100 buildings on green map

The Delhi government will sign a Memorandum of Understanding this month with The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and the Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI) to the buildings,covering over 10,000 square feet,energy efficient.

While Delhi was the first state to make an Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC) mandatory for new buildings,this will be the first major initiative by the government to set the ball rolling.

A recent survey of 365 government buildings in Delhi found that energy consumption is upto 161 kilowatt per hour per square feet. The goal now: to ensure government buildings get at least one star on the ratings system.

Creating energy efficient buildings is a major plank of Delhi’s action plan on climate change which will be mediated through the Department of Environment.

Retro-fitting for making buildings more energy efficient is a relatively new concept,championed internationally primarily by the Bill Clinton-run CCI.

Retro-fitting implies adding new features to an old building and in Delhi,it will start with the Delhi Secretariat. While the ECBC has only recently been cleared by the Delhi Cabinet,retro-fitting will be a faster procedure.

“We expect the retro-fitting exercise to be over in four to five months,” Dr R K Pachauri,Director General,TERI,told Newsline. “We can create green buildings by the time of the Commonwealth Games,” he said.

While initial retro-fitting is expensive,the savings can be as much as 30 per cent of electricity consumption.

Parts of Rashtrapati Bhawan have undergone retro-fitting for energy efficiency.