WATER SUPPLY AND

WASTE MANAGEMENT
ASSIGNMENT 7

HARSHIT KUMAR ARORA

2-B
MBSSPA
 1. What do you understand by GREEN BUILDING RATING
SYSTEM?

With terms like climate change and sustainability being extensively used by the media across
the globe, chances are you must have heard about green buildings too, and how they are
trying to minimize the impact of the building sector on our environment. According to
experts, the building and construction sector is responsible for almost 39% of the global CO2
emissions. 

Due to this massive carbon footprint, people have started to realize the importance of
constructing green buildings. 

In simple terms, a ‘green’ building is a building that minimizes or eliminates negative aspects
and has the ability to create positive impacts on our natural environment through its design,
construction and operation. Almost all green buildings are sustainable, preserve precious
natural resources and improve our quality of life.

What are green building rating systems?

Construction has both direct and indirect environmental impacts. As a result, a large
number of green building rating systems have been established to help mitigate
these impacts through the encouragement, measurement and recognition of
sustainable building performance.

The first ever green building rating system in the world was launched in 1990 when
the concept of sustainable design started gaining popularity. This rating system was
the Building Research Establishment’s Environmental Assessment Method
(BREEAM). After that, many others followed suit and currently, there are quite a few
green building certification programs like:

LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)

In 2000, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) developed and released
guidelines for implementing practical green building solutions through its Leadership
in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system for new buildings. Since
that first release, LEED has continued to grow in prominence and to include rating
systems for existing buildings and entire neighborhoods.

Today, LEED is an internationally recognized green building certification system that

provides third-party verification that a particular building or complex was designed
and constructed keeping in mind the following parameters:

 Maximum energy savings

 Efficient use of water
 Reduced greenhouse gas emissions
 Healthier indoor air quality
 Increased use of recycled materials
  Optimum utilization of resources and sensitivity to their impacts 
 Reduced maintenance and operation costs

ENERGY STAR

This program is primarily focused on energy use; setting standards that are
recognized internationally for energy efficient consumer products. Run by the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency in conjunction with the U.S. Department of
Energy, ENERGY STAR compares homes to certify those that are at least 15%
more energy efficient than homes built to the 2004 International Residential Code
(IRC) and include additional energy saving features to be 20-30% more efficient than
standard homes. 

ENERGY STAR also provides an energy performance rating system applied to

buildings, and recognizes top performing ones with the ENERGY STAR. This
certification lasts one year, and not all building types are eligible.

GREEN GLOBES

Green Globes is an online green building rating and certification tool that is used
primarily in Canada and the USA. In Canada, there are Green Globes modules for:

These modules can be used for a wide range of commercial, institutional and multi-
residential building types including offices, school, hospitals, hotels, academic and
industrial facilities, warehouses, laboratories, sports facilities and multi-residential
buildings.

Green Globes for Existing Buildings was developed in 2000 by ECD Energy and
Environmental Canada. Green Globes for New Buildings Canada followed shortly
thereafter, with the support of the Canadian Department of National Defense and
Public Works and Government Services. In 2004, the system was adapted for the
USA, where it is administered by the GBI (Green Building Initiative).

NATIONAL GREEN BUILDING STANDARD

This certification, developed and administered by the National Association of Home

Builders (NAHB), establishes green building, construction practices, and
performance levels for residential areas.  It covers both new construction and
renovations of all residential types; including single-family homes, multi-family
complexes, and mixed-use buildings. Homes with this certification must incorporate
the following six categories:

 Lot Development
 Resources Efficiency
 Energy Efficiency
 Water Efficiency
 Indoor Environmental Quality
 Operations and Maintenance

GREENGUARD
GREENGUARD Certification is part of UL Environment, a business unit of UL
(Underwriters Laboratories). GREENGUARD certification helps manufacturers
create and buyers identify interior products and materials that have low chemical
emissions, improving the quality of the air in which the products are used.

So this is basically a certification program that focuses greatly on indoor air quality,
promoting low-emitting building materials, paints and finishes, cleaning products,
furnishings, electronics, and other consumer products.

2.What is the LEED system? Explain its key components?

LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)

In 2000, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) developed and released
guidelines for implementing practical green building solutions through its Leadership
in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system for new buildings. Since
that first release, LEED has continued to grow in prominence and to include rating
systems for existing buildings and entire neighborhoods.

Today, LEED is an internationally recognized green building certification system that

provides third-party verification that a particular building or complex was designed
and constructed keeping in mind the following parameters:

 Maximum energy savings

 Efficient use of water
 Reduced greenhouse gas emissions
 Healthier indoor air quality
 Increased use of recycled materials
 Optimum utilization of resources and sensitivity to their impacts 
 Reduced maintenance and operation costs

What are the 5 LEED rating systems?

