Make Our Bank A Green Building

Mahatma Gandhi, father of nation and founder of Union bank of India once told – Mother Earth will Provide Every Thing for Human Need but not Greed. Fast depletion of resources like fossil fuels, ore coupled by exponential population growth and aspiration for higher quality of life will slowly make earth – warm, highly polluted, having no minerals or fossil energy resources. So to save this planet from resource crunch – one of the answer is Green Building. - Dr Shivaji Biswas

Green building is a building which will generate it’s own energy requirement from renewable resources and will be able to export to grid as and Waste from green building will also be treated in same way that it will generate energy and cause no harm to environment. In India, there are many green buildings certified by a body name Green Building Certifying Authority.

Green practices in the existing buildings can help address national issues like water efficiency, energy efficiency, reduction in fossil fuel use in commuting, handling of waste and conserving natural resources. Most importantly, these concepts can enhance occupant health, happiness and well-being.

Scope of Bank as Green Building

Newly constituted buildings have to obey ECBC (energy conservation building code) / Against this background, the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) has launched ‘IGBC Green Existing Building O&M Rating System’ to address the National priorities. By applying IGBC Green Existing Building O&M criteria, existing buildings can be sustainable over the life cycle of the building. This rating programme enables the building owner / developer to apply green concepts and criteria, so as to reduce the environmental impacts, which are measurable. The programme covers methodologies to cover diverse climatic zones and changing lifestyles.

IGBC Green Existing Buildings (Operations & Maintenance) Rating System

IGBC Green Existing Buildings O&M Rating System is a voluntary and consensus based programme. The rating is focused on sustained performance of buildings with respect to the green features. The overarching objective of this rating system is to facilitate building owners & facility managers in implementation of green strategies, measure their impacts and sustain the performance in the long run. The rating system is fundamentally designed to address national priorities of resource conservation while providing quality of life for occupants. The rating programme uses well accepted National standards and wherever local or National standards are not available, appropriate international benchmarks have been considered.

Unique features of IGBC Existing Buildings (O&M)

  • Focus is on implementation and results achieved.
  • Documentation requirements are minimal. Instead, it is more of evidence like photos and calculations.
  • The rating can be applied to both air-conditioned and non-air conditioned buildings.
  • The rating is designed to suit all building types in all climatic zones. Exclusions are residential and Factory buildings for which IGBC’s existing ratings can be applied.
  • Water being of prime national concern, is given higher weightage.
  • For energy related aspects, Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC) or the Energy Performance Index (EPI) as recommended by Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), is the reference standard.

Criterion of Energy Efficient Building

The criterion is for office buildings on a 5 star scale with 5 star scale being most efficient. Five categories of buildings – office, buildings, Hotels, Hospitals, retail malls and IT parks located in five Indian climatic zone in the country have been identified for the programme.

Energy performance index (EPI) in kwh/sq meter/year will be considered for rating of buildings –it varies as different climatic zone. For example, a Bank building would get a five star rating if it’s EPI falls below 90/kwh/sq meter/year and one star if it is between 165-190 kwh/sqmeter/hr. in mathematical terms.

EPI in Kwh/Sqmeter/Yr = (Electricity Consumption in Kwh+DG Set Electricity Generation in Kwh) in Year/Total Build up Area in Square Meter.

Energy performance index (EPI) in kwh/sq meter/year will be considered for rating of buildings –it varies as different climatic zone. For example, a Bank building would get a five star rating if it’s EPI falls below 90/kwh/sq meter/year and one star if it is between 165-190 kwh/sqmeter/hr. in mathematical terms.

EPI in Kwh/Sqmeter/Yr = (Electricity Consumption in Kwh+DG Set Electricity Generation in Kwh) in Year/Total Build up Area in Square Meter.

Responsibility of bank to convert it into green building

The energy load of bank are-lighting, airconditioning, pumping, LPG for canteen, fan etc. Most of the banks have changed look by interior decoration and made internal atmosphere more customer friendy. Except regional office, zonal office, local head office, other offices are rented accommodation where water is provided. Some of energy saving strategies are –

  • L.1 Replace the existing fluorescent lamps (2×36 Watt and 1×36 Watt) with new technology high efficiency light-emitting diode (LED) lamps (2×18 Watt and 1×18 Watt) in selected areas.
  • L.2 Replace the existing downlight halogen spot lamps (35 and 65 Watt) with high efficiency LED lamps (4 and 14 Watt, respectively).
  • L.3 Replace existing 26 Watt downlight compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) with 12 Watt LED lamps in main elevator areas (lift lobby).
  • L.4 Replace existing low efficiency 25 Watt incandescent lamps with 5 Watt LED lamps in selected areas.
  • L.5 Reduce T5 35 Watt fluorescent lamps in guest room corridors to match international standards for lighting levels.
  • AC.2 Control the operation of air conditioning (A/C) systems in rooms to switch off automatically when the balcony door is opened.
  • AC.3 Increase the set-point temperature on A/C systems by 2 degrees for unoccupied rooms.
  • AC.5 Use variable frequency drive (VFD) to control the operation of air handling units (AHUs) through a temperature feedback signal.
  • AC.6 Reduce the effect of lighting on the A/C load.
  • O.3 Use door switch to control the operation of cold store refrigeration compressors.

Net metering: Banks can export energy by using solar photovoltaics at design /grassroot constriction stage. Building surface and roof if properly used.


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