It is not about just a housing trend. It is
also not just about a solar gadget here and there.
The environment and its conservation is on top of everyone’s mind at
the moment. While there is a lot of focus on trying to get back green
cover by trying to plant more saplings, there are many things you can
do, to do your bit for the environment. This can start fundamentally
with your home. Builders today have realised this and consumers are
lapping up the offerings with a lot of gusto.
So let’s start at the beginning. What does an ecological home really
mean? Says A Bimal Hegde, Director-Marketing, Chartered Housing (P)
Ltd, “In simple words, it is just a building/home which is
eco-friendly. This could be achieved in different ways. One way is by
using eco-friendly materials like stabilised mud blocks, etc. This
material is not expensive and is also eco-friendly. Another way could
be by designing the building/home in such a manner that the light
and ventilation is taken care of.
This helps the user in consuming minimal lighting and air conditioning
and in turn saves a lot of electricity.” Agrees architect Chitra K
Vishwanath, “The house is built in such a way wherein it has the least
negative impact on the plants, wildlife and human beings in the area.
It is designed to suit the climate of the area and uses alternative
forms of energy for it’s running and maintenance relying on sun, wind
and biomass instead of the grid supply.”Ecological homes reuse and
recycle most waste and used materials that are available very close to
the site/area. It encourages local handicraft or art and harvests rain
water and reuses most water that the building consumes. It is a home
that takes the least from earth’s natural resources to build.
Says, Harsha Sridhar, Chief Anchor - Design Cell, BCIL, “For example, a
mud wall-based, thatch-roofed structure of a farmer is the most
sustainable, for it uses the least. He does not transport any material
from any big distance by trucks that consume diesel, which is another
precious fossil fuel that hurts the planet’s resources. In the urban
context, using bricks is ‘not friendly’ since it uses precious topsoil
that takes 1200 years to form one inch of it, naturally! Bricks use
energy at 400 deg C. And the energy used mostly comes from cutting
forest wood or by using coal, both natural resources that are finite
and therefore exhaustive or extractive.”
Indian scene
The concept of green buildings is being followed worldwide to strike a
balance between natural resources and alternate techniques. Although
the concept of eco-friendly buildings is not very common in India,
people are becoming more aware of it. “The government is making it
mandatory to do rainwater harvesting, solar energy and sewage treatment
plants for larger projects, “ says Hegde. The concept of ecological
buildings is actively prevailing in the northern hilly regions and
south Indian regions of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Use of renewable source
of energy like sun - solar energy - an advance research has been done
and a product which will absorb the heat and light of sun and convert
into electricity is available, turning the conventional solar panels
into more effectiveness; wind power energy, tidal waves energy, nuclear
energy, CNG, hydrogen energy, etc, will make the world more
ecological. There are many homes that are being built in the city
and the country that are ‘eco friendly’. Its popularity will depend on
greater knowledge of the skills and technologies among individuals or
corporate builders. This will mean more professionals - architects and
contractors - who know how to build with just the small difference in
the ways you approach a building.“Nearly every advertisement of any
builder claims that the homes are ‘eco friendly’! Even using a set of
solar PV lamps for gardens is touted as a major effort at
eco-friendliness. The happy tiding is that builders do realise today
that being eco-friendly is a need in the marketplace. That is
heartening because it shows that as customers, people today want to
offer preference to homes that are ecologically sensitive. But are
these builders really so or are they merely claiming on ads to entice
us, is a question we should ask before we buy a home,” says Sridhar.
As an effort towards observing 100 percent eco sensitive buildings,
mixed use of construction techniques is prevalent in practice, where
usage of reinforcement is minimised to the greatest extent in a
building. “The eco-project that we are working on is a project in
Khandala ‘A Spa House’. The concept revolves around a house that is
inside out with nature and the entire project will have a renewable
source of energy (wind energy) to run the necessary utility services.
It’s concept is that of keeping your body, mind and soul close to
nature and use of materials like wood, bamboo, brick, RCC and glass,”
says Chougule. “We have completed three projects. BCIL Trans Indus on
Kanakapura Road, BCIL T Zed Homes in Whitefield and BCIL TownsEnd and
BCIL Collective in Yelahanka. We have initiated some extremely core
environment initiatives in Coorg (Little Acre, a rainforest patch
protection initiative which is unique to the world) and Gaia, a holiday
homes project in Goa that doesn’t use any laterite blocks at all in a
region where no one builds without laterite,” says Sridhar.
Ecological footprint
Wikipedia defines ecological footprint as the human demand on nature.
It compares human consumption of natural resources with planet Earth’s
ecological capacity to regenerate them. It is an estimate of the amount
of biologically productive land and sea area needed to regenerate the
resources a human population consumes and to absorb the corresponding
waste, given prevailing technology. Says Chitra Vishwanath, “The
materials should be such that they can go back to nature without
hurting the environment when the building or home is destroyed
otherwise the materials used should be recyclable or reusable and in
this way decreasing the ecological footprint of the building.” All
ecological homes will necessarily mean an acceptance of a new
lifestyle. The question however is - are you ready for it?
Practising what she preaches?
Chitra Vishwanath ‘s home :The house is built with stabilised mud
blocks that are not fired like the ordinary bricks we know. A small
percentage of cement is used as a stabiliser along with soil or mud
from the site and quarry dust (instead of sand). This house recycles
its waste by using compost. All organic waste from the house is turned
into compost and the byproduct is used as organic manure. The washing
machine water is reused for flushing and is recycled to grow paddy on
the terrace. The terrace is used as a garden and the house uses a solar
cooker, solar lighting systems and solar water heating systems. It has
Eco San-Ecological sanitation, wherein all waste is reused for organic
manure. Rainwater is harvested and stored in the underground sump and
used for drinking. All grey water from bath and kitchen is recycled and
used for watering of plants. The house has created a small micro
environment around it that encourages about 32 species of birds and
many species of butterflies, bees, wasps and insects. And if you
thought that was all, the house has never had fans and incorporates
natural light in its design!
http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Sep72007/realty2007090623753.asp
