India’s urban awakening: Building inclusive cities, sustaining economic growth

India has a young and rapidly growing population—a potential demographic dividend. But India needs thriving cities if that dividend is to pay out. New MGI research estimates that cities could generate 70 percent of net new jobs created to 2030, produce around 70 percent of Indian GDP, and drive a near fourfold increase in per capita incomes across the nation.

Handled well, India can reap significant benefits from urbanization. MGI offers a range of recommendations, the vast majority of which India could implement within five to ten years. If India were to follow the recommendations, it could add 1 to 1.5 percent to annual GDP growth, bringing the economy near to the double-digit growth to which the government aspires.

Surging growth and employment in cities will be a powerful magnet. MGI projections show India’s urban population soaring from 340 million in 2008 to 590 million in 2030. And this urban expansion will happen at a speed quite unlike anything India has seen before. It took India nearly 40 years (between 1971 and 2008) for the urban population to rise by nearly 230 million. It will take only half the time to add the next 250 million.

India has the potential to unlock many new growth markets in its cities, many of them not traditionally associated with India including infrastructure, transportation, health care, education, and recreation. MGI projects that, to meet urban demand, the economy will have to build between 700 million and 900 million square meters of residential and commercial space a year. In transportation, India needs to build 350 to 400 kilometers of metros and subways every year, more than 20 times the capacity building of this type that India has achieved in the past decade. In addition, between 19,000 and 25,000 kilometers of road lanes would need to be built every year (including lanes for bus-based rapid transit systems), nearly equal to the road lanes constructed over the past decade.

Cities can also deliver a higher quality of life. Urban scale benefits means the cost of delivering basic services is 30 to 40 percent cheaper in concentrated population centers than in sparsely populated areas. But to reap such benefits, India needs to meet an unprecedented policy challenge. If it fails to do so, this could seriously jeopardize its growth and risk high unemployment.

Although urban India has attracted investment on the back of strong growth, its cities are still failing to deliver even a basic standard of living for their residents after years of chronic underinvestment. Unless it steps up investment in its cities, India could well lose the productivity dividend of urban living. Today, in per capita terms, India’s annual capital spending of $17 is only 14 percent of China’s $116 and less than 6 percent of New York’s $292.

MGI estimates that India needs to invest $1.2 trillion just in capital expenditure in its cities over the next 20 years, equivalent to $134 per capita per year, almost eight times the level of spending today. If India taps into five sources of funding used in cities around the world—monetized land assets, higher property taxes, user charges that reflect costs, debt and public-private partnerships, and formula-based government funding—its largest cities could generate as much as 80 percent of the funding they require from internal sources.

The official press release:

is set to foray in Indian market its first set of Green stores, designed and planned on LEED pricipals and certification from USGBC. Designed by JGA, a Detroit based leading Retail design firm along with FRDC (Future Research Design Company), Bangalore, the stores will consume 40% less energy and will generate 15-20% power from Solar energy. All materials used in the store are made of high content of Recyclable material and everything will be procured from within 500 Km of radius of the store.

Store will demonstrate a high degree of local skills usage and crafts intervention and thus providing opportunities to local craftsmen and the Industry. All process and fabrication work of the store will be monitored by Green team constituted by the Architects and Associate team from FRDC Bangalore and Delhi. All waste generated during the construction shall be either reused in the store or shall be supplied to Recycle dealers.

However there is no indication of what kind of retail these shops will cater to. And what remains to be questioned is why use the USGBC rating when there is an IGBC rating system in place.

The strategies outlined tend towards mechanical solutions to issues. What remains to be seen is if there is a larger design solution to the sustainability strategy.

By Anupama Mohanram / The Hindu

Not only has GRIHA evaluated and incorporated most of the green building criteria originally developed by LEED, a green building rating system that was developed in the US and adopted by the Indian Green Building Council in 2001, it has also added further requirements to make the system more suitable to the Indian building context. In addition, MNRE has made it mandatory for buildings to obtain a GRIHA rating to avail subsidies and other financial assistance allocated for green development. The Ministry also provides incentives to local bodies that offer rebate in property tax for GRIHA rated buildings.

