Making existing buildings green

Just a few simple measures can transform your home into an environmentally sustainable and healthier zone

A common question we face from people is what they can do to make their existing homes green. Today, there are numerous existing buildings operating without any consideration for environmental sustainability. Although clearly there is a lot more we can do to make our buildings better when we start from the beginning of designing and building new, there are still possibilities we can consider in our existing buildings that can help better current conditions.

Below are some of the ‘green’ measures that can be taken in existing buildings:

● Electricity use Retrofitting our lights and fans with energy efficient variants will help bring down current electricity costs by as much as 50%. Further, if we consciously look at appliances and replace the same with energy efficient (such as BEE 5-star rated) alternatives we can look at a further reduction of about 10%.

● Cool roofs As high as 40% of the heat ingress is from roof tops in tropical areas. If we can find ways to cool down our roofs, we can greatly reduce the amount of heat coming indoors and thus minimise air conditioning needs. A few ways to do this in existing buildings would be to maintain a roof garden, create shaded spaces such as gazebos, install a layer of insulation or reflective tiles.

● Clean energy Once the strategies mentioned above have been addressed, it is fairly straightforward to power the reduced energy load using solar photovoltaics.

● Sensors Today, sensors and automation options are widely available that help to optimize and even reduce energy use and provide us with real time energy consumption data.

● Water use Replacing single flush tanks with dual flush tanks and fitting aerators to our taps can reduce our water consumption by as much as 50%.