Affordability and sustainable development are considered anti-thesis across the world. Generally there exists conflict between the approach to sustainable built environment and affordable buildings. Sustainable development is considered more expensive. According to Middleton, ‘Sustainability and affordability aren’t mutually exclusive goals. It’s not about adding extra, but thinking more carefully about the design of buildings and incorporating technologies that can offset the rising costs of energy, water and other services. Affordability and sustainability are known to fit together perfectly’. Through excellent design, buildings can be made more sustainable and affordable. Smaller the footprint of buildings, lower will be the upfront costs and embodied energy and lower shall be the running costs of buildings. Looking at the entire context of health, rising cost of amenities/services; Sustainable/Green designs are now being increasingly adopted, to make built environment more cost-effective and affordable. Considering the enormous amount of built environment to be created, India will have no option but to tread the path of sustainability and sustainable development in the built environment. Sustainable built environment would also help in and go a long way in achieving the majority of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals for the reason, built environment is known to be the largest consumer of energy, avoid wasteful use of resources and minimise generation of waste. Global sustainability will be largely contingent upon how effectively and efficiently we can make our buildings sustainable and qualitative through innovative/green design solutions based on local climate and culture, valuing site planning, embedding orientation, cross ventilation, using renewable/waste materials and involving state of the art building technologies.

1. Planning and Designing Green Buildings- Issues, Options and
Strategies
* Ar. Jit Kumar Gupta
Introduction
Sustainability remains high on the agenda of all the nations globally for overcoming the
challenge and crisis created by the rising human
numbers; growing industrialisation; rapid
urbanisation; ever increasing fuel consumption ; ever
increasing mobility and growing footprints of built
environment. Accordingly ,sustainability, as an issue,
an option and as a strategy has been gaining currency
in the parlance of professionals, policy makers,
communities and governments, both locally and
globally, to make this world more humane, liveable,
productive, efficient and provider of quality of life.
Looking historically, negative co-relation has been
found to exist between sustainability and unsatiated
human desire of gobbling resources, consuming
energy and generating waste. Large number of
distortions emerging globally in terms of increasing pollution; rising temperature; ozone
depletion; waste generation ; climate change, extinction of large number of species, global
warming, flooding of cities etc have genesis in the manner development options are being
exercised by different stakeholders, states and nations to develop the built environment and
plan, design and operate human settlements. Cities globally account for consuming more
than 75% of energy and generating 70% of carbon footprints. Considering various
connotations, built environment is globally known to be the largest consumer of energy and
resources, impacting nature and contributing to climate change, resources depletion, waste,
over-consumption, diminished human health, and other significant problems. Accordingly,
buildings needs to be planned, designed, operated and managed with care and caution in
order to make them not only cost-effective , energy efficient but also supportive of
environment and ecology besides making value addition to resources and quality of life
.
Energy and Resource Implications of the Built Environment
The term-built environment refers to the man-made space that provide the setting for human
activity in which people live, work, and recreate on a day-to-day basis. Built environment has
been integral part of human history, scripting the march of humanity over times. Built
environment is known to be major determinant of quality of human living, having critical role
in promoting sustainability. No human habitat can be made sustainable unless it is supported