Key features

Some of the key additional features that GRIHA requires are:

Basic building codes and standards: LEED originated in the US, where basic construction norms and regulations such as construction worker safety, health & sanitation, minimum visual and thermal comfort are strictly complied with and without which construction approvals are not granted. LEED’s criteria assumes adherence to these basic codes and norms which may not be mandatory in India.

On the other hand, GRIHA requires compliance with certain basic codes and norms prescribed by Indian standards such as the National Building Code (NBC), Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC) and Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), by selectively enforcing a few of these even though they may not be required by local development authorities for construction approvals. This approach ensures that these basic standards are also achieved along with environmental performance. A few of these basic standards in GRIHA include:

- Minimum level of sanitation/safety facilities for construction workers.

- Minimum natural day lighting requirements as per the NBC

- Minimum artificial lighting requirements as per the ECBC

- Urban context consideration

Focus on non-airconditioned buildings: Traditionally, buildings in India have been designed with climate sensitivity in mind, trying to achieve thermal comfort for occupants without the use of mechanical interventions. GRIHA’s criteria provide more credit to climate responsive architecture and design to minimise energy use compared to LEED criteria.

Mandatory minimum requirement for solar energy: Backed up by MNRE subsidies, GRIHA requires, as a mandatory criterion, 1 per cent of the total energy needs for the development to be sourced from solar power. Quality of ground water in India is not guaranteed as in other countries such as the U.S. GRIHA mandates the treatment of ground water for drinking and irrigation to the norms as prescribed by ISI.

Noise pollution: LEED does not evaluate acoustical comfort. GRIHA requires adherence to Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and NBC guidelines for acceptable outdoor and indoor noise levels. All of the above make GRIHA very comprehensive. Incentives and subsidies by the MNRE: Buildings that achieve a minimum of 3-star GRIHA rating will be eligible for reimbursement of registration fees and cash incentives to their architects and consultants. Financial support for solar PV installations is also being offered. In addition , the MNRE is also offering Rs.50 lakhs to municipal corporations and Rs.25 lakhs to other urban local bodies that announce rebate in property tax for GRIHA rated buildings and make it mandatory for new government and public sector buildings to be rated under GRIHA.

Over the years, LEED has achieved global recognition as the rating system of choice for eco-friendly development. On the other hand, the availability of MNRE incentives and its greater relevance to the Indian context makes GRIHA an attractive option to government, quasi-government and private corporations with a predominantly Indian customer base. We spoke to Gaurav Shorey, GRIHA Secretariat, about the future of GRIHA . The next steps would be specific ratings for existing buildings and for low-income and rural housing developments that would be formulated in collaboration with organisations such as the HUDCO. The possibility of relaxation of FAR regulations for building developments with a GRIHA rating is also being weighed.

Architects, planners and others with green caps and fingers are unveiling a plan to promote use of green principles for eco-friendly

infrastructure, necessitated by climate change.

Confederation of Indian Industry (CII, Goa) and Indian Institute of Architects (IIA) Goa chapter have initiated a joint effort towards creating a cell in Goa to promote green buildings for housing, industries and commercial sector. "We are working on the building design, incorporating the green concept and doing computer test models to ensure that the buildings are really energy-saving before we actually build them," said Dean D’Cruz, architect and former chairman of IIA (Goa chapter).

Conceding that awareness is just building up in Goa at the moment, D’Cruz said research shows that conventional buildings consume 40% of the energy used on earth. "If we are to address the issue of climate change, green buildings are important for Goa," he explained. Raya Shankhwalker, a Panaji-based architect, said that "in Goa, nothing is being done on an organized level, but as a private initiative some architects are consciously moving towards the green building concept".

As a first step, Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) is trying to set up its Goa cell with assistance from Goa chapters of CII and IIA. "IGBC has been successfully nationally and if the Goa chapter is set up it will help in spreading the green building concept," Shankhwalker said.

D’Cruz explained that IGBC encourages promoters of green buildings to make them accessible to the public. "In this way, these can serve as demonstration models for awareness to be created at public level," he said. While plans are being drawn for such a model in Goa, IGBC held a conference in the city recently to take the concept forward.

