GREEN PRE ENGINEERED

BUILDINGS

By

D.V.L.VARDHAN
INTRODUCTION:
The National Geographic Society in association with GlobeScan, an internationally reputed poll
firm developed the Greendex. It is a rating system that has been incorporated to gauge the extent of
impact that consumption patterns have on the environment. The survey was conducted in 17 countries
in 2009 and the results were quite interesting. The developing economies like India, Brazil and China had
topped the charts whereas the developed economies like US, Canada and Japan languished at the
bottom. In fact India was rated as the greenest country in the world.

Greendex Map of the World

The rating system depicts the shortfall in the standard of living in the developing economies and
the high emissions associated with life styles in the developed economies. The developing economies
will have to take a course where the economic outlook improves but not the emissions attached with it.
On the other hand developed economies have to focus on a lesser emission based consumption pattern.
Therefore the need of the hour is to look for concrete solutions that cater to the exigencies.

The measures that need to be taken should be wide ranging, encompassing several sectors like
energy, transportation, logistics, industries, commercial spaces etc. Moreover buildings are considered
to be the major source for emissions throughout their life cycle. Therefore a very pertinent paradigm of
green buildings has been evolved to negate the malignant effects associated with them.
GREEN BUILDINGS

A Green Building, also known as a sustainable building, is a structure that is designed, built,
renovated, operated, or re-used in an ecological and resource efficient manner.

Objectives of a green building:

• Protecting occupant health

• Improving employee productivity

• Using energy, water and other resources more efficiently

• Reducing overall impact to the environment

• Optimal environmental and economic performance

• Satisfying and quality indoor spaces

CONSIDERATIONS FOR GREEN BUILDINGS

• Control erosion to reduce negative impacts on water and air quality

• Reduce pollution and land development impacts from automobile use

• Limit disruption of natural water hydrology by reducing impervious cover, increasing on-site
infiltration and managing storm water run-off

• Encourage and recognize increasing levels of self supply through renewable technologies to
reduce environmental impacts associated with fossil fuel energy use

• Provide a high level of individual occupant control of ventilation and lighting systems to support
good health, better productivity and a comfortable atmosphere

• Provide a connection between indoor spaces and outdoor environment through the
introduction of sunlight and views into the occupied areas of the building
 Parameters for a Green Building:

The following aspects of the building design are looked into in an integrated way in a green building:

• Site planning
• Building envelope design
• Building system design HVAC(heating ventilation and air conditioning), lighting, electrical, and water
heating
• Integration of renewable energy sources to generate energy onsite.
• Water and waste management
• Selection of ecologically sustainable materials (with high recycled content, rapidly renewable
resources with low emission potential, etc.).
• Indoor environmental quality (maintains indoor thermal and visual comfort and air quality)

RATING SYSTEM FOR GREEN BUILDINGS

At present in India there are two rating systems,

• LEED
• GRIHA

LEED RATING SYSTEM:

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a rating system developed and
managed by the US Green Building Council (USGBC).

Buildings are rated as Platinum, Gold, Silver or Certified based on fulfillment of certain criteria.

The LEED rating system in US exists for various sectors like

• New commercial construction

• Major renovation projects
• Existing building operation and maintenance
• Homes
• Schools
• Commercial Interiors

LEED ratings for health care and labs are on the anvil.
INDIAN SCENARIO:

The Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) and Godrej group had collaborated to set up the
Indian Green Building Council at Hyderabad.

IGBC basically facilitates the LEED ratings of the USGBC in India. They were launched in 2001.

IGBC offers rating systems in the following formats

• IGBC GREEN HOMES

• IGBC GREEN FACTORY BUILDING
• LEED INDIA FOR NEW CONSTRUCTION
• LEED INDIA FOR CORE AND SHELL

IGBC GREEN FACTORY BUILDING RATING SYSTEM:

The principal idea behind conceptualizing such a rating system is to provide impetus for green
and sustainable factories.

Benefits

• Reduction in usage of energy (30-40 %)

• Reduction in usage of water resources (20-30 %)
• Reduction in green house gas emissions
• Better handling of waste products
• Improvement in the productivity of workers
• Improvement in the health and safety of workers.

The IGBC Green factory rating system caters to new factories and existing factories as well.

The IGBC Green factory rating system looks into the following parameters

• Site Selection and Planning

• Water Conservation
• Energy Conservation
• Material conservation
• Indoor environment quality and occupational health
• Innovation and design process
LEAD INDIA NC

In India 20 % of the electricity is consumed by buildings. Urbanization has contributed towards this
cause. With economic progress the emissions associated with buildings are going to rise.

Thus IGBC has come up with LEED INDIA NC rating. It is for commercial, institutional and high rise
residential buildings. It tries to address issues like

Sustainable Sites

Water Efficiency

Energy & Atmosphere

Materials & Resources

Indoor Environment Quality

Innovation & Design Process

GRIHA RATING SYSTEM

GRIHA is an acronym for Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment.

It is tool that has been developed by TERI and has been adopted by the Ministry of New and Renewable
Energy

GRIHA is a rating tool that helps people assesses the performance of their building against certain
nationally acceptable benchmarks.

It evaluate s the environmental performance of a building holistically over its entire life cycle, thereby
providing a definitive standard for what constitutes a ‘green building’

POINT SYSTEM FOR GRIHA

Points scored Rating

50-60 One star

61-70 Two star
71-80 Three star
81-90 Four star
91-100 Five star
POINTS FOR IGBC GREEN FACTORY CERTIFICATION LEVELS

Certified 51-60 Silver 61-70

Gold 71-80 Platinum 81-100

GREEN PRE ENGINEERED BUILDINGS

Pre engineered buildings per se are environmentally benign to a certain degree. They negate the
usage of buildings materials that have considerable amount of emissions. For example in a typical PEB
the usage of cement and concrete is minimal when compared to a conventional building.

