SUSTAINABLE HABITAT

• "Quality is never an accident, it is always the result of

intelligent effort”
John Ruskin
• A sustainable habitat is an ecosystem that produces food
and shelter for the inhabitants without causing any damages
of resource depletion or pollution.
• Such a system can evolve naturally or be scientifically
made by man. There are no wastes produced in such a
system and all biological organisms and physical resources
are well connected with each other.
 SUSTAINABLE HABITAT
ELEMENTS CONTRIBUTING TO SUSTAINABLE
HABITAT
• The elements contributing to a sustainable habitat are as
follows:
• a. Density:
• It is the concentration of population, dwelling units,
employment or any other variable over a specific area.
 SUSTAINABLE HABITAT
ELEMENTS CONTRIBUTING TO SUSTAINABLE
HABITAT
• b. Design:
• Design of the street network should be such that,
preference is given to pedestrian than motorised traffic.
• The characteristics of the network are side walk, inter
connection within the streets, number of intersections,
pedestrian crossing and street lighting.
 SUSTAINABLE HABITAT
ELEMENTS CONTRIBUTING TO SUSTAINABLE
HABITAT
• c. Diversity:
• It is a measure of variety of land uses present in a given
area on the basis of floor area, employment and land area.
• d. Distance to transit:
• This represents the average of the shortest street routes
from home or work to the nearest rail stations and bus
stops.
 SUSTAINABLE HABITAT
ELEMENTS CONTRIBUTING TO SUSTAINABLE
HABITAT
• e. Destination accessibility:
• This is the ease with which one can access the trip
attraction to both local (market) and regional (jobs)
destinations
 SUSTAINABLE HABITAT
ELEMENTS CONTRIBUTING TO SUSTAINABLE
HABITAT
• Government of India has taken great efforts to promote
sustainable development, and National Mission on
Sustainable Habitat (NMSH) was launched by the central
government as one of the eight missions formed under the
Prime Minister's National Action Plan for Climate Change
(NAPCC).
• The objective of NMSH was to draw necessary action
plans to achieve sustainability of human habitats.
 SUSTAINABLE HABITAT
ELEMENTS CONTRIBUTING TO SUSTAINABLE
HABITAT
• As per NMSH sustainable habitat would mean achieving a
balance between the economic AND social development of
human habitats together with the protection of the
environment, equity in employment, shelter, basic services,
social infrastructure and development, and transportation.
 SUSTAINABLE HABITAT
ELEMENTS CONTRIBUTING TO SUSTAINABLE HABITAT
• Salient features of sustainable habitat as given by NMSH
are as follows:
• Extension of energy conservation building code
• Better urban planning and modal shift to public transport
(lanes for cycles, battery and electric operated, alternate
fuels)
• Recycling of material and urban waste management
• Water resources management and drinking water supply in
urban areas, wastewater management
 SUSTAINABLE HABITAT
IMPACT OF BUILDINGS ON ENVIRONMENT
• Construction industry consumes a major share of a
country's energy and natural resources.
• Conventional methods of building construction use
tremendous quantities of materials, and pay little attention
to the impact, that the building has on the environment.
• Further, many of the materials used are toxic and hazardous
in nature.
• Buildings are found to consume 40% of energy, 42% of
water and 50% of raw materials.
 SUSTAINABLE HABITAT
IMPACT OF BUILDINGS ON ENVIRONMENT
• The world population, having a major share of buildings in
urban areas, will have to adopt sustainable building
practices for maintaining a long term environmental, social
and economical viability.
 SUSTAINABLE HABITAT
IMPACT OF BUILDINGS ON ENVIRONMENT
• Resource consumption:
• The various resources consumed by buildings can be
classified as follows
• 1. Land- Fertile lands, marshy lands, forests, open spaces
• 2. Soil- Earth, clay, stones, sand, lime
• 3. Trees 4. Metals- Steel, Iron, Aluminium, Copper, lead
• 5. Plastics- PVC, PU, UPVC
• [Link]- For construction, landscaping, washing, flushing
• 7. Electricity- Cooling, Heating, Lighting, pumping
 SUSTAINABLE HABITAT
IMPACT OF BUILDINGS ON ENVIRONMENT
• Waste generation
• a. At site- cut trees during site clearing, unused materials
sand, soil, rubble, steel
• b. Construction waste- Metals, boxes, broken bricks,
shuttering, cloth, paints, oil
• c. Sewage/Sullage, black water, grey water
• d. Organic waste- Vegetable waste, fruits
• e. Inorganic wastes- Metals, glass, plastics, synthetic fibres
f. E wastes- CDs, electronics, hardware, discarded discs
 SUSTAINABLE HABITAT
IMPACT OF BUILDINGS ON ENVIRONMENT
• Waste generation
• g. Chemical waste- Paints, adhesives
 SUSTAINABLE HABITAT - GREEN BUILDINGS
• Green building is a building, which can function using an
optimum amount of energy, consume less water, conserve
natural resources, generate less waste and create spaces for
healthy and comfortable living, as compared to
conventional buildings.
