Why does sustainable building make sense to a developer?

One can't be blamed by reacting like this...."What? Developers going green?? Not a chance!". Unfortunately, the general reputation of  the developer lot is to blame for this.
The proposition of developers going sustainable does seem a bit of a stretch, what with the soaring prices of land, and with a volatile market putting a pressure on sales. One tends to believe that developers would not risk sales to attain even a tinge of green. or, let alone going the sustainable way..
Before I launch any further on this let us look (once again) at Sustainability. Sustainability is about defining the thresholds within which if one acts the ability of future generations to live life as we do, does not get compromised in anyway. Sustainability is about responsible consumption and becomes important as we consume more and more as a population. Buildings consume a lot of resources in their making, while contributing to about 39% of the worlds GHG emissions (Source: U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), 2008 Buildings Energy Data Book.), and therefore it is imperative that they are built responsibly.
Sustainability is also about being resource efficient, and that any developer gets.We have no option but to be responsible for our actions and the environment. Great strides are being made in areas of pollution free technologies and energy consumption in buildings. While there is minimal focus on the building systems, this accounts for the majority of the CO2 emissions during the entire lifecycle of the building. This is bound to be the next focus. Self-sustaining habitats that strive towards occupying a zero ecological footprint are the future.

So, why do developers need to change the way they build? Let us try and populate a list.

• Sustainable development ensures that business secure their long term success through triple bottom line practices which address the environment, social needs and business growth 
• The world is rapidly rising to the need for sustainable green practices in all spheres of activity from businesses to transportation to construction. 
• Sensible and sustainable design and construction are the emerging paradigms and it is desirable for developers to lead the way and be at the head of such a transition. 
• Sustainable construction enables a developer to broaden their scope of building materials and systems. All this at comparable and sometimes lower costs than the conventional
• By adopting sustainable building methodologies, a developer insulates himself to a great degree from the vagaries of the marketplace. Since materials and skills are inherently local, global turmoil would not have an adverse impact on development works.

Another way of addressing the choice of going sustainable is to look at the impacts of 'Business as Usual', as captured in the left half of the graphic above. The graphic on the right shows the balance of environment and social aspects along with business interests, which is a more comprehensive model. Unsustainable development burdens resources, the business and makes for stressed lifestyles down the line. A sustainable model on the other had adopts a policy of 'making do with as little as possible', without impacting it's survival into the future. On the bright side, there exists within most professional and seasoned developer groups a keen sense that in satisfying the needs of the customer lies repeat investments, recommendations and so on. I believe in this we already have the foundations for transforming into a sustainable business. 

What impact does Sustainability have on the developer's brand?

• It will earn the developer the status of a green organisation, a must going into the future. 
• Communicates to the market the environmental responsibilities of the developer.
• Assures the market that the product has been designed with them in mind… in terms of environmental health, family health, etc 
• Carries the message that the development would secure the users more water, would consume lesser power, and would also pollute the environment less

In employing environmentally sensitive and sustainable design/building technologies, one is actually securing the future of the customer. The reality of a sustainable approach is that one is also addressing health and lifestyle aspects of the customer today. By adopting a sustainable mandate one is addressing the client base's running costs, access to essential resources, internal living health and also providing a rich built environment for overall development.Securing the future of the customer (which means you also address their environment) means that you secure your business' longevity.

So developer, what are you waiting for?

Harbingers of Sustainability

A gem by Scott Adams

We have been dabbling a bit in sustainability for a few years now. We hope to help clients (three categories that are discussed here are: individual homeowners, corporate houses and developers) design and build structures that are meaningful, healthy, less wasteful on resources, and have a low carbon footprint. But alas! All three categories of potential customers have views on sustainability that are either uninformed, or myopic, at best. This makes for a difficult permeation of the sustainability trickle that is no doubt imperative to bring about a small revolution in the built environment (read Real Estate) in India. 

Though I speak in jest and list only typical situations, there are quite a few who are fairly knowledgeable, and they should be rightfully anointed as ‘harbingers of sustainability’ for bringing about the change desperately required in the building industry.

Individual Homeowners:
Perhaps the most receptive group amongst all three, they are nonetheless all at sea about the concept of sustainability. While one or two individuals delve into the subject of ‘green’ with an overarching thesaurus and a digital microscope in hand, most are in a state of ‘little-knowledge-is-not-so-dangerous-a-thing’. They see-saw between the subjects of design, building materials, water