Edu-leaders

Set in the verdant green environs of Delhi’s Vasant Kunj Institutional Area, the TERI University is a striking campus. The buildings twist and turn in unexpected ways, the walls feel different and the very light within the public spaces looks different. A closer inspection of the windows, walls and roof makes you realise that the building is different from that in any other university. Add to this the fact that natural light reaches more than 70 percent of all occupied spaces, and air inside lacks the claustrophobia-inducing feeling of conventional central air-conditioning and you know that what Dr R.K. Pachauri, Nobel prize-winning Chancellor of the University and architect Sanjay Mohe have created is a novel green campus.

“An educational institution is a place of learning. To that extent, educational institutes are places that help conceptualise, nurture and then cement attitudes. This is true for the green language as well. This goes for early learning preparatory schools, primary education centres, secondary schools and indeed centres of higher education. The earlier the green language begins, the better,” says brand expert, Harish Bijoor. As Dr Rajiv Seth, registrar of TERI puts it, “Just seeing a green campus, studying in it, and living in it, stimulates younger minds to not only carry the message forward, but also to research in newer methods of energy contribution.”

With the Kyoto and Copenhagen summits bringing a public recognition of the ills of environmental pollution, going green is increasingly becoming a necessity.

Installing CFLs instead of regular bulbs, attempting rainwater harvesting or wastewater management are passe. Technology and green architecture are now making a difference to every facet of a campus, boosting energy efficiency by as much as 60 percent and water efficiency by 80 percent.

New Campus Green
New universities can go green right from the beginning. “One should conceive the idea of going green from the time of site selection and follow it through the entire development process. The ‘green’ concept has to be conceived in totality – not as an add-on feature,” says Mohe.

The new University of California campus at Merced, is a good example of going green from conception. “Careful selection of the site, helped in conserving more than 26,000 acres of native vernal pool grasslands,” points out Donna Birch Trahan, senior public information representative UC Merced. The university was committed to getting a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED— green building rating system, developed by the U.S. Green Building Council) Gold certification.

It plans to increase sustainability by producing the same amount of renewable energy it consumes, minimising the generation of solid waste, recycling and achieving carbon neutrality.

In UK, University of Nottingham’s new Jubilee Campus is the only one to receive the prestigious Green Flag, usually awarded to public parks and spaces. One of its striking features is the carpet of low-growing alpine plants that covers its roof to maintain a steady temperature much better than traditional insulation.

In Australia, which has one of the worst cases of depletion of the ozone layer, the Australian National University has implemented an award-winning green plan that includes a recyclery where you can pick up a second hand bike, computer, or furniture. Closer home, the Great Lakes Institute of Management campus near the picturesque beach of Mamallapuram is the only one in the world to be completely LEED Platinum rated. Founded by Padma Shri Professor Bala V. Balachandran, the institute is 100 percent day-lit, recycles its water and waste, and uses reused and recycled products. “We are moving towards a paper-less office, and educating the community about going green through our ‘Karma Yoga’ projects besides introducing courses in environment management, sustainable growth and green entrepreneurship,” says Executive Director, Professor Sriram.

Old Campus Green
Older campuses not only lose out on the early advantage that newer campuses have but also need to balance the demands between preserving old architecture and the need to go green. The good news is that most of them can be converted to be as efficient as a new green campus or more with just a little tuck and trim.

Architect Mohe adds, “In an old campus, one has to work around existing constraints. Here efficiency of services takes precedence. Adopting the right mechanical and AC systems, and selecting the right fixtures for electrical and water supply could drastically change the efficiency of the building. Adding direct shading devices like pergolas or solar screen and adding insulating materials at appropriate places would enhance the energy efficiency.”

Internationally, Arizona State University’s Global Institute of Sustainability is a beautiful example of turning an outdated 1960s-era structure into a bright, open, eco-friendly facility that was awarded the ED+C magazine’s Excellence in Design award. The building saves 18.7 percent on energy use and 50.3 percent on water use compared with the original building’s baseline.

