Work from Home culture has brought out the concept of Energy Efficient homes and to meet the demand for alternative, affordable technology for housing is very important. To adapt to alternate technologies the existing challenges in India are in terms of construction material, skilled manpower and also acceptance by the consumers.
In a research paper published by Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) supported by Ford Foundation it was found that urban housing in India needs to be energy efficient, green and incorporated with Renewable Energy systems to meet the demand.
Post 2020 – there has been a change in the manner homes are being perceived by consumers. The residential demand post lockdown and work from home has brought to light the fact that there must be a ‘Working Capacity’ created at homes.
This also means that there will be excess demand for green and efficient energy systems to cope with the increasing demand in future.
Demand is for adequate and affordable housing which means that alternate construction technologies will play a major role.
Highlights:
- Alternative construction technology means that there must be more mechanization in the construction of buildings.
- Government of India’s Global Housing Technology Challenge program is to make use of alternate construction technologies in mass housing.
- Dealing with the challenges posed in adopting alternative construction technologies for mass housing.
Researchers Ayush Khare, Debarpita Roy and Triveni Prasad Nanda in their paper: Alternate Construction Technologies for Mass Housing: Challenges of Adoption in India have identified these key challenges:
- High initial investment
- Achieving optimal scale required for commercial viability
- Reorientation of planning and design
- Transportation of building components
- Lack of skilled professionals
- Consumer skepticism and questions on liveability.
In the current Indian scenario, alternate technologies are relevant for large scale mass housing projects and it will require doing away with buyers’ skepticism to create a viable market. There is a need for more research and improved communication to make them accept the alternate techniques of building homes.
Challenges before the people are:
- Post occupancy experience
- Life cycle cost estimates
- Overall carbon footprint
Towering Examples of Energy Efficiency in the commercial sector:
J W Marriott, Pune has set a new benchmark in Energy Efficiency by setting up ABB’s Cooling Tower Direct Drive Solution. The energy saved can charge an electric car which can give an output of 1500 km approximately.