• Green building is the practice of creating structures, and
using processes that are environmentally responsible and
resource-efficient throughout a building's life cycle from
planning to design, construction, operation, maintenance,
renovation and deconstruction.
 SUSTAINABLE HABITAT - GREEN BUILDINGS
• The practices of green building are to be incorporated right
from the primary stage of construction itself.
• Green building practices aim to reduce the environmental
impact caused by new buildings.
• Green building design is a practical and climate conscious
approach to building design which takes into account
various factors, such as, geographical location of the area,
prevailing climatic conditions, use of locally available
materials and design parameters relevant to the type of
usage of the building.
 SUSTAINABLE HABITAT - GREEN BUILDINGS
• Such an approach ensures minimum harm to the
environment, while constructing and using the building.
• Dependence on fossil fuels and other resources can be
reduced by using recycled materials for building
construction.
• Some technologies may have a higher initial cost than the
conventional alternatives, but the increased efficiency of a
green building can offset this cost over the lifetime of the
building.
 SUSTAINABLE HABITAT - GREEN BUILDINGS
Fundamental Principles of Green Building
• The Green Star certification programme adopts a
whole-systems approach applying five key principles of
green building such as:
• I) Sustainable Site Design
• Sustainable site design has advantages like:
• 1. Minimizes urban sprawl
• 2. Avoids needless destruction of valuable land, habitat and
green space
 SUSTAINABLE HABITAT - GREEN BUILDINGS
Fundamental Principles of Green Building
• I) Sustainable Site Design
• Sustainable site design has advantages like:
• 3. Encourages higher density urban development to
preserve valuable green space
• 4. Engages in a design and construction process, that
minimizes site disturbance and values, preserves and
actually restores or regenerates valuable habitat, green
space, and associated ecosystems that are vital to sustaining
life
 SUSTAINABLE HABITAT - GREEN BUILDINGS
Fundamental Principles of Green Building
• I) Sustainable Site Design
• Sustainable site design has advantages like:
• 5. Preserves key environmental assets through careful
examination of each site
 SUSTAINABLE HABITAT - GREEN BUILDINGS
Fundamental Principles of Green Building
• II) Water Quality and Conservation
• Preserves the existing natural water cycle such that they
closely imitate the site's natural hydrological systems.
Steps should be taken for retention of stormwater, it's in
situ infiltration and groundwater recharge using methods
that closely follow natural systems.
 SUSTAINABLE HABITAT - GREEN BUILDINGS
Fundamental Principles of Green Building
• II) Water Quality and Conservation
• Minimizes unnecessary and inefficient use of potable
water, as well as maximizes the recycling and reuse of
water, including harvested rainwater, stormwater, and grey
water at site
 SUSTAINABLE HABITAT - GREEN BUILDINGS
Fundamental Principles of Green Building
• iii) Energy and Environment
• Minimizes adverse impacts on the environment (air, water,
land natural resources) through optimized selection of
building site building design, material selection, and
aggressive use of energy conservation measures.
• Resulting building performance should be more than the
minimum IEC (International Energy Code) compliance
level by 30 to 40% or more. Maximizes the use of
renewable energy and other low impact energy sources.
 SUSTAINABLE HABITAT - GREEN BUILDINGS
Fundamental Principles of Green Building
• iv) Indoor Environmental Quality
• Provides a healthy, comfortable and productive indoor
environment for building occupants.
• Provides a building design, which affords the best possible
conditions in terms of indoor air quality, ventilation,
thermal comfort, access to natural ventilation and
daylighting, and effective control of acoustical
environment
 SUSTAINABLE HABITAT - GREEN BUILDINGS
Fundamental Principles of Green Building
• v) Materials and Resources
• Minimize the use of non-renewable construction materials
and other resources, such as energy and water, through
efficient design, planning and construction, and effective
recycling of construction debris.
• Maximizes the use of recycled content materials, modern
resource efficient materials, and resource efficient
composite type structural systems wherever possible.
 SUSTAINABLE HABITAT - GREEN BUILDINGS
Fundamental Principles of Green Building
• v) Materials and Resources
• Maximizes the use of re-usable, renewable, sustainably
managed, bio- based materials.
