What is perfectly green?

Developers are perplexed as two green rating agencies hardsell the advantages of their respective building certification methods.

India now has two competing systems to rate how green a building really is. There is the energy compliance certificate issued by the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC or Leed India) and the Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment (Griha). The former is benchmarked with global standards while the latter is home-grown.

Leed is the short form for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, whose standards are backed by the Confederation of Indian Industry and has been in use in India since 2001.

Griha officials claim that their test is more suited to Indian realities. According to them, the Leed India rating is primarily based on per capita energy consumption in developed nations like the US. India’s per capita consumption (of energy) is still very low.

The ministry has made it mandatory for government buildings to obtain a Griha rating as a precondition for departments to get subsidies and other financial assistance for green development

Currently, there are more than 50 projects being built across India based on Griha guidelines. First-mover IGBC has 604 buildings registered with it.