News Point: Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Habitats aims too address energy & resource challenges faced by the Indian housing sector.
The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and Mahindra Lifespaces today announced the creation of a Center of Excellence (CoE) focused on improving energy efficiency in India’s residential buildings sector.
The ‘Mahindra TERI CoE for Sustainable Habitats’ – as this Center will be known – will evaluate both traditional and innovative technologies and alternative materials customised for the Indian buildings sector and climate zones.
The Center will bring the much needed informed validated knowledge about better performing materials and ways to use the ample daylight available, that will greatly help to mainstream greener buildings in the country.
Key focus areas of the CoE will include energy and water efficiency and use of low cost green materials. Another important intended outcome of the research efforts of the CoE will be to address the existing gap in available statistical datasets relevant to the Indian residential buildings sector.
The research output from the CoE will be disseminated to multiple stakeholder communities via conferences, workshops, academic courses, reports, journal archives and webinars, amongst other mediums. Wider industry participation and contribution will be sought to increase capacity and reach. The CoE will be located at TERI’s Gual Pahari campus near Gurgaon, initially with a five-year horizon, with research initiatives split into modules based on priority and scale.
“Buildings are experiencing unprecedented growth in India, leading to increased energy demand and consumption. Extensive research is needed to enable energy efficiency in buildings, and the ‘Mahindra TERI CoE for Sustainable Habitats’ aims to evaluate innovative technologies tailored to the Indian consumer and climate, and available in the form of easy-to-use tools to the Indian building industry. We are delighted that Mahindra Lifespaces has come forth to support the establishment of this Center that will benefit the entire industry,” said Dr. Ajay Mathur, Director General, TERI.
“The significance of energy efficiency in the Indian buildings sector has been highlighted over the last few years; however, there remains substantial potential for further advancements in knowledge assimilation and technology adoption that can benefit the industry and consequently, ensure a sustainable future for India’s urban areas. With its firm conviction that efficient utilization of energy and natural resources is crucial to drive urban development in the right direction, TERI is appropriately placed to drive this agenda and we are happy to support the establishment of the CoE,” said Anita Arjundas, Managing Director, Mahindra Lifespace Developers Limited.
Rapid growth in urban population over the past few years has resulted in accelerating urbanisation and infrastructure development, resulting in an increasing demand for energy. It is estimated that a significant part of urban India is yet to be built, building a strong case for the need to do it well.
At present, the buildings sector accounts for 30% of overall electricity consumption in the country, of which almost 72% is consumed by the residential sector. Studies have indicated that the average household will likely consume five times more electricity in 2020 than it did in 2000. Thus, the buildings sector in India offers huge potential for energy conservation, making initiatives such as the Mahindra TERI CoE for Sustainable Habitats the need of the hour.
