Indian Railways’ South Central zone project has been awarded the first GRIHA (Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment) award for reducing its carbon footprint.
The certificate was presented by the Association for Development and Research for Sustainable Habitats (ADaRSH) to Secunderabad-based Rail Nirman Nilayam project in Delhi recently.
Constructed by the South Central Railways the project was completed in 2011-2012, the project is spread over an area of 7,800 square metres.
The complex has achieved a 36.5 per cent reduction in energy consumption as compared to the GRIHA benchmark by adopting several energy efficiency measures such as use of high-performance glass, shading systems, efficient lighting and space conditioning systems and controls for lighting.
It is the first of Indian Railways’ projects to be registered for GRIHA compliance and also the first registered project covered under the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy’s incentive scheme to receive the provisional GRIHA rating.
S.K. Sharma, chief administrative officer, South Central Railways at the Institute’s India headquarters, said: “We will continue our work to enhance energy efficiency. With recognitions like these, organisations do get enthused to reduce energy consumption and conserve the environment.”
“There is a huge scope to have green and eco-friendly buildings in the Indian Railways. The need of the hour is to create a movement across the Indian Railways to ensure upcoming buildings have a set benchmark to follow in terms of energy efficiency,” said Dr. Pachauri, director general, TERI and president, ADaRSH, congratulating the Rail Nirman Nilayam team.
ADaRSH is a society established by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) with support from and under guidance of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Government of India to implement GRIHA, the national rating system for green buildings.