Some of its energy conservation strategies included creation of balconies by removing a section of exterior brick and replacing it with vine-clad metal trellises, removal of existing louvres and replacement of single-glazed windows on the east. It installed sunscreens along the east, west and south windows to reduce solar gain and control glare. Water-saving strategies are also a key focus in Arizona’s desert environment. The campus has installed waterless urinals, dual-flush toilets and automatically monitored landscaping irrigation, to cut water use in half. Additionally, pervious paving reduces storm water runoff.

Then there is Harvard’s Office for Sustainability (OFS) that has made the 450-year-old university a green mascot. Twenty of its new buildings are LEED certified, while more than 25 renovations include the Harvard Law School (built in 817), Byerly Hall (built in 1932), and Radcliffe Gymnasium (built in 1898). While each building has a different need to go green, some common features through all of them have been energy efficiency with more use of daylight, efficient heating ventilating and air conditioning systems instead of outdated air-conditioning, water and waste management. Roof gardens, ground source heat pumps for cooling, recharging groundwater with dry wells, boosting energy efficiency between 30 to 60 percent, reduction in water use by 50 to 80 percent, and most importantly preserving and reusing the original building materials have been the highlights of OFS renovations.

In India, IIT Chennai set the precedence with a rainwater harvesting system that offsets potable water use in its 12 hostels as well as the main buildings. During the drought that hit Tamil Nadu between 2002 and 2004, the institute faced severe water shortage, and was forced to extend its summer vacations from two to four months. It was rainwater harvesting that provided a solution.

IIT Kanpur has created a green haven with dedicated tree planting. In 2008, it consulted TERI to build a green Earth System and Environment Science Engineering Building, which saves up to 59 percent energy. It got TERI’s Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment (GRIHA)— a rating similar to LEED but more contextual to India. GRIHA has almost 40 projects registered right now. Indian construction has a natural advantage. “Western concepts of ‘green’ are mostly related to high energy demands that arise from creating an air-conditioned environment,” says Gaurav Shorey, area convener GRIHA.

Recently, the 92-year-old Banaras Hindu University also decided to build a sewage treatment plant. The south campus of the university is attempting to become the first carbon neutral university campus in the country, with a massive plantation drive of 176,000 saplings on 400 of its 1350 acres of land.

Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi is installing water treatment plants and solar water heating. It already has rainwater harvesting in a few buildings, and is installing them in others as well.

Economics of Green
“If the basic design responds effectively to elements of nature, it does not involve any huge costs. In fact there is substantial savings when one looks at the overall life cycle of the building,” says Mohe.

Harvard’s OFS has designed the innovative Life Cycle Costing calculator that helps calculate present and future costs related to new construction, renovation, equipment replacement, or any other project that involves expenditures. While the current assumptions are Harvard specific, they are a good indication for any university considering the Harvard model of renovation or construction.

In India, while we don’t have a specific calculator, it is estimated that it typically costs about 10 percent more to go green. For Great Lakes, it meant about Rs. 30 to 40 million increase in project cost. There were restrictions in the kind of materials used (recycled/reused, eco-friendly), source of material, type of vendors ( have to be certified) and contractors. “Many of these also resulted in delays in execution which was expensive,” explains Sriram. Seth from TERI adds, “A break even period for the extra 10 percent spent on going green is around five years.”

The point of economics is drawn home by Jörgen Bäckström, head of Stockholm University’s environmental initiatives, “The main cost is not money but time. Time for increasing environmental awareness, doing internal environmental audits, developing information and promoting continual improvement of environmental performance.”

According to supporters of green initiatives, working, studying or living in a green environment reduces absenteeism by as much as 10 percent and better natural light translates to better scores in tests for students.

The Future is Green
“The future is about a politically correct generation, who will ask questions about the green status of a campus. Institutes need to build for the green standards of tomorrow,” says Bijoor.

According to Shorey, it is important that India’s natural inclination for going green is revived. Institutions should be built according to local context. “These days, ‘development’ has only one face - large glass boxes completely devoid of architectural character. This has to change,” he says. Architects and engineers need to provide holistic solutions for buildings through an “integrated design approach”. Educational institutions in India have the distinct advantage of borrowing from the country’s past to contribute to its future without aping alien models.