Green gains speed in the capital

The last few months have seen a raise in conscientious steps being taken
towards creating a Green economy in the capital. A green event took place this
September at the Indian Habitat Center in the form of a 'Green Jobs fair'. In
October, another event took place at New Delhi. While the former aimed at
creating what came to be known as Green Jobs, the latter aimed at bringing
together an eco-system of investors and entrepreneurial companies for
sustainable environment-friendly solutions. This event sounded the formation of
'Cleantech Forum XXIV'. Participants included prominent personalities such as
Kamal Meattle, CEO, Paharpur Business Centre and Greenspaces, Tejpreet S Chopra,
President & CEO, GE, Ajay Mathur, Director General, Bureau of Energy Efficiency,
Government of India, Rakesh Mehta, Chief Secretary Delhi, Government of India
and Dr Prem Jain, Chairman, India Green Buildings Council.

One of the motives of 'Cleantech Forum XXIV' is to present innovative
opportunities to the corporate sector. The idea behind this endeavor was that
entrepreneurs, investors, corporates, policy-makers, economic development
agencies and an assembly of global Cleantech promoters begin to access Cleantech
technological and market insights, investment opportunities and unparalleled
networking.

An objective, set forth to craft and chart the industry direction,
incorporates certain steps: Addressing climate change and resource scarcity,
measuring the current global economic climate as it relates to Cleantech,
providing access to capital and industry pioneers, connecting with industry
insiders at thought-provoking sessions and getting educated by and networking
with pioneering innovators, corporates and investors.

Kamal Meattle, CEO, Paharpur Business Centre and Greenspaces, threw some
light on 'sustainable material, infrastructure and green buildings'.He said,
'this will be our collective and collaborative contribution to the efforts for
reducing global warming. It will also produce renewable power and show that
mostly US technology can cut emission of a building in a developing country like
India and show that 'Green is Green.'' He rhetorically raised the question -
'Can green building achieve the goals of improving nation's energy efficiency,
stimulating the national economy and create long-term green jobs?' and
elaborated on the details as he asked another rhetorical question, 'What is the
role of HVAC, new materials and lighting in green buildings and building
retrofit markets?' GreenSolutions emerged as one innovative solution, from which
Indian markets, economy and environment was sure to benefit. GreenSpaces will
save 36,000 tons of CO2 per annum, this has been verified by TERI. This was
reasserted during the event. Meattle's vision is to 'reshape commercial
buildings in India on the principles of green architecture'. Stating some
figures, Meattle added, 'In the overall assessment GreenSpaces will be more
meaningful for society as it will help demonstrate that it is possible to reduce
energy used by buildings in the world. It demonstrates to reduce the consumption
of energy from 40 percent to 10 percent. It will be a benchmark commercial
building that can be replicated anywhere across the globe. Its design has
achieved a saving of 74.4percent energy over a normal 'A' grade building and
efforts are on to either reduce cost or to improve this to perhaps 80 percent'.

In spite of the economic downturn, and the financial crisis of the past year,
India still represents a key market for companies in a time where global
economic growth has slowed down. India's need for infrastructure development
presents an opportunity to innovate with 'clean' and 'smart' in infrastructure
design.