[box type=”shadow” align=”aligncenter” ]With growing awareness and the understanding of the benefits of a Green Building, developers are today conscious of including waste in the Green compliance. K. Raheja Corp, Mumbai, is pioneering the industry’s commitment towards a Green society by making all commercial and residential projects LEED & IGBC Green Certified. Zero waste is one of the components adopted in the Raheja Business Parks.[/box]
TK Raheja Corp has developed over 40.9msqft of Green building footprint spread across the West and South of India. Its business parks go with the names Mindspace and Commerzone and are gated business communities offering world class infrastructure. The parks have huge green expanses with end to end waste management system. From water to dried leaves, from wasted food to use of glass in the buildings.
The business parks do not give out any waste into the local municipal waste and it is all re-used within the business park. According to Shabbir Kanchwala, Sr. Vice-President, K Raheja Corp all the business parks today are places of work for a number of people and remain responsibility of the company to provide a sustainable green work environment that is not only safe, but also healthy.
Some Sustainability Steps
Glazing: A Low ‘e’ double glazed glass is used to reduce the heat ingress into the building. These windows help make the indoor area more comfortable, it dramatically reduces energy costs and help to create a brighter, cleaner and healthier environment.
Water Efficiency: This is achieved through Low flow fixtures, sewage treatment through reuse of recycled water for flushing and landscaping, and appropriate use of drip and high efficient sprinkler irrigation system. It helps in reducing operating cost in terms of lesser energy and water bills for the end users.
Sewage Treatment: Sewage treatment helps remove the contaminants from wastewater, through physical, chemical, and biological processes and produce environmentally safe treated wastewater. This treated water is reused for flushing, gardening & HVAC. This reduces the daily water demand by 20-30% at the project and has been in practice since 2009.
Rainwater Harvesting: The rainwater is reused for landscaping & flushing. The various initiatives to save| re-use water, has resulted in an average of 25% reduction in usage of water.
Dry Waste Composting: The composting plant has been employed to reduce waste in an environmentally sound fashion. The efficient composting program is capable of producing high-quality soil amendment and has a large variety of end users.
Trees: Trees are native and use less water. Hence, they are low in maintenance.
Low-Emitting Materials: Local and recycled materials having lower embodied energy are used in the projects. It ensures the reduction or no use of low-VOC paints, adhesives, and sealants which are better for the environment and indoor air quality.
Renewable Energy through Solar PV Panels: Installation of rooftop Solar PV modules was done four years ago, to generate power at various buildings of Mindspace. This has resulted in lower power bills to building tenants.
LED Lights in Common Areas: Lighting is a major contributor to overall building energy consumption. Lower power requirement than ordinary incandescent lamps & CFL’s, high efficiency & long life are the major advantages of using LED lights.