2. by built environment, which is energy and resource efficient. Globally, built environment is
known to have significant impact on environment and consumption of resources, accounting
for:
 16% of world’s fresh water withdrawal.
 25% of wood harvested
 30% of consumption of raw material.
 40% of global energy consumption.
 35% of world's CO2 emission
 40% of Municipal solid waste.
 50% of Ozone depleting CFC’s .
 30% of the residents having sick building syndrome.
 40-45 % of global warming
Need for Green Buildings
Earth has limited capacity and retains a finite wealth of resources. Extracting large resources
without caring for sustainability will ultimately lead to
depletion of non-renewable resources; which took millions of
years. Accordingly, it becomes essential that consumption of
these valuable resources is minimised and efforts should be
made to make value addition to these resources, so as to make
them available till posterity, for the use of future generations.
Buildings have major role to play in making this world
sustainable for the reasons that buildings remain the largest
consumers of energy; account for large proportion of resources
and also largest generators of waste. Considering the fact that
buildings consume 40% of the total global energy, criticality of
buildings and their role in minimizing energy consumption and promoting sustainability of
human habitat assumes importance. Looking at the con text of energy consumption in the
buildings over its entire life-cycle, only 17.5% energy is the embodied energy, which goes
into making of the building; another 10.6 % energy is used in its maintenance and upkeep;
whereas 74% energy is used in its day-to-day operations of buildings. With India on the
threshold of massive urbanisation propelled by large number of rural people rushing towards
urban centres, energy requirements of cities due to buildings, is going to rise sharply in
future.
Based on the projections made by the Mckinsey Global Institute, in its Report ‘India Urban
Awakening :Building Inclusive Cities’ ((April, 2010),) , India as a nation, will be required to
create, buildings to the tune of 700-900 million sqmts, on annual basis, to meet the emerging
needs of shelter ,trade ,commerce, healthcare, eduction etc in cities . With energy
consumption levels rising rapidly, the projected requirement of energy for buildings is going
to be enormous. Despite huge requirements, very little focus is being given to mitigate the
adverse impact on the environment caused by rapid and uncontrolled growth of building

3. industry. Thus building, as a sector, would require close scrutiny and monitoring for effecting
overall economy in the levels of energy consumption and making planet earth sustainable.
DESIGNING GREEN BUILDINGS
World Green Building Council has defined Green Building as a, “Building that, in its design,
construction or operation, reduces or eliminates negative impacts, can create positive impacts,
on our climate and natural environment. Green buildings preserve precious natural resources,
improve quality of life. It includes following features;
 Using efficiently energy, water and other resources
 Using renewable energy including solar energy
 Reducing pollution and waste, involving re-use and recycling
 Promoting good indoor environmental air quality
 Using non-toxic waste based sustainable materials
 Valuing environment as integral part of design, construction and operation
 Ensuring quality of life for occupants
 Evolving design, that responds positively to changing environment
Redefining Approach to Architectural Design;
Architectural design remains the starting point
and plays critical role in making buildings
sustainable because the way buildings are
designed, constructed and used have enormous
energy implications. Experience has shown that
buildings can be designed to meet the
occupant’s needs for thermal comfort at
reduced level of energy consumption by
adopting an integrated approach to building
design. The integrated approach to making
green buildings, would essentially include and
involve; rational site planning; optimising
shape, size and built form ; optimising surface to volume ratio; promoting building
efficiency; rationalising ratio between length and depth of the building; evolving efficient
structural design; adopting principles of solar passive techniques in building design; using
energy efficient equipment; putting in place optimum control and operation strategies for
lighting, heating, ventilation etc.; using solar energy/air movement for meeting the
energy/lighting needs of buildings; reducing use of transportation energy; replacing energy
intensive materials with low energy components; using materials made from waste/using
local materials, landscaping etc
Valuing Orientation

4. Orientation is the most critical factor which needs to be effectively leveraged in all building
design to evolve energy efficient building envelop by making use of solar light/heat/radiation
and the wind energy. However, requirements of building design would vary from region to
region, state to state and within regions and states. Accordingly, buildings with regard to sun
and wind will have to be oriented differently in different regions. In order to ensure that
buildings make best use of solar and wind energy, it would be essential that majority of
buildings should have the site advantage of having best orientation. Accordingly, in this
context town planners have important role cast for themselves for ensuring that while
preparing the layout plan of the area, highest consideration is given to orientation so that
maximum number of plots have the advantage of best orientation. Further, planners should
ensure that ratio of plot width and depth is fixed in such a manner that the entire depth of
built-up area, permitted on a plot, should have access to natural light during the day for
minimizing the requirement of artificial lighting. This would be particularly important in case
of row housing where plots have the option to draw light from front and the rear only.
Designing with nature by making best use of existing natural elements/sources and
vegetation, offers the best option of creating
sustainable buildings.
Promoting Retrofitting
Besides making new buildings green, concerted
efforts should also be made to convert large existing
stock of buildings, energy efficient and least consumer
of energy, by promoting and adopting the mechanism
of retrofitting. Singapore has already drawn a master
plan to make all the existing buildings green through a
collaborative policy framework involving residents,
property owners and the government. Retrofitting of
Empire State Building of New York has led to
achieving reduction of electricity load for the building
to the tune of 3.5 MW and reduction of green house
gas emissions by 1,00,000 tonnes over a 15 years period. The payback/recovery period for
the $13.1 million spent on retrofitting of building, has been placed at 3.5 years due to saving
of energy in lighting, air condition etc. Accordingly, retrofitting should be promoted on large
scale to achieve the desired objectives of energy efficiency within the built environment.
Making Energy Efficiency integral part of all Architectural Practice.
Architectural designs are known to hold the key to promote sustainability and affordability
of built environment. Accordingly, sustainable design needs to be made intrinsic and integral
part of all architecture practices. This can go a long way in promoting green buildings.
Considering the fact that construction and operation of buildings contribute 40-50% of all
greenhouse gas emissions, accordingly buildings, if designed with focus on energy and
resources optimisation, can minimize their carbon footprint and significantly contribute to
their long-term sustainability and affordability. Economy in buildings was being