Amish Patel, a valuer and mechanical engineer speaking at a national seminar on valuation of assets in Margao on October 9 and 10, referred to the potential for developing greener infrastructure in India’s fast growing construction sector. "This is both valid from an economic as well as environment point of view. An early step taken during the designing stage of construction activity can result in tremendous savings over the longer period of utilization of the construction," he said.

As part of the green initiative, the promoters will help people access the green technology. "If people want to go for green homes or buildings, CII can extend support to them," said D’Cruz. The CII will provide them links to manufacturers of environment-friendly material and machinery and also guidelines to be followed while undertaking green constructions.

On its part, the IIA will promote among architects the idea of green buildings. "We want to do it so that they are encouraged to use green principles in their work," explains D’Cruz, whose firm has a few such projects in Noida, Goa and elsewhere.

Sources say a few projects using green principles are under construction. "But there are also some builders who make false claims on the basis of installing some solar panels and a few plants on their premises," a source said.

Obtaining green ratings from IGBC, which is tantamount to certification like ISO, can help hotels and other housing ventures commercially. But green principles can be followed without inviting a rating agency to certify the building. "Private residences need not go for ratings as costs are involved, but they can follow the principles," D’Cruz said.

A standard definition of a green building is that it uses less water, optimises energy efficiency, conserves natural resources, generates less waste and provides healthier spaces for occupants, as compared to a conventional building. Explains D’Cruz, "Green buildings uses less energy, and initially cost 5% to 7% more because users are paying for new systems and research and development costs, but within five years, they can recover the costs and start saving."

But some like Shankhwalker advocate that the concept of conservation of energy in buildings and constructions be taken to the grassroot level. "One of the best ways of achieving this is to incorporate green initiatives in building bye laws, and one of these is to make rainwater harvesting and recharge mandatory for every construction being taken up in Goa."

The other initiatives would be to encourage use of solar energy in buildings for heating of water, which is being pursued by Goa Energy Development Agency. "Architects can employ innovative techniques for building homes that are cooler without airconditioning while government can start by replacing all incandescent bulbs in its offices and quarters with CFL ones," Shankhwalker said.

Morad Ahmed, chief town planner, town and country planning department, said a recommendation of environment minister Aleixo Sequeira regarding green buildings had been acted upon. "We have written a note to the government to adopt green principles for government buildings," said Ahmed.

Original article here.

Can you look at a building and tell if it’s green? Sometimes, appearances can be deceptive. We clue you in on what really makes a building environment-friendly

By Himanshu Burte / LiveMint

Sustainability is the buzzword. Every manner of building makes a claim to “greenness” today. While there are various ways of judging how green a building is, we often assume its look also offers a clue.

This seems reasonable. If a building is made largely of a material that consumes less energy and produces fewer emissions, the building is likely to be greener than others. Buildings that expose stone, brick or a wood skeleton consume less cement because they are not plastered. Also, if this material is local, little energy is consumed in transportation. So can there actually be a green look for a building?

That depends on how the question is phrased. We may ask, “Can we judge how sustainable a building is from its looks?” Or “Are there some aesthetic values that lead to more sustainable architecture?”

Let’s take the first question first. From the late eco-architect Laurie Baker’s buildings in Kerala, we may conclude that using natural materials and showing them off will lead to a greener building. Such strategies reduce the use of energy-guzzling materials such as cement, steel, aluminium and glass. Yet as Surya Kakani, an Ahmedabad-based architect who has built several eco-sensitive institutional and industrial facilities, says, “A building in mud may not be truly green in its impact if the mud is transported from a faraway location, using up a lot of fuel.”

Waste material locally available may be the best. Some years ago, Kakani used earthquake rubble to build load-bearing walls for a school in Rajkot, which he then plastered and painted—a conventional look with deep green veins. At a recently completed garment factory in Ahmedabad (which is day-lit and naturally ventilated), he exposed the mix of fly-ash bricks (75%) and burnt bricks (25%) in a distinctive look that flaunts environment-friendly underpinnings.

