How green can you get
The futuristic ITC Centre in Gurgaon, Haryana, is the first corporate house in India to have been awarded the Platinum Green Building Rating, exemplifying leadership in energy and environmental design
In a chapter of The Road, Rachael Carlson wrote: "the road we have
been taking is deceptively easy, a smooth super highway on which we progress with great speed, but at its end lies disaster. The other fork of the road - the one less traveled by - offers our last, our only chance to reach a destination that assures the preservation of our Earth."
ITC commenced its journey on the less traveled road some 17 years ago, discovering unknown opportunities leading to new ways of doing old things, learning the art of eco-designing, the art of seeing opportunities where none existed. Conceptualization, modeling and scaling up became the forte of the Company.
ITC’s green initiatives do not stop with buildings. As an ecological pioneer, ITC has over the years integrated environment imperatives in its entire management system. The Company has established more than 400 checkdams in rural parts of India to enhance water security for the marginalized farmers and helped over 2 million farmers to enhance their earning capacity through knowledge empowerment techniques. Its paper division has reduced water consumption from 250 tons of water to 50 tons of water per ton of paper produced.
The ITC Welcomgroup chain has been identified as the greenest chain in the country by Business Standard. With the already established "green lining", it was easy for the management to plunge into the Green Building concept, which emerged in India in 2002.
ITC Centre, in Gurgaon, Haryana, has been awarded the Platinum Green Building rating by the USGBC-LEED (US Green Building Council - Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design). This is the highest rating in this category and ITC Centre is the largest Platinum rated building in the world. ITC is the first corporate house in India to have achieved this unique international distinction.
Construction activities on the Green Centre had already started when new changes had to be incorporated as per USGBC “green” demands. Despite the time and cost over-run, the bold "green" initiatives were taken and imple-mented. The ITC Centre has the following features:
- Environment tobacco smoke control
- Carbon dioxide monitoring
- Solar thermal water heating system for hot water generation
- Use of VAVs, chiller of 6.1
- Light pollution reduction
- Use of certified wood
- Use of day lighting that reduces life cycle cost on energy front
To achieve the highest LEED Rating for the ITC Centre, extensive research and simulation studies were conducted by the project team in consultation with the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), US Green Building Council (USGBC), architects, engineering consultants, independent commissioning agency, and the Shriram Research and Test Centre.
But, in a country where the construction industry is growing at an approximate rate of 10 percent per annum, a few green buildings will not suffice. The ITC Green Centre has been instrumental in engaging all stakeholders in green building practices, and demonstrated to the policy-makers that policies and economic instruments of the government must be such that green buildings become a part of the building byelaws as opposed to a few organizations taking up the green path in construction. ITC sensitized about 3,000 stakeholders during the construction of the ITC Green Centre.
In addition, ITC Welcomgroup conducts regular eco-design programs for schools, colleges, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), and chambers of commerce as part of its eco-responsible best practices, so that a cascading effect takes place in the shortest span of time.
"During the next quarter century, the most significant net contribution to a greener world will be made by industry. Not every company is there yet, but most are trying. Those that aren’t trying won’t be a problem simply because they won’t be around long term," believes Ed Woolard, former chairman of DuPont.
Courtesy: Niranjan Khatri, GM, Welcomenviron Initiatives
Tel: 91-124-4171717 (ext 1045)
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