5. predominantly achieved by utilizing economies of scale and minimizing up-front land,
design, labour and material costs. In majority of cases, affordable housing developments were
located on remote sites on the periphery of cities, totally disconnected from context, which
actually proved to be highly inefficient and cost-intensive in their use of energy, water and
materials; and often created unhealthy interior environments due to poor quality material used
and degradation. Sustainability and affordability in built environment can be promoted by
adopting design strategies as defined below:
 Adopting appropriate design strategies involving orientation, site climate,
vegetation, climate, wind direction and adopting passive strategies.
 Promoting design efficiency by making buildings compact with smaller footprints,
using space more efficiently, achieving highest carpet area, minimising circulation
/area under walls, adopting efficient structure and structural system, minimizing
construction waste
 Promoting energy efficiency incorporating principles enshrined in rating of
buildings involving thermal insulation, high performance windows, efficient heating,
ventilating and air conditioning, hot water heaters and geo-thermal options.
 Promoting water efficiency by creating buildings that use water efficiently and
minimize storm water runoff.
 Promoting high indoor air quality by choosing environmentally responsive
materials and finishes produced by clean manufacturing processes that do not produce
unhealthy interior environments.
 Using local materials in natural form, which are locally available, cost-effective,
having low embodied energy , produced from waste, easy/inexpensive to repair and
maintain.
 Using Construction Technologies which are cost-effective, energy efficient, time
efficient, resource efficient and minimum generator of waste.
 Respecting site while evolving design solutions and making optimum use of existing
flora and fauna
 Valuing Climate and Prevailing Climatic Conditions while designing the
buildings. Considering climate at three levels involving; regional, local and site
climate.
 Planning with Nature should remain the guiding principle of the building design,
construction, operation and management
Planning for Life Cycle Cost
Based on the studies made and analysis carried out, it
has been observed that initial cost of construction of
buildings involves only 10% of the life cycle cost of
buildings; maintenance cost is placed at 5% whereas the
operational cost have been found to be of the order of
85% . Unfortunately in the current practice of
construction of buildings, entire focus is to minimise

