Chennai Corner

Those Living In Glass Houses...
Chennai used to have the largest number of green buildings--35 in number--tilllast year. Mumbai is ahead now with 70 green buildings. But Chennai still hasthe largest number of certified green buildings. Of the 191 green buildingscovering 110 million square feet that have come up in India since 2004, 20 arecertified and of them nine are in Chennai. For those who want to know, the Worldhas 20,000 green buildings; in the US, which started going green in 1994, theycover an area of one billion square feet.

Last week, at the CEO's Meet on Mission on Sustainable Growth organized by CIIin Chennai, 20 companies including Ashok Leyland, Grundfos Pumps, Wipro signedthe CII Code for Ecologically Sustainable Business Growth. Till date, 38companies in India have voluntarily committed to reducing energy consumption,water and other natural resources and to promoting ecologically sustainablegrowth in the country. The objective of the Mission is to champion conservationof natural resources in Indian industry without compromising on growth. Whichbrings me to my question: Did so many brochures on glazed paper have to bebrought out to tom tom a noble objective? It seems like a self-defeatingexercise to use so much paper--which entails cutting many trees--to do that. Andno, the paper was not recycled.

Grass Is Greener...
What does a green building have that an ordinary building does not have?"Water efficiency, sustainable site, energy efficiency, materials andresources and indoor environmental quality," says S. Raghupathy, SeniorDirector & Head CII-Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Centre, which is based inHyderabad and is a unique and successful model of public-private partnershipbetween the government of Andhra Pradesh, Godrej & Boyce Mfg Co and CII withthe technical support of USAID.

With its low flow water fixtures, waterless urinals and use of storm water andrecycled water for irrigation, a green building has 35 per cent reduction vis avis a normal building. And in these days of power shortages, a green buildinghas much to recommend it because in comparison to a normal building, a greenbuilding shows a 50 per cent saving in overall energy consumption and an 80 percent reduction in lighting consumption.

Some years ago, I worked in an office where I used to sit in a cabin looking ata wall covered with a list of things to do. In all the four years I workedthere, I did not have a clue when day turned to night or when it rained. Oncewhen there was a huge big rainbow in the sky (described the next day as arare phenomenon by scientists), I had to hurry to the terrace to take in theawesome sight. But a green building ensures 75 per cent occupants have access tothe outside view so that they feel close to nature.

Brrrrr...Raise The Thermostat
Have you walked into a room and shivered so much that you feel that you may havewalked into a freezer by mistake? It's usually hotels, restaurants and officeswhere you walk in with casual clothes and wish you had a ski jacket on insteadbecause air-conditioning is usually not regulated and temperatures between 17-20degrees Celsius are maintained.

Hotels apparently think that they are doing their foreign guests, who come fromcold countries, a favour. But the truth is many fall sick because of the cold.Studies have shown that productivity is highest when the ambient temperaturemakes you comfortable and that is between 23.3--26.6 degrees Celsius. And ifhumidity exceeds 60 per cent, as it does in Chennai when the mercury soarsbeyond 45 degrees Celsius, one feels run down. So temperature control is thekey, but the regulator device which could cost anywhere between Rs 20,000 to Rs1,00,000 is something many buildings don't invest in.

In a green building every space is monitored and measured, even carbon dioxidewhich should be 325 ppm so you don't feel like you are choking. For the record,these emission levels can be as high as 1000 parts per million on Anna Salaiduring peak traffic -- which may well account for many a headache.

Rain, Rain Go Away
Chennai is supposed to have rains between September/ October to December, butfor the last three weeks, there's been thunder, lightning and rain. The downsideis that unseasonal rains are never good for the crops, but the upside is thatall the water-supplying lakes to the city are full. Long gone are the days whenChennai used to be seen as a water-deficient city.
On March 22, the skies opened up and lashed Goa, the kind of rain that is ahallmark of a good monsoon. Parts of the US saw flash floods and so did otherparts of the world. Unpredictable, that's what the weather has become and likelyto get worse with the continental shelf in the Antarctic melting. So it istimely that Chennai got India's first centre dedicated to monitoring climatechange and finding country-specific solutions. And it is fitting that it wasinaugurated by R K Pachauri, Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on ClimateChange.

Water Wars
They say the next world war will be fought over water--evidence of this isalready there with Tamil Nadu in a tangle with Karnataka over the Cauvery fornearly 20 years. Right now, both states have upped the ante over the HogenakkalWater Supply Project which will provide drinking water from the Cauvery to 30lakh people in Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri districts, where fluorosis is high.

Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, who laid the foundation for the Rs 1,343 croreproject (the funding came from Japan Bank for International Co-operation (JBIC))may be out to win brownie points from fellow-Tamils by his provocativestatements (including his branding of protestors in Karnataka as"linguistic chauvinists") but going by the violence that has beenunleashed in Karnataka, perhaps he should have kept his own counsel as headmittedly did in the past. After all, while he plays politics, it's poor Tamilswho could be targeted.