Size matters too. An air-conditioned, 5,000 sq. ft bachelor’s pad, even if built with local mud, would not be the best illustration of sustainable architecture. In this case, size alone would negate the low-energy consumption of the building material, even before power-guzzling appliances come into play. The natural look of mud construction can hide a very unnatural attitude to consumption.

Perhaps there is no green look then. Or maybe looks have nothing to do with sustainability.

A less sustainable look?

Consider the other side of the coin—is there an aesthetic that is inherently non-green?

One look at oversized glass and aluminium composite panel (ACP) building blocks in Gurgaon, neighbouring Delhi, or Whitefields, near Bangalore, and you know these are not sustainable buildings. The huge glass walls face any direction, including the west, from where the hottest low-angle sun streams in. Glass lets in light and traps heat. So these corporations must consume a lot of energy (and cash) to keep the interiors cool. And all this because of the “progressive” look they desired.

Certainly, the glass and ACP facades are an aesthetic choice. We have been conditioned by the use of glass in American skyscrapers into believing that it best expresses corporate identity. Over the second half of the 20th century, private corporations rose in power, and glass became the architectural motif of power and prestige.

So much so that glass (and ACP) is the exterior material of choice for many non-corporate entities, even many governments. You can find cultural centres and small businesses adorned with glass even in scorching semi-desert climates. The state-built PL Deshpande Maharashtra Kala Academy, built over the old Ravindra Natya Mandir at Prabhadevi in Mumbai, is an example. A small hotel in Bhuj, Gujarat, in which I stayed two weeks ago, had a large glass surface catching the hot morning sun. Behind the glass was the air-conditioned lobby.

So the glazed look would certainly seem to have an unsustainable ecological impact. However, things are not quite so simple.

Indiscriminate glazing can certainly make buildings unbearably hot and increase energy consumption in the form of air conditioners. But glass is not the villain. If expanses of glass face shaded courtyards and let in reflected light, we could get free daylight, while avoiding the heat and glare. The Apollo Tyres headquarters, designed by Morphogenesis in Gurgaon, does this with the style of a typical corporate office in glass, aluminium and stainless steel.

Climatic considerations

The real problem is our fascination for a particular look irrespective of its climatic and ecological appropriateness. Through the buildings they design, architects often engineer and strengthen this fascination. If large numbers of architects continue to favour one look, they push people’s imagination towards it.

Yet, sometimes, the work of even a single architect can counter this—such as that of the late Joseph Allen Stein, who nudged the imagination of architects and laypeople in New Delhi towards a more nature-friendly taste. The values embodied in Stein’s work, such as the brick-walled India Habitat Centre, constitute a much more ecologically responsible approach.

This puts a special responsibility on architects. Not only do they need to know the actual ecological impact of their design decisions, they must also consider the cultural impact. “Whatever aesthetic an architect wants to explore must be explored responsibly,” says Jaigopal G. Rao, an Ernakulam-based architect with expertise in eco-sensitive architecture. “We can’t casually choose a look that needs energy-guzzling materials and goes against climatic logic.”

For his part, Rao has already developed a unique style of building, combining bamboo with concrete to create light, airy and ecologically gentle architecture.

Now, it’s up to the rest of us.

*******

Pointers for greener buildings

• Reduce: Build as little as possible, so that you consume little even with conventional technology. If possible, reduce the use of energy-guzzling materials such as cement, steel and aluminium. Look for alternatives. A tip: Labour-intensive technology can often reduce total fossil fuel energy use

• Reuse: Buy doors, windows and similar building parts from second-hand dealers

• Recycle: Recycle water, waste, garbage and anything else you can think of

• Reset: Expectations of comfort and style can be limited to what may be naturally available through good architectural design without mechanical equipment. If you must use an air conditioner, accept a temperature of 27 degrees Celsius, instead of 22, and save energy costs. Also, change your lifestyle to save every drop of water and electricity

• Resource: Local material saves transportation energy. Cement, steel and the tiles available in your local store don’t count as local material. Instead, explore the possibilities of local stone, mud, bamboo and terracotta. Also, explore ferrocement and innovative brickwork techniques

If someone were to ask you, which route you preferred while travelling from Delhi to Chennai, the options being via Jammu and via Chandigarh, what would your response be? If someone asked a poor village whether she preferred milk with four per cent fat to that with three per cent, what would her answer be? If someone asked a friend whether, in case he developed cancer, he would prefer cancer of the lungs or the stomach, what would his answer be?

