Building a house: Read code green

Building a house: Read code green

December 15th, 2009
By Our Correspondent
Tags: Building Energy Conservation Code, eco-friendly, Houses

Dec. 14: If you are building a new home in 2010 be ready to go green. The government plans to make the ‘Building Energy Conservation Code’ mandatory for all new constructions in the state.
The code, introduced by the Union government in 2008, will also cover existing houses and buildings undergoing a renovation to give energy saving a boost at every level.
“Once the code is implemented, we aim to reduce energy consumption by 20 per cent in old buildings, 30 per cent in existing commercial buildings and 40 per cent in new buildings. The building code includes easy but effective measures which will alter the construction in a way that energy consumption is cut down,” said secretary for environment, Kanwar Pal, speaking on the sidelines of the National Energy Conservation Day programme held here on Monday.
“By next year the Union government aims to reduce energy consumption by 10,000 MW in the country. The measures such as extending the roof top open space, and making sure that balconies and windows allow in a greater amount of natural light are in the pipeline,” Mr Pal explai-ned.
Power minister S Ishwarappa, who inaugurated the programme, admitted that the state was running short of about 3,500 MW of energy.
While the demand is 10,500 MW the state has a little over 7,000 MW at its disposal.
“We lose about 22.5 per cent of the power generated in transmission and distribution (T&D). We aim to bring this down to 15 per cent by next year,” the minister said.
He, however, felt that the next five years were promising for the state in terms of energy production. “The state has entered into several MoUs and projects to meet its energy demands . By 2012 we will be self sufficient in energy,” he promised.