Green economics
Posted on April 29th, 2007
The Economic Times: You can call it heart-warming. When the whole world is crying hoarse about global warming, Indian corporates are increasingly turning eco-friendly — from planting trees to using energy saving lighting systems to constructing smart eco-friendly buildings and what have you.
ITC, Wipro, L&T, ITC, Maurya Hotel, Orchid’s ecotels, City Palace in Udaipur, Bharat Heavy Electricals (Bhel), LG Electronics and a growing list of corporates are going green. In fact, the number of green buildings in India has been steadily rising — from 6,000 sqm of green space in 2003 to 3,04,800 sqm expected by the end 2008.
At present there are over a dozen buildings that have been officially recognised as green, mostly in the private sector. In the residential segment, however, there’s nothing to write home about. Green buildings are eco-friendly and involve the use of clean and renewable energy, efficient use of water and recyclable material and healthy indoor air quality by regulating the level of carbon dioxide in a room.
Or as former Hudco CMD V Suresh puts it, “Green buildings are those which encompass the four Es — environment-friendly, ecologically appropriate, energy-saving and economic growth. Buildings are responsible for 40% of the world’s energy consumption and CO2 emissions. The green building concept helps check global warming. Worsening energy and water crisis coupled with growing environmental responsibility have motivated corporates to go eco-friendly.