6. the initial cost with minimal focus on operation and maintenance cost. Sustainability remains
marginal, muted and diluted , with majority of the owners believing that it is expensive to
design, construct and operate sustainable/ green buildings. Latest researches have showcased
that these buildings, if planned, designed and constructed as green buildings, can make them
affordable over the entire life cycle with little or no additional upfront costs. Even with
additional upfront costs, sustainable designs are known to pay back the additional cost within
a short span of 3-4 years. Further, positive co-relation has been found to exist between
sustainability and affordability. Studies have revealed that higher the green rating of
building, larger is the saving in the operational cost of the building. Sustainable buildings are
known to create win-win situation for both owners, builders and occupants because these
buildings have been found to promote an environment which helps in:
 Saving energy up to 50%
 Saving water consumption up to 40%
 35% Reduction in carbon emission
 Reduction of 70% municipal waste
 Reduction of 8000-12000 Tons of Co2 per million Sq. ft. of buildings
 About 3 MW saving in connected electric load per million Sq ft of buildings
Employing more than 35 million people (1/6 of total workforce of country),India’s
construction industry is projected to expand, both horizontally and vertically, with
investments in residential, infrastructure and energy projects continuing to drive growth.
Various government flagship programs – including 100 Smart Cities Mission, Housing for
All, Atal Mission for Urban Rejuvenation and Transformation (AMRUT), Make in India and
Power for All – will be the major growth drivers. This is both an opportunity and challenge
for professionals and building industry to achieve proficiency in creating green built
environment. Skilling building industry in the art and science of planning, designing ,
constructing, managing and maintaining green/sustainable buildings will remain critical,
crucial and important for humanity, communities and nations to become sustainable.
Considering the major implications of buildings, it will be important and critical that
buildings are planned, designed and constructed as green/sustainable buildings, in order to
make them more affordable. Failure to make built environment green/sustainable will have
huge environmental, financial, physical and social cost.
Making Buildings Energy Positive
Current practices followed in building design and construction focus on merely making
buildings energy efficient. However, buildings have enormous capacity and potential of not
only generating enough energy, from renewable resource, which meets its requirements of
energy used/consumed in its operation and maintenance to make buildings zero-energy , but
also have the capacity to make buildings energy-positive. Accordingly, building design/
construction and technology will remain valuable, which would need to be effectively
leveraged, to create different options for generating more energy than what is consumed by
the building.

7. Opting for Water Conservation;
Having merely 4% of world’s water
resources for supporting 17.6% of
world’s population and 20% of world’s
livestock (500 million-Gangwar 2013),
India remains one of the most water
stressed nation globally. Despite limited
availability, India uses largest amount
of ground-water (24 percent of global
total), more than that of China and US
combined. India also has been
recognised as the third largest exporter of groundwater--12% (Water-Aid).India currently
ranks 120 among 122 countries in the water quality index. According to NITI Aayog, “India
is suffering from the worst water crisis in its history, and millions of lives and livelihoods are
under threat.” Critical issue of water is, demand on supplying aquifer/sources exceeding
ability to replenish it. Twenty-one Indian cities, including Bengaluru Delhi, are estimated to
run out of groundwater, affecting million people in the current decade. Known as elixir of
life, water remains critical for both human living as well as for building construction.
Buildings remain large consumers of water in its life-cycle including building operations,
producing materials used in construction, curing and in their operations and maintenance.
Building sector is estimated to consume 16% of total fresh water withdrawal globally. Green
buildings remain highly water-efficient, reducing consumption up to 40%. Accordingly, for
making construction sector water-efficient, green buildings shall be the best option. Effective
water management should revolve around fourfold strategy; protecting water, conserving
water, protecting water quality and reducing consumption. Options for minimizing water
consumption shall involve; adopting water-efficient construction practices. Pre-fabrication
technology is known for its water efficiency which needs to be leveraged effectively. Strategy
for multiple uses of water through dual plumbing; in-house sewage treatment; using
photometric solution for sewage treatment; using grey water for flushing and landscaping;
using water rated/efficient fixtures -ultra-low flush toilets/urinals; rationalizing landscaping;
using native flora& fauna; minimizing building footprints ; providing large porous spaces
etc., can lower water consumption and increase ground water recharge. The intent is to
reduce the generation of waste water and potable water demand. Slow the flow, breaking
water flow, creating mist by mixing air with water, are other options to reduce water
consumption. From water efficiency , there is need to graduate to zero-water buildings and
ultimately water-positive buildings by promoting rainwater harvesting, ground water re-
charging, air based cooling and reinventing sanitation system which is not simply water
based.

