Not taking away any appreciation from people who have worked countless hours for making such remarkable achievements in erecting such remarkable buildings and other manmade structures possible, it has come to a point where the environment is being exhausted heavily in order to feed the overwhelming demand for such areas that are advanced in their way of building concrete structures.We all know that going back and reverting to the more natural friendly buildings of the past is not the answer, as they are in a sense inadequate to serve us during harsh climatic changes and natural disasters. So the question arises as to how do we tackle this problem without going back to our old ways?

The answer to this is through ‘Sustainable Building’. Sustainable Building is a means to keep on carrying with the trending ways and style for construction of a building with a more eco-friendly approach.  Sustainable Building or Green-Building as it is more commonly known, stresses on the use of sustainable and eco-friendly building material that are locally appropriate, locally available, have low embedded energy and also that are versatile in order to keep up and compliment the innovative architectural designs of the new age. As natural resources are getting scarce as days go by, an alternative route may be able solve this problem and also conservational methods to save resources should be implemented in order to avoid later difficulties.

The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) is an organisation based in New Delhi that aims at solving this problem.  On this note, Eastern Panorama had the opportunity to attend a workshop on Sustainable Building, which was held by the New Delhi-based research and advocacy body, the CSE in association with the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA). The workshop was held at Bhubaneswar and during this workshop various issues on Sustainable Building were addressed in order to educate the general masses about the benefits and positive effects it would provide in the long run.

Anumita Roychowdhury, who is the executive director of CSE, engaged with the topic of Green Buildings and its connection with the environment, during her speech, had stressed on the necessity on the implementation of Green Building and also stated that according to research, it is mandatory for India to reduce its energy consumption by 20.25 % by the year 2020, if this is not done, the natural serenity of our environment could be in dire crisis. Following this Mr. Anurag Bajpai, Director of Green Tree Pvt Ltd, Ghaziabad, stated that the implementation of Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC) should be adopted in every state of the country in order to manage and regulate the consumption of energy. Odisha was the first state to adopt the ECBC and soon it was followed by West Bengal and Mizoram, other states are yet to implement energy efficient measures.

Mr. Pyari Mohan Mishra, executive engineer, Energy Department, Government of Odisha, Bhubaneswar, had also spoken on the occasion and pin pointed the need for energy efficient buildings stating that various acts such as the use of sunlight as a resource, power restrictions in an area, monitoring of energy flow, load balancing and amendments of certain Acts concerning with energy distribution are certain steps that can be taken towards the fulfillment of a greener country.

Mr. Avikal Somvanshi, research associate, CSE, on the occasion had conveyed his views that waste materials that result out of the demolition of a building can be recycled and used as resources for the construction of green buildings.

With the above views in mind, now the question arises, if all of the above can be taken in order to save our natural environment then why has Green or Sustainable Building not been implemented since the very beginning? To answer this, firstly, the need for Sustainable Building may have not been so crucial in former times due to abundance in resources and secondly, even though Green Building does have its positive effects the drawback is due to the fact that these alternate materials or substitutes do come with a hefty price. However, this should not dishearten one from agreeing to implement Green Building as on the other hand though the price of the materials is high, it is only a matter of time that one can recover his investment as the building would be energy efficient resulting in low payments for energy consumption.

Hence, it can be seen that the implementation of Green or Sustainable Buildings would be a smart move not only on the part of India as a whole, but it would also be a great move for the North Eastern region of the country as we have been blessed by the natural scenic beauty that surrounds us in every direction we face. We have a lot to lose if the right measures are not taken in order to conserve the natural beauty in our region in which we pride ourselves over. However, whether Green Building will be prevalent in this region in the near future is yet to be seen and what is to come if it is put into practice is still a fate that is undecided, as only time will reveal whether Sustainable Building is the creative solution that will lead us to a naturally bright and promising future for the country and also for the North Eastern region.

Hubert Nongkhlaw
Lately in Bhubaneshwar