There are some innate features of a PEB which brings it close to being a green product. Some of them
are:

• The principal building material that is used in a pre engineered building is steel. Steel has the
greatest advantage of being both recycled and recyclable
• Pre engineered buildings are resource optimized. PEB structures are made using proprietary
software that optimizes the inputs. The precision thus obtained with the help of software can
save a lot of steel, thus reducing the costs.
• The pre engineered buildings are light in weight compared to other buildings, thus making the
foundation more sustainable.
• Special reflective materials and coatings can reduce the heat absorption capacity of the building.
For example Cool metal roofing has high reflectivity and the loss is minimal over its life.
• Insulation in PEB can regulate the temperature inside the building, thus regulating the usage of
energy.

But in order to be rated as a green building emphasis has to be laid on several other aspects and better
packaging is also needed to be done in order to be certified by a rating agency.

Markets in India are not yet well verse in the practices that are followed for a typical green PEB. On the
other hand certain companies, especially in US seem to have done considerable amount of work in this
regard. Therefore in order to gain a perspective it would be pertinent to look at these companies to try
and understand the products and services they offer. The companies which are active in the field of
green PEB are Nucor, NCI etc.

NUCOR

Nucor is the largest steel recycler in the US. In 2008 Nucor recycled a quantity of scrap steel in excess of
20 million tons. Nucor's steel making processes are supposed to have lower emissions than integrated
steel making operations. Nucor's energy consumption per ton of steel produced is much lower than that
of integrated mills
Nucor offers certain products and services which help the customer obtain LEED ratings for the building.
We should note that the LEED Rating System rates the aggregate system of the building and
individual components of the building do not, by themselves earn points

How Nucor facilitates LEED ratings

Recycled steel

Nucor buildings are made from recycled steel

Nucor uses Electric Arc Furnace technology at its steel recycling facilities.EAF use scrap steel as major
feedstock unlike blast furnaces that use mined ore.

Recycled Steel Content of Nucor Products

Nucor bar product 97.7 %

Nucor beam products 76.2 %

Nucor plate products 92.5%

Nucor sheet products 70.2 %

Total Nucor steel combined 89.7 %

Heat Island Effect

NBS offers two standard white (SP Polar White or Kynar Regal White) CFR finish options that exceed the LEED
Solar Reflectance Index (SRI) requirement of 78.

Use of Regional Materials

Nucor has several plant sites scattered in US. This facilitates use of regional materials, thus reducing the
shipment costs and associated emissions.

Recyclability

The steel that is used by Nucor are 100 % recyclable.

Points Earned By Using Nucor’s Products

Potential
LEED Section * Subject NBS Contribution
Points

MR Credit 4.1 & 4.2 Recycled Content 2 NBS Recycled Content over 89%

SS Credit 7.2 Heat Island Effect: 1 NBS Offers 2 roof paints with Solar
Roof Reflectance Index (SRI) over 78

MR Credit 5.1 & 5.2 Use of Regional 2 NBS multiple plant locations and
Materials Nucor domestic steel mills can often
contribute to the use of regional
materials. This varies based on the job
site. The local plant will assist in
determining regional content

MR Credit 3.1 & 3.2 Materials Reuse 2 All NBS steel materials are 100%
recyclable in the future.

NCI

LEED - POINT CHART

This chart presents some of the ways NCI Metal Building products can help you earn points toward
LEED Certification.

LEED ®-NC Metal Building Credit Guide1

Number of
Name Description Reason
Points2

Site Development:
Being shop fabricated, NCI metal buildings
SS Credit
1 allow field assembly using a minimal work
5.1 Protect or Restore area.
Habitat

By deploying parking covers with NCI roof

Up to 2 (1 plus 1
Heat Island Effect: products, 1 point is earned for 50% of
SS Credit Exemplary
spaces covered, and an exemplary
7.1 Performance
Non-roof performance point can be earned for
point 4)
100% of spaces covered.
 Heat Island Effect: Our Snow W hite, Ivory, Bone White, and
SS Credit Solar White colors meet the low-slope
1
7.2 requirement and all NCI colors meet the
Roof steep slope requirement of this credit.

By utilizing NCI cool roof colors 3 and

insulated metal panels in your energy
Optimize Energy
EA Credit 1 Up to 10 models, you can reduce external loads
Performance
and downsize HVAC equipment to help get
the most points possible.

Depending on the nature of the project,

NCI metal buildings will contain between
MR Credit
Recycled Content: 25% and 60% recycled steel by weight5.
4.1 and MR Up to 2
10% and 20% (Post-consumer + ½ Pre-consumer) On a
Credit 4.2
typical project, this will represent about
40% of our contract value.

NCI is comprised of a network of

MR Credit
Regional Materials companies operating 39 manufacturing
5.1 (under
: 20% facilities across the United States and
LEED-NC 1
Manufactured Mexico. This network maximizes the
2.0 and 2.1
Regionally amount of material manufactured within a
only)
500 mile radius of most points in the US.

Daylight and NCI’s insulated light transmitting panels

EQ Credit
Views:Daylight 1 are excellent diffusers when utilized on
8.1
75% of spaces the roof or walls.

Thus PEB companies in India can take up similar measures and provide ‘green’ solutions. Such
measures will help the companies in diversifying their product base and at the same time position
themselves as an environmental friendly company.