NEW DELHI: Using energy efficient measures can increase return on investment in commercial office spaces and can increase efficiency by above 50%, according to the Building Innovation Guide (BIG).
The Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (Berkeley Lab) has published a Building Innovation Guide (BIG) for achieving innovative buildings that are smart, green, and energy efficient and has documented best practices for commercial buildings in four temperature zones. The guide has looked at case studies in composite weather (Delhi, Chandigarh), warm-humid (Mumbai, Chennai), Hot dry (Hyderabad, Jaipur) and temperate (Bangalore, Pune).
According to the guide, energy represents 30% of the operating expenses in a typical office building and is the single largest and most manageable operating expense of offices.
“We need to ensure that our buildings are high performance, which basically means that they are taking into consideration all three factors-- profit, people and the environment. The buildings need to be cost-effective in terms of their maintenance, but also ensure good health of the people working in them and their productivity. Decarbonisation is important in view of the environmental concerns," said Reshma Singh, Program Manager, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
The guide says the difference in energy use between the ‘business as usual model’ and the ‘energy conservation building code’ model has a reduction of 40-50%. According to the guide, the usage of energy efficient material and designs including operable windows, awnings for shade can lead to an increase in the returns on investment for profit, people and the planet.
“It is a wrong perception, that opting for green building is a cost-intensive process. Analysing the cost of maintenance of a building over the years, one would realize, that it actually cuts down that operational cost," said Prabhu Ramachandran, Founder and CEO-Facilio Inc.