Some questions are stupid, not because their answers will be stupid, but because the framing of the question itself is faulty. The current backslapping and self-congratulatory award functions organised by the "green" building lobby and the institutions that certify the depth of the greenness of the buildings, remind me of questions like these.

Without doubt, inherently, India is the most "recycling" society. Yes, today this may be poverty-driven; but think of the number of crafts that have developed from this basic attitude of not wasting and of being frugal. The beautiful kantha embroidery is just one such, where old and softened clothes are layered into soft coverings for a baby. It is really Western modernity that has brought the throw-away culture to us, with modern-day packaging and one-shot products huge culprits. But what has this to do with architects?

In the early 1990′s, the US set up LEED — Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design — to certify buildings that made an effort towards cutting down on the huge energy bills that US buildings ran up and to encourage architects to think smaller than jumbo size. But the US was already a country that was overusing resources vastly.

So when, in typical fashion, we copy LEED in India, should we be doing so with the same or similar parameters? After all, we consume a tiny portion of the electricity and gas they do. So shouldn’t we be thinking of this differently? Here are two examples of why mimicking the West in this is really daft.

Because of cold climates and very grey skies for much of the year, many buildings in the West started using huge amounts of glass. This heated the insides and brought in lots of light. Most of India is hot or hotter. But we still copy our "betters" unblinkingly, so lots of architects here too started using huge amounts of glass, thereby needing even huger amounts of electricity for the extensive air-conditioning systems. The LEED criteria suggest that if a building façade is less than 50 per cent glass, it qualifies as a green building! But shouldn’t we be trying to build without glass and not use the extra energy in the first place? Shouldn’t we be using passive cooling that is so successful that it circumvents the very need for air conditioning? (And now, to further greenwash us, there is even eco-friendly glass, that assuages the slight guilt that architects might suffer from, and to qualify for accreditation as a LEEDS architect or building.)

Another example: Using local building material gets you points as a green builder. But what is the definition of local? 50 km? 100? 200? No, for this the definition of local is 500 miles! That means that if you were building in Nagpur, Delhi and Hyderabad are both considered local and therefore get you green points. But I suppose for architects who normally import Carerra marble from Italy, this would be a change for the better.

Building bhungas in Kutch that withstand earthquakes is green. Using traditional lime plaster that keeps homes cool is green. Using bamboo frameworks for buildings and for low-cost windmills, if you are in bamboo country, is green. Using rammed earth or sun-dried mud blocks instead of kiln-baked bricks is green (and safe — mud buildings in Yemen have stood 1,000 years with minimal damage. And look at our concrete buildings from the 1960′s and 70′s.)

But to play by American rules and get certifications, citations and awards for reducing wasteful building methods and materials, which shouldn’t be used in the first place, is no more than greenwashing the truth.

The cheque from the Asia Carbon Fund of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) is an advance for future delivery of carbon credits. The money essentially is for the capture and combustion of methane gas emanating from the dump which results in a substantial reduction of greenhouse emissions. Before giving the money though, the ADB had the project scrutinised by independent validators.

Carbon credit consultants say the deal is one of the largest Carbon advances under the Clean Development Mechanism to a municipal corporation. "We hope to earn a total of Rs 73 crores from the Gorai dumping ground carbon credits, which would be Rs 11 crores above the entire cost of the project,” said additional municipal commissioner R A Rajeev, who drove the project from start to finish.

As heartening as the cash-from-trash bargain is the transformation of the 50-acre dumping ground, more than twice the size of the Oval Maidan, from a stinking mountain of garbage into a contoured, landscaped hill. The initial plan for a golf course here seems too optimistic but it can surely serve as a public park after three to fours years by which time the settlement underneath will be complete.

