymakers present at the conference included the following:
Mr. Kapil Mohan, IAS, Deputy Director General, Bureau of Energy Efficiency India
Mr. Sanjay Seth, Energy Economist, Bureau of Energy Efficiency India
Dr. Arun K. Tripathi, Director/Scientist ‘F’, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Government of India
Dr. B. Bandyopadhyay, Scientist-G/Advisor, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Government of India
Ar Raj Rewal, Raj Rewal Associates
Mr. Ashok Lall, Principal, Ashok B Lall Architects
Ms. Mili Majumdar, Director, The Energy and Resources Institute, Delhi
Mr. Siva Kishan, CEO, ADaRSH
Dr. Piyush Kumar Tiwari MRICS, Director – Policy, IDFC
Mr. Mike Holland FRICS, CEO, Assetz Property Services and Member, RICS India External Affairs Board
“Although sustainability principles may be embedded in the policies of property owners and occupiers, translating them to their property decisions has been difficult. RICS’ recent Green Gauge Survey shows that over 70% of business decision makers are paying more attention to energy efficiency than last year, but fewer than half expect to make capital investments in efficiency. That’s the state of the marketplace: the desire is there, but the action is not. Sustainability, therefore, needs its own currency.”
Mr. Sachin Sandhir
Managing Director and Country Head, RICS India
“Based on international experience and bearing in mind the potential that the real estate and construction sector have in India, there is a need to manage energy deficits to cater to a growing urban population, while implementing passive technologies that advocate the use of renewable sources of energy in order to mainstream green development for the community at large to profit from sustainable development in the future.”
Mr. Brian Waldy FRICS
Secretary General, Commonwealth Association of Surveying and Land Economy (CASLE), UK
Mr. Kapil Mohan, IAS, Deputy Director General, Bureau of Energy Efficiency India, in his opening comments provided an overview of the existing policy framework in India. He stated that since new building stock is relatively more energy intensive, given the added use of applications such as elevators, escalators, transit conveyor belts, air cooling, etc., it is imperative to reduce consumption levels in buildings.
To this end, BEE is looking at promoting Energy Saving Companies (ESCos) who through an audit, monitoring and verification mechanism provide advice to companies to reduce energy consumption by guaranteeing cost savings while taking on market and financial risks, thereby encouraging companies to proactively adopt sustainable development practices.
