Reduce Your Carbon Footprint: Begin With your Homes - Go Green

Global warming and climate change are no more fancy terms for discussion at world forums. The enemy is at the gate evidenced by prolonged droughts and/or massive floods. It plagues every corner of our country and this entire planet. The issue affects all of us and we cannot leave it to the heads of nations to do the right thing. So! Let’s do it ourselves. Go GREEN, and let it begin with the choice of our homes.

Our homes contribute substantial to the increasing carbon footprint of our planet. ‘Green Homes’ is a concept that’s time has come and it is our prime duty to wholeheartedly hitch our wagon to the environmental movement to ‘Go Green’. This will not only help to reduce our carbon footprint but in the long run save us a lot of energy and money.

What to Do?
There is a general awareness of the importance of conserving energy, especially among the new generation home buyers, who face stiff prices in the realty market today for houses. They realize that one of the ways to economize is to cut down on energy cost and on maintenance of homes, which lead to multiple benefits, especially a healthier life-style and precious savings on energy and water. Financial consultant, Sudesh Patil, of Mumbai who owns a 3 BHK apartment was worried with the steep electricity bills he had to pay every month. He roped in an architect who carried out some changes and substituted certain existing fixtures and portions of the house with environment-friendly products transforming it completely. “I always thought that adopting changes to create an environmental-friendly house would be prohibitively expensive but surprisingly it ended up saving more money,” says Patil.

Shveta Jain, Managing Director, residential service, Cushman and Wakefield India gives a ‘thumbs up’ to the concept of green homes. She says, “The concept of green homes not only aims at using natural building materials during construction, but also adopts other methods, such as solar energy for electrification, rainwater harvesting, waste management etc. Thus, the usage of natural resources and further recycling of the same ensures sustainability in the long term.”

Check the Design of the House
Home buyers should ensure that the homes they have short-listed have been made using energy saving and non-toxic building material with inbuilt facilities for better utilization of natural light, structural designing for ample flow of natural air throughout the house, includes rainwater harvesting, waste water treatment systems and other such new-age innovations to enable eco-friendly homes. Many enterprising developers, with a feel for the pulse of the people, are designing houses to meet the aspirations of the new-age home buyers. Homes should be designed to enhance the internal environment of the house so that no artificial assistance is required. A clever use of designing could carve out a space for a patch of lawn, a flower bed or a small kitchen garden. The advantages of having open green spaces around the building can increase cross-ventilation and lead to reduction of ambient temperature within the house, ensuring savings of energy, which would otherwise be used for artificial cooling. “The rate at which innovations in energy conservation and green technology are progressing, very soon it will be possible to design homes with almost zero net energy consumption. The impact of such innovations and its implementation by builders promises the hope of an increase in environmentally compatible surrounding in residential hot-spots,” says Pratiksha Vyas, an interior designer with an international design house.

Achieving Energy Efficiency with Innovation
There is a certain degree of ambiguity on the issue of saving energy, in an attempt to ‘go green’. Energy savings basically involves minimizing the use of electric energy in our daily lives. This can have uncomfortable consequences. The key to energy conservation is to optimize the usage of electricity by making maximum use of a given amount without compromising comfort. “The key components in energy saving houses are the increased use of natural light and ventilation – something that also aids in overall good health. Such houses need less air-conditioning. Home owners can also opt for energy-saving devices. Although, this may cost more, they last longer and reduce electricity bills and hence are a good investment,” advises Akshata Somaiya, an interior designer involved in the promotion of environment-friendly methods.

The use of potted plants, medicinal plants, and fragrant flowers helps keep the house cool and provides fresh air. Plan the placement of furniture and fixtures in rooms in such a way that they do not create obstruction in the path of the free flow of natural ventilation. This will reduce the dependence on fans and air-conditioning. Opt for LED illumination, which though it may cost more initially, actually help running costs and last longer, eliminating recurring cost of frequent replacements.

Insist on Environment-Friendly Products and Reduce, Reuse and Recycle
There is no ignoring the importance of conservation and sustainability of things we use daily. The focus should be to incorporate in our lives the principle of the ‘three R’s’ of waste management; Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. On a personal note this is a golden rule which should be scrupulously followed. While searching for a house, select one that is constructed from environment-friendly material. Jaimin Desai, Head – Sustainability, Mahindra Life Spaces believes, “Materials such as fly-ash bricks (instead of conventional clay bricks) Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (AAC) and Cellular Lightweight Concrete (CLC) blocks and high volume fly-ash concrete are in vogue. It has been made compulsory by the civic body to have sewage treatment plants, water treatment plants and rainwater harvesting systems.”

Home buyers should pursue projects developed by builders adopting the use of recycled waste wooden chips, constructing terraces and roof sections with high albedo (reflection coefficient) material and/or reflective paint to reduce heat absorption and retention, and other approved material, as these measure decrease dependence of resources.

Easy-to-Do Measures to Create Environment-Friendly Homes

• Ensure protection from outside heat by reflective protection;
• Insulate the roofs, lofts and wall, where possible with recycled material;
• Choose wood-frames for windows and doors which is a natural insulator, instead of PVC/metal, to keep homes cool;
• Use furniture made from recycled material;
• Use eco-friendly paints instead of cheap toxic paints;
• Recycle and reuse washing-machine water for flushing toilets;
• Use solar panel and storage devices to power your homes;
• Design your homes to allow natural light during day to avoid unnecessary usage of electricity;
• Incorporate rain-water harvesting essentially in your building plan.
• Optimize use of washing machines by optimal loads and avoid using heater;
• Use sparingly, only highly efficient inverter technology five-star air-conditioners.