8. Using Green Materials & Green
Technologies;
Buildings consume three billion tons of raw
materials annually, constituting 40 percent of
total materials used globally (Roodman and
Lenssen, 1995). Materials remain major
determinant of embodied energy, cost, quality
and maintenance of buildings besides posing
serious environmental issues associated with;
extraction, transportation, processing,
fabrication, installation, reuse, recycling and their disposal. Considering their major
implications, materials used in buildings should, promote conservation of non-renewable
resources ; ensure energy conservation; minimise maintenance/replacement costs; create
healthy indoor environment; lowering costs associated with making additions/alterations
besides offering .greater design flexibility. Accordingly, materials used in buildings should
essentially be resource efficient; natural, plentiful, renewable; energy/water efficient;
environment responsive; affordable; involving minimum maintenance; recyclable; locally
available; easily salvaged, furbished and remanufactured; made from industrial /agro-waste
and durable. Further materials should be lightweight to reduce self- load of building,
involving using fewer/more durable materials and generating less waste at the end. In
addition, green buildings shall involve using state of art and innovative construction
technology which are cost- effective, material efficient, speedier, energy/water efficient, safe,
generators of minimum waste, using local resources, ensuring optimum use of materials,
integrating renewable and low-carbon technologies.
Ensuring and Maintaining Indoor Air Quality (IAQ);
With cost, quality and time becoming important, indoor air quality, despite its critical role and
importance, remains the most neglected aspect of building design. Since human beings spent
80% of their life span within building, accordingly IAQ becomes critical for making people
healthy/sick. Good IAQ remains essential element of Green Buildings because it ensures
quality in workplaces; reduces fatigue / tiredness of occupants; fosters better health and
improves their work performance. IAQ becomes critical when people themselves become
major source of emission. Good IAQ is known to create optimum living conditions by
avoiding CO2 concentration. Poor IAQ is the product of materials/ finishes used both in
interior and exterior of buildings; poor ventilation; chemical emissions; lack of natural light;
smoke/dust; moistures etc. As major determinant of IAQ, materials selected should be non-
toxic; having minimal chemical emissions; involve low-VOC assembly: moisture resistant and
easy to maintain besides using indoor plants. Promoting good IAQ would require
maintaining temperature range of 21 - 24o
C, relative humidity (RH) below70%; CO2 levels <

9. 1000ppm; exclude VOC with vapour pressures limited to restrict the fungal/ microbial/
pathogens growth. Natural daylight/ outside views/ good landscaping / efficient ventilation
are known to improve the IAQ.
Conclusion;
Globally, affordability and sustainable development are considered anti-thesis across the
world. Generally there exists conflict between the approach to sustainable built environment
and affordable buildings. Sustainable development is considered more expensive. According
to Middleton, ‘Sustainability and affordability aren’t mutually exclusive goals. It’s not about
adding extra, but thinking more carefully about the design of buildings and incorporating
technologies that can offset the rising costs of energy, water and other services. Affordability
and sustainability are known to fit together perfectly’.
Through excellent design, buildings can be made more sustainable and affordable. Smaller
the footprint of buildings, lower will be the upfront costs and embodied energy and lower
shall be the running costs of buildings. Looking at the entire context of health, rising cost of
amenities/services; Sustainable/Green designs are now being increasingly adopted, to make
built environment more cost-effective and affordable. Considering the enormous amount of
built environment to be created, India will have no option but to tread the path of
sustainability and sustainable development in the built environment. Sustainable built
environment would also help in and go a long way in achieving the majority of the 17
Sustainable Development Goals for the reason, built environment is known to be the largest
consumer of energy, resources and generators of waste. Global sustainability will be largely
contingent upon how effectively and efficiently we can make our buildings sustainable
through innovative/green design solutions, using renewable/waste materials and involving
state of the art building technologies.
Note; All images used in the text are sourced from
https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/image, which are thankfully acknowledged.
Bibliography
 Future of Construction Sector in India, Build Tech Magazine India - September 9, 2016
 Walker Wells, Ed, Blueprint for Greening the Affordable House, Washington: Island Press, 2007, pp 2
 http://www.sanctuarymagazine.org.au/ideas-advice/more-affordable-and-more-sustainable/
 Alpana Sivam and Sadasivam Karuppannan; The Sustainability of Affordable Housing, University of South
Australia
 McKinsey Global Institute: “India’s Urban Awakening: Building Inclusive Cities, Sustaining Economic
Growth”, April 2010
 Gupta JK; Options for Creating Sustainable Built Environment for All; printed Paper
 Gupta J K; Strategies for Making Buildings Green and Energy Efficient; Indian Building Congress Annual
Congress; Printed paper
Author:
* Ar. Jit Kumar Gupta
Former Chairperson; Indian Green Building Council, Chandigarh Chapter
# 344, Sector 40-A, Chandigarh-160036.
Email: jit.kumar1944@ gmail.com