Karnataka: NGT seeks report on environmental impact of glass facade buildings

Quoting a 2015 study conducted by the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru which stated that glass facade buildings consume more electricity and contribute to global warming, advocate Jagan Kumar J recently filed a petition before the NGT claiming that the authorities have failed to protect the environment.

The petitioner alleged that the SEIAA adopted different criteria while issuing environmental clearances to two buildings. In one of the environmental clearances dated June 26, 2016, the SEIAA laid down a condition that the “use of glass facades shall not exceed 40 percent of the exposed area to reduce the electricity consumption”. In another environmental clearance dated March 23, 2019, the authority apparently did not put any such condition.

The NGT has also sought an explanation from the SEIAA in this regard.

The IISc study conducted by Dr TV Ramachandra stated that having glass facades leads to higher use of air conditioners since the temperature inside the buildings has to be kept cool. This results in more emission of greenhouse gases that, in turn, leads to an increased carbon footprint. He also mentioned in his study that glass facade architecture is suitable for temperate (cold) regions. But this architecture is not apt for tropical climate regions like Chennai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad. The matter is posted to March 20 for the next hearing.