Green Buildings: Examples in India
• The concept of green buildings was prevalent in India from
the time of our ancestors who treasured natural resources
and its preservation. India can now feel proud about a
number of green buildings which are Leadership in Energy
& Environmental Design (LEED) certified.
 SUSTAINABLE HABITAT - GREEN BUILDINGS
Green Buildings: Examples in India
• According to US Green Building Council report, 2013,
India has been ranked third on the list of top ten countries
in leadership in energy and environmental design outside
America.
• The following are a few examples of green buildings in
India
• 1. Suzlon Energy Limited (SEL)– Pune
• 2. Biodiversity Conservation India Limited
(BCIL)-Bangalore
 SUSTAINABLE HABITAT - GREEN BUILDINGS
Green Buildings: Examples in India
• 1. Suzlon Energy Limited (SEL)– Pune
 SUSTAINABLE HABITAT - GREEN BUILDINGS
Green Buildings: Examples in India
• 1. Suzlon Energy Limited (SEL)– Pune
• Suzlon Energy Limited (SEL), Pune: is the largest wind
turbine manufacturer in India and received LEED Platinum
award for their new corporate in Pune.
• Sustainable features are Human and environmental health;
sustainable site development; efficient water, energy and
waste methods, materials and resource selection.
 SUSTAINABLE HABITAT - GREEN BUILDINGS
Green Buildings: Examples in India
• 2. Biodiversity Conservation India Limited
(BCIL)-Bangalore
 SUSTAINABLE HABITAT - GREEN BUILDINGS
Green Buildings: Examples in India
• 2. Biodiversity Conservation India Limited
(BCIL)-Bangalore
• It has been certified residential apartment in the world.
• The main aim of as the first BCIL was to create eco-
friendly living habitats, especially in the urban space.
 SUSTAINABLE HABITAT - GREEN BUILDINGS
Green Buildings: Examples in India
• 3. Olympia Technology Park, Chennai:
• Olympia Technology Park in Chennai is built on an area of
1.8 million sq. ft. and the futuristic features are masterpiece
three mighty towers on 8.4 acre greenery.
• It is the world largest green buildings rated Gold by LEED.
 SUSTAINABLE HABITAT - GREEN BUILDINGS
Green Buildings: Examples in India
• 3. Olympia Technology Park, Chennai:
 SUSTAINABLE HABITAT - GREEN BUILDINGS
Green Buildings: Examples in India
• 4. ITC Green Centre - Gurgaon
• 5. The Druk White Lotus School -Ladakh
• 6. La Cuisine Solaire -Auroville
• 7. Doon School -Dehradun
• 8. Raintree Hotel - Chennai
• 9. Rajiv Gandhi International Airport - Hyderabad
• 10. Nokia – Gurgaon
 GREEN MATERIALS
• A green material is one that fits most harmoniously within
ecosystem processes, helps eliminate the use of other
materials and energy, and contributes the attainment of a
service-based economy.
• It focuses on increasing the efficiency of use of resources,
energy, water and materials.
 GREEN MATERIALS
• Green Building Material Selection Criteria
• The main criterion for green material selection is
minimization of negative environmental impacts.
• Hence green materials should be:
❖ Eco-friendly, having minimum impact on environment
❖ Made using non-polluting manufacturing processes
❖ Having its raw components coming from stable ecosystems
and are sustainably harvested
❖ Reusable or recycled.
 GREEN MATERIALS
• Various criteria for green building material selection
include:
• i) Resource efficiency
• ii) Indoor air quality
• ii) Energy efficiency
• iv) Water conservation
• v) Affordability
 GREEN MATERIALS
• i) Resource Efficiency can be accomplished by utilizing
materials that meet the following criteria:
• Recycled Content: materials with identifiable recycled
content, including post industrial content.
• Natural, plentiful or renewable: Materials harvested from
sustainably managed sources and preferably have an
independent certification.
• Durable: Materials that are long lasting or are comparable
to conventional products with long life expectancies.
 GREEN MATERIALS
• i) Resource Efficiency can be accomplished by utilizing
materials that meet the following criteria:
• Resource efficient manufacturing process: Products
manufactured with resource-efficient processes including
reducing energy consumption, minimizing waste and
reducing greenhouse gases.
• Locally available: Building materials, components, and
systems found locally or regionally saving energy and
resources for transportation to the project site.
 GREEN MATERIALS
• i) Resource Efficiency can be accomplished by utilizing
materials that meet the following criteria:
• Salvaged, refurbished, or remanufactured: Includes
saving a material from disposal and renovating, repairing
and restoring.
