The director of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee, Prof Pradipta Banerji stressed upon the need to create green buildings and sustainable built environment that improves human health, resulting in better environment and addresses issues such as climate change. Going green is not an option to adopt but an integral part of education for architects, he said at the launch of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) students chapter at the institute.
Banerji said that IIT Roorkee would work closely with CII-IGBC in inspiring and encouraging young minds go the green way and play a catalytic role in the green building movement.
CII-IGBC principal counselor M Anand informed that building sector in India is expected to grow to 100 billion square feet by 2030, and student community should play a catalytic role in taking forward the message on the need and importance of green buildings for sustainable development.
“Green buildings save about up to 50 per cent energy and up to 30 per cent water, apart from other intangible benefits. Today, India is the second country in the world with larges green building footprint. This growth has been made possible with the support of the stakeholders. IGBC has launched 55 student chapters across the country to create awareness, impart knowledge on green buildings and create a platform for students to interact with relevant stakeholders,” he added.
As part of the launch programme, IGBC organised a workshop to highlight sustainable architecture and design, site selection and planning, water conservation, energy efficiency, building material and resources, indoor environmental quality, innovation and case studies on green buildings.