Achieving LEED certification is the best way to let the world know that your building
project is actually ‘green’. It is a solid and compelling proof to your clients and public
at large that you take your responsibility towards the environment seriously and that
your building has been designed to minimize environmental impact.

In LEED, buildings get certified under 5 different LEED rating systems:

  LEED AP Building Design + Construction – This rating system includes guidelines for
new buildings and old buildings undergoing major renovations.
 LEED AP Operations + Maintenance – This category can be used by building owners
and operators to measure operations and maintenance as well as make minor
improvements.
 LEED AP Interior Design + Construction – This rating system was designed
specifically for tenants leasing a portion of a larger building.
 LEED AP Neighborhood Development – This category integrates the principles of
smart growth, urbanism, and green building into the first national program for
neighborhood design.
 LEED AP Homes – This was specifically designed for single and multi-family
residential structures that are three stories or less.

3.What is the GRIHA system?

GRIHA is an acronym for Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment. GRIHA is a Sanskrit word
meaning – ‘Abode’. Human Habitats (buildings) interact with the environment in various ways.
Throughout their life cycles, from construction to operation and then demolition, they consume resources
in the form of energy, water, materials, etc. and emit wastes either directly in the form of municipal wastes
or indirectly as emissions from electricity generation. GRIHA attempts to minimize a building’s resource
consumption, waste generation, and overall ecological impact to within certain nationally acceptable limits
/ benchmarks.
Going by the old adage ‘what gets measured, gets managed’, GRIHA attempts to quantify aspects such as
energy consumption, waste generation, renewable energy adoption, etc. so as to manage, control and
reduce the same to the best possible extent.
GRIHA is a rating tool that helps people assesses the performance of their building against certain
nationally acceptable benchmarks. It evaluates the environmental performance of a building holistically
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 basic features of GRIHA

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 –
inception through operation. The stages of the life cycle that have been identified for evaluation are:

 Pre-construction stage: (intra- and inter-site issues like proximity to public transport, type of soil,
kind of land, where the property is located, the flora and fauna on the land before construction
activity starts, the natural landscape and land features).
 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.
  Building operation and maintenance stage: (issues of operation and maintenance of building
systems and processes, monitoring and recording of energy consumption, and occupant health and
well-being, and also issues that affect the global and local environment).

The benefits
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, reducing energy consumption and 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:

 Reduced energy consumption without sacrificing the comfort levels

 Reduced destruction of natural areas, habitats, and biodiversity, and reduced soil loss from erosion
etc.

 Reduced air and water pollution (with direct health benefits)

 Reduced water consumption

 Limited waste generation due to recycling and reuse

 Reduced pollution loads

 Increased user productivity

  Enhanced image and marketability

4. Explain the Criterions of GRIHA system that is linked with

Water system?

Evolution of GRIHA
The rapid increase in Indian population and growth of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has given rise to an
enormous demand for buildings with a subsequent pressure on availability of resources. Another key
challenge for the built-environment of Indian cities is the diminishing availability of water for urban areas.
In order to be sustainable, the environmental pressures of increased demand for resources coupled with a
rapidly changing climate are being addressed by policy makers at various levels. Several policy and
regulatory mechanisms to address the urban challenges, implemented through national plans and
programmes have been devised. The Ministries and agencies at the Centre have designed frameworks such
as the Environmental Clearance to ensure efficiency in resource use for large projects (i.e. more than
20,000 sq m built up area), the Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC) applicable to air conditioned
commercial buildings with connected load more than 100 kW and the Solar Buildings Programme for
Energy Efficient Buildings, for implementation by the designated State agencies and municipal bodies.
However as in most countries, there is a huge scope to optimize the effectiveness of policy by encouraging
a more holistic life-cycle approach to building. Lack of disincentives for non-compliance, agencies and
systems working in factions (i.e. various departments at Centre and State looking at issues related to
energy efficiency, renewable energy, water resources, waste management independently; as opposed to a
holistic approach that would address the building sector encompassing water, energy etc. as a whole); and
implementation of codes and standards prior to verification on site, leading to implementation challenges
on site are some of the difficulties faced during implementation of policies on sustainable habitats.
In view of the above, and with an overall objective to reduce resource consumption, reduce greenhouse gas
emissions and enhance the use of renewable and recycled resources by the building sector, TERI has
played a crucial role in convergence of various initiatives, essential for effective implementation and
mainstreaming of sustainable habitats in India. With over two decades of experience on green and energy
efficient buildings, TERI has developed GRIHA (Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment), which
was adopted as the national rating system for green buildings by the Government of India in 2007 (refer
figure 1).
Internationally, voluntary building rating systems have been instrumental in raising awareness and
popularizing green design. However, most of the rating systems devised have been tailored to suit the
building industry of the country where they were developed.
This tool has been adopted by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. This tool, by its qualitative and
quantitative assessment criteria, is able to ‘rate’ a building on the degree of its 'greenness'.