• Reusable or recyclable: Materials that can be easily
dismantled and reused or recycled at the end of their useful
life.
• Recycled or recyclable product packaging: Products
enclosed in recycled content or recyclable packaging.
 GREEN MATERIALS
• ii) Indoor Air Quality
• Indoor air quality is enhanced by utilizing materials that
meet the following criteria:
• Low or non-toxic: Materials that emit few or no
carcinogens, reproductive toxicants, or irritants as
demonstrated by the manufacturer through appropriate
testing.
• Moisture resistant: Products and systems that resist
moisture or inhibit the growth of biological contaminants in
buildings.
 GREEN MATERIALS
• ii) Indoor Air Quality
• Indoor air quality is enhanced by utilizing materials that
meet the following criteria:
• Minimal chemical emissions: Products that have minimal
emissions of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs).
Products that also maximize resource and energy efficiency
while reducing chemical emissions.
• Healthfully maintained: Materials, components, and
systems that require only simple, non-toxic, or low-VOC
methods of cleaning.
 GREEN MATERIALS
• ii) Indoor Air Quality
• Indoor air quality is enhanced by utilizing materials that
meet the following criteria:
• Systems or equipment: Products that promote enhancing
the indoor air quality.
• Low-VOC assembly: Materials installed with minimal
VOC-producing compounds, or no-VOC mechanical
attachment methods and minimal hazards
 GREEN MATERIALS
• iii) Energy Efficiency can be maximized by utilizing
materials and systems that can help reduce energy
consumption in buildings and facilities.
• iv) Affordability
• Material selected can be considered as affordable when the
building product life-cycle costs are comparable to that of
conventional materials or as a whole, are within a
project-defined percentage of the overall budget.
 GREEN MATERIALS
• v) Water Conservation can be achieved by utilizing
materials and systems that help reduce water consumption
in buildings and conserve water in landscaped areas.
• Green Material selection
• Green materials can be selected from natural sources as
well as recycled products.
• Sources for green materials can be classified into three:
• a. Renewable source: These are rapidly renewable
sources. (e.g. Timber from certified forests)
 GREEN MATERIALS
• Green Material selection
• Sources for green materials can be classified into three:
• b. Reuse of waste: These include salvaged materials. (e.g.
Windows and doors from deconstructed buildings).
• c) Recycled materials: These include waste materials
which are modified for reuse. (e.g. Fibre board made from
agriculture/industrial wastes, Fly ash bricks)
 ENERGY EFFICIENCY AT HOME
• Green building emphasizes the importance of environment
friendly building techniques, and hence includes energy
efficient construction.
• Green building is essentially an umbrella that encompasses
any energy efficient building methods or practices.
• There is no unique best design or technique for achieving
optimal energy efficiency for buildings.
• Builders can offer a wide variety of materials, appliances
and techniques.
 ENERGY EFFICIENCY AT HOME
• The proper integration of all of the building components
and an understanding of the way they interact with each
other, is necessary to produce a high performance home.
• 1. Energy Star Homes
❖ Use of LED lights
❖ Minimize heat losses
❖ Fresh air ventilation for indoor air quality control
❖ Power - vented or sealed combustion appliances
❖ Duct systems
❖ Proper use of available solar energy
 ENERGY EFFICIENCY AT HOME
• Other features
• 1. Solar water heaters
• 2. Day lighting
• 3. Photovoltaics
• 4. Low flow water fixtures
• 5. Energy efficient landscaping
• 6. Xeriscaping
 ENERGY EFFICIENCY AT HOME
• Tips and Recommendations
• i) Energy efficient new construction must include quality
materials and workmanship as well as a whole house or
house as a system approach. Proper integration of all
building components is necessary for a high energy
performing home.
• ii) Utilize renewable energy opportunities in constructing
an energy efficient home such as solar water heaters,
passive solar applications, and photovoltaic panels to
produce clean electricity.
 ENERGY EFFICIENCY AT HOME
• Tips and Recommendations
• iii) An energy efficient house must include maximum
levels of insulation, high performance windows, low air
leakage rates and adequate ventilation, tight ducts, energy
efficient heating and cooling equipment as well as Energy
Star appliances.
• iv) Use green building technology, green building
materials, and green site planning to produce a sustainable
home that will solve economic, environmental, and energy
problems rather than creating them,
 ENERGY EFFICIENCY AT HOME
• Tips and Recommendations
• v) Consider building an Energy Star labelled home.
• vi) When constructing an energy efficient home, make use
of the energy efficient technology