With celebrities like Gul Panag and Abhay Deol paving the way for green homes, people across the planet are waking up to this emerging need & pushing the green quotient of their homes. The trend seems to be more popular in Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi-NCR, Mumbai and Hyderabad.
One of the main reasons behind the popularity of Green Homes is that it reduces the carbon footprint and brings down maintenance cost and utility bills. The homes are designed keeping in mind the factor of ‘energy efficiency’. Right from the building material, paint, solar equipments to rain water harvesting, different aspects are considered before building an environmentally responsible and resource-efficient home.
Below is an insight on the elements, cost factor & long-term benefits of going green
One can opt for organic accessories like bamboo planters, cotton bedcovers, handmade earthern sculptures, jute or cotton cushions and paper lamp shades to enrich the quality of the living space. Using glues, paints or varnish that have low VOC content or water based solutions are also an effective way to adapt green living.
While the green building movement has been around globally since the 1970s, it has gained momentum in India only in the last couple of years. The first standard green rating programme in India was Indian Green Building Council (IGBC). Even GRIHA, an acronym for Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment, conceived by TERI is the National Rating System of India.
Many of the modern-day green homes await GRIHA certification, whereas renowned architects and high-end builders plan their futuristic projects under the guidelines of IGBC. Tata Housing Development Company Limited has been one of the pioneers for sustainable green developments. It has been the biggest proponent of Green initiatives in the Indian Real Estate space. As on today, Tata Housing is developing over 44 million sq.ft, which is under various stages of developments, all built under the guidelines drawn by IGBC.
With more awareness among the masses and the architects willing to experiment with building styles and materials, the trend of turning homes into eco-friendly havens will soon become big. Other than being the need of the day, it’s something worth adapting in these times of climate change and global warming.
An eco-friendly home is more expensive compared to a traditional home, but looking at it from a long-term perspective enables us to get a higher value with respect to conserving energy, enhancing productivity and not to forget, better lifestyle.