GRIHA: National green building rating system under construction
TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute) has developed a green building guideline that covers all aspects of reducing emissions and pollution during and after construction of a building. This is GRIHA or Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment.
GRIHA, by its qualitative and quantitative assessment criteria, would be able to ‘rate’ a building on the degree of its ‘greenness’. The rating can be applied to new and existing building stock commercial, institutional, and residential of varied functions.
== The benefits ==
GRIHA will evaluate the environmental performance of a building over its entire life cycle, thereby providing a definitive standard for what constitutes a ‘green building’. The rating system, based on accepted energy and environmental principles, will seek to strike a balance between the established practices and emerging concepts, both national and international. The guidelines/ criteria appraisal may be revised every three years to take into account the latest scientific developments during this period. On a broader scale, this system, along with the activities and processes that lead up to it, will benefit the community at large with the improvement in the environment by reducing GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions, improving energy security and reducing the stress on natural resources.
Some of the benefits of a green design to a building owner, user, and the society as a whole are as follows.
1. the consumption of power to run a building reduces. This largely depends on the extent to which energy efficient practices employed.
2 One of the criteria in GRIHA is to preserve the natural habitat and ecosystem to as great an extent as possible. Saving the variety of Flora and Fauna on the site marked off.
3 Reduced air and water pollution (with direct health benefits)
4 there are criteria in GRIHA to reduce, water usage during construction, during the operation of the building and also in maintenance of the landscaped areas.
5 the segregation and storage of toxic, inert and chemical wastes, which are then recycled properly by competent authorities
6 GRIHA encourages the use of renewable energies so that the pollution load reduces.
7 Increased user productivity
== The development process ==
GRIHA, the national green building rating system, was developed by TERI after a thorough study and understanding of the current internationally accepted green building rating systems and the prevailing building practices in India. The team has researched on several international rating systems. A few team members were also sponsored under a study tour by USAEP (United States Asia Environmental Partnership) to understand the eco-rating systems prevalent in the US. The team has vast experience in providing design assistance to green buildings in the country and long and varied experience in carrying out energy conservation studies in existing hotels, offices, and other commercial buildings. The team has effectively utilized the several multidisciplinary strengths and experiences of their colleagues at TERI to arrive at the tools that addresses crosscutting issues in the design, development, and operation of a green building.
The primary objective of the rating system is to help design green buildings and, in turn, help evaluate the ‘greenness’ of buildings. The rating system follows best practices along with national/international codes that are applicable to the green design of buildings. The green building rating system devised by TERI is a voluntary scheme. It has derived useful inputs from the upcoming mandatory building codes/guidelines being developed by the BEE (Bureau of Energy Efficiency), the MNRE (Ministry of New and Renewable Energy), MoEF (Ministry of Environment and Forests), and the BIS Bureau of Indian Standards). The rating system aims to achieve efficient resource utilization and to enhance resource efficiency and better quality of life in buildings. TERI GRIHA has been adopted as a NRS (national rating system) under the MNRE, Government of India, as of 1 November 2007.
Operationalization of GRIHA – the national rating system
== National Advisory Council ==
A NAC (National Advisory Council) has been constituted by the MNRE and is convened by the Advisor of the Ministry. It comprises eminent architects, senior government officials from the Central Ministry, the BEE, the Central Public Works Department, and select state nodal agencies; representatives from the IT sector, real estate sector and developers; and representatives from the GRIHA secretariat, TERI. The NAC is chaired by the Secretary, MNRE, and co-chaired by the Director- General, TERI. The NAC provides advice and direction to the NRS and is the interface between the MNRE and the rating secretariat, which is located within TERI. Its broad functions are as listed below.
1 Guide the administrative structure for GRIHA.
2 Decide a fee structure.
3 Endorse the rating.
4 Recommend incentives and awards by the Government of India/state governments.
5 Endorse modifications/upgrades periodically Technical Advisory Committee.
A TAC (Technical Advisory Committee) has been constituted by the MNRE for providing technical advice to the GRIHA team on modifications and upgradation of the GRIHA framework. The technical advisory team comprises eminent architects and experts well versed with design and construction of green buildings.
The Ministry proposes to incentivize the NRS with a view to promote large-scale design and construction of green buildings in the country.
== The basic features ==
At present, the system has been developed to help ‘design and evaluate’ new buildings (buildings that are still at the inception stages). A building is assessed based on its predicted performance over its entire life cycle — from inception to operation. The stages of the life cycle that have been identified for evaluation are pre-construction, building design and construction, and building O&M (operation and maintenance). The issues that are addressed in these stages are as follows.
1 Pre-construction stage (intra- and inter-site issues).
2 Building planning and construction stages (issues of resource conservation and reduction in resource demand, resource utilization efficiency, resource recovery and reuse, and provisions for occupant health and well-being). The prime resources that are considered in this section are land, water, energy, air, and green cover.
3 Building O&M stage (issues of O&M of building systems and processes, monitoring and recording of consumption, and occupant health and well-being, and also issues that affect the global and local environment).
Points for Rating
| Points scored | Rating |
|---|---|
| 50-60 | One star |
| 61-70 | Two star |
| 71-80 | Three star |
| 81-90 | Four star |
| 91-100 | Five star |
== List of criteria and points for GRIHA Criteria ==
| S.No. | Criteria | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Site selection | 1 |
| 2 | Preserve and protect landscape during construction or Compensatory depository forestation |
5 |
| 3 | Soil conservation (post construction) | 4 |
| 4 | Design to include existing site features | 2 |
| 5 | Reduce hard paving on-site | 2 |
| 6 | Enhance outdoor lighting system efficiency and use renewable energy system for meeting outdoor lighting requirement |
3 |
| 7 | Plan utilities efficiently and optimize on-site circulation efficiency |
3 |
| 8 | Provide at least minimum level of sanitation or Safety facilities for construction workers |
2 |
| 9 | Reduce air pollution during construction | 2 |
| 10 | Reduce landscape water requirement | 3 |
| 11 | Reduce building water use | 2 |
| 12 | Efficient water use during construction | 1 |
| 13 | Optimize building design to reduce conventional energy demand |
6 |
| 14 | Optimize energy performance of building within specified comfort |
12 |
| 15 | Utilization of fly ash in building structure | 6 |
| 16 | Reduce volume, weight and time of construction by adopting efficient technology (such as pre-cast systems, ready-mix concrete |
4 |
| 17 | Use low-energy material in interiors | 4 |
| 18 | Renewable energy utilization | 5 |
| 19 | Renewable energy based hot water system | 3 |
| 20 | Waste water treatment | 2 |
| 21 | Water recycle and reuse (including rainwater) | 5 |
| 22 | Reduction in waste during construction | 2 |
| 23 | Efficient waste segregation | 2 |
| 24 | Storage and disposal of waste | 2 |
| 25 | Resource recovery from waste | 2 |
| 26 | Use of low VOC paints/adhesives/sealants | 4 |
| 27 | Minimize ozone depleting substances | 3 |
| 28 | Ensure water quality | 2 |
| 29 | Acceptable outdoor and indoor noise levels | 2 |
| 30 | Tobacco and smoke control | 1 |
| 31 | Universal Accessibility | 1 |
| 32 | Energy audit and validation (mandatory) | 0 |
| 33 | Operations and maintenance protocol for electrical and mechanical equipment |
2 |
| # | Total score | 100 |
| 34 | Innovation points (over the above 100 points) | 4 |
| # | Total points | 104 |
== External links ==
1. Teri GRIHA
2. TERI
3.