Garbage was being dumped at this plot adjoining the Gorai creek since 1972. Thirty-five years later when the dump was closed in December 2007, it was receiving 2,200 tonnes of refuse a day and the 2.3 million tonnes of accumulated waste had stacked up to 32 metres, as high as an 11-storey building.

By this time, the urban sprawl had reached the edges of the dump and pressure from local residents in the form of agitations and law suits played its part in expediting its closure.

The municipal corporation had signed an Emission Reduction Purchase Agreement with the ADB, wherein the three lakh Certified Emission Reductions (CERs) generated at the Gorai dump would be sold to it.

The contractors, United Phosphorus Ltd (UPL) and their joint-venture partners, Vanderwiel Strotgas BV, basically flattened the top of the garbage mound and created gentler slopes after which it was sealed in three layers of dense plastic at varying depths. The plastic sheets prevent the seepage of rainwater and the formation of leachate, a cocktail of highly toxic compounds.

Over the topmost plastic sheet is a two-feet layer of construction rubble topped by one foot of earth which supports foliage in the form of grass, shrubs and small trees with shallow roots.

"An intricate subterranean network of pipes collect the gases, 70% of which is is methane, from the rotting garbage and relays it through 40 wells to a chimney where it is flared,” explained Sundar Balasubramanian, UPL’s vice-president, Environment Business. One tonne of methane is equivalent to 21 tonnes of carbon dioxide in terms of global warming potential.

To prevent the leachate from seeping into the creek, a seven-metre deep concrete wall has been built into the edges of the dump. Whatever leachate is formed because of the existing moisture is channelised into a processing tank to neutralise its toxicity. "Earlier, the mangroves ringing the dump had turned brown because of the water pollution but now they have regenerated,” said P S Awate, executive engineer of the civic corporation’s solid waste department, pointing to the dark green foliage on the fringes of the dump.

What are Carbon Credits

Carbon credits are a key component of global attempts to mitigate the growth in concentrations of greenhouse gases. One Carbon Credit is equal to one tonne of Carbon. Carbon trading is an application of an emissions trading approach. Greenhouse gases are capped and then markets are used to allocate the emissions among the group of regulated sources. The idea is to allow market mechanism to drive industrial and commercial processes in the direction of low emissions. Since greenhouse gases mitigation projects generate credits, this approach can be used to finance carbon reduction schemes between trading partners round the world.

Original article here.

At the United Nations Summit on Climate Change this morning, President Obama spoke about the importance of assisting developing countries on adaptation and technology.  He also reiterated the need for developing countries with rapidly growing emissions to "commit to strong measures at home and agree to stand behind those commitments just as the developed nations must stand behind their own."  Over the last several days, one of those nations – India – has made a number of dramatic moves in that direction.

India recently announced it would quantify the emissions cuts it will make under its ambitious National Action Plan on Climate Change (see my colleague Anjali Jaiswal’s blog.).  Last Friday, India’s Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh explained in a talk at Columbia University that: "I am telling the world, because climate change is important for me… I am prepared to take on, voluntarily, unilaterally, mitigation actions as part of a domestic legislative agenda."     

Minister Ramesh made another less noticed, but equally important declaration last week.  He made public plans to create a National Environmental Protection Authority, which would be like the U.S. EPA.  The new authority would provide India for the first time the institutional capacity to set and enforce standards and regulations throughout the country.  This is an important component in making sure that the emissions reductions India wants to make are in fact achieved and reported.

We are also encouraged by India’s apparent new optimism about reaching an agreement at the climate negotiations in Copenhagen this December.  Minister Ramesh last night said that, "There are building blocks of an agreement in Copenhagen on which there is already substantial international consensus."   There is growing acceptance of the notion of moving beyond a one-size-fits-all approach to treaty-making to recognize nationally appropriate actions, as evident at last week’s meeting of the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate.   As special envoy Stern testified recently before the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, rather than a narrow focus on caps, commitments to nationally appropriate actions are part of what the US wants from rapidly growing developing countries like India.

There is now greater opportunity then ever for Indo-US cooperation on the climate change.  However, there are still many in India who would prefer the previous, more confrontational finger-pointing approach.  Reflective of this view are recent articles in the Economic Times and Daily India reporting on Ramesh’s Columbia talk.  Both articles chose to portray Ramesh’s remarks as pessimistic when in fact he appeared rather upbeat in his assessment of the potential for collaboration and progress.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Barack Obama will be together in Pittsburgh this week at the G20 meetings and then in Washington, DC in late November.   Let’s hope that they use these opportunities to agree upon a shared course of action to reach an agreement, as the President said at the UN today, not simply to limit greenhouse gas emissions, but one instead to allow "all nations to grow and raise living standards without endangering the planet."

(The author thanks Michael Thompson for his assistance in preparing this post.)

The Civil Aviation Ministry and the Airport Authority of India have trimmed down the height restrictions for constructions around our airports. This allows for buildings to sprout higher into the skies above our cities, almost double to what was permitted until yesterday.

I expect Kerala to significantly make use of this waive in the existing law. Kerala has been the only state outside the megapolis Mumbai, and to a lesser extent Gurgaon, to embrace the highrise culture. The trend which was kicked off in Cochin in the early 90s slowly spread to even the smaller Municipal towns of the state. Its become a fashion statement with even towns like Thiruvalla and Kottayam with just over 1 lakh population hosting 20+ structures.

Even though it may take some time for our local self Govts to adapt themselves to the law, it is certain that the Architects and builders would be licking their lips to make full use of it. Kerala is only second to West Bengal in population density; with 35 million inhabitants @ 825/sq km and severe scarcity of de-notified habitable land, it is common sense to understand that this model of urban development suits us best.

I’m a sucker for tallies, yo! I admire the style of urban development followed in North America and Australia which plots a highrise CBD, with suburbs harbouring midrises and housing estates. Each suburb is planned to be self-sufficient on its own for their shopping and entertainment needs, with residents travelling to city-center only for business and work. The CBD builds and rebuilds itself with major improvements necessary only in the transportation network.

Continue reading at Scorpiogenius.

India may be gearing to turn itself into the global leader in solar power generation, a sign that major developing nations could become renewable energy hubs to rival Germany and the United States.

Called the National Solar Mission, the Indian plan outlines a target for 20,000 megawatts of solar capacity by 2020, according to a draft copy obtained by Greenpeace and posted to the Web.

“This would be the most ambitious solar plan that any country has laid out so far,” said Siddharth Pathak, a climate and energy campaigner for Greenpeace India.

India would generate 100,000 megawatts of solar power by 2030 and 200,000 megawatts by mid-century under the plan.

The plan acknowledges the high cost of solar compared with other sources of energy, and coal in particular. But it says costs could be driven down to between 4 and 5 rupees per kilowatt hour by the period 2017-2020, making solar cost-competitive with fossil fuels.

There would be one million rooftop systems with an average capacity of 3 kilowatts by 2020 to cut the use of diesel for daytime power while generation parks could be built in the “exclusion” zones around nuclear plants, where people are not allowed to live but solar facilities could be safely installed.

Crucial to the project would be building up local manufacturing capacity. The plan envisages training 100,000 specialists by 2020. It also foresees the need for processing facilities for raw materials, factories and technology parks for making components and equipment and generation parks to produce electricity.

India can now make 700 megawatts of photovoltaic modules each year, according to the plan. The aim would be to make 20,000 megawatts of solar cells annually by 2017 and to establish expertise in solar thermal technologies.

Total costs would be 85,000 and 105,000 crores ($18.5 billion to $22.8 billion) over a 30-year period. To help finance the project, the plan foresees a significant tax on gasoline and diesel — fuels the government currently subsidizes.

The plan also foresees a feed-in tariff, solar power purchase obligations for Indian authorities, tax breaks for manufacturers, and exemptions on tariffs for imported equipment. A so-called Solar Energy Authority of India would be set up to manage the system.

But Greenpeace emphasized that help from rich countries would be essential for India to meet its goals.

“India needs international support,” Mr. Pathak said. “The industrialized world needs to come up with solid proposals on technology and finance to help developing countries deliver on ambitious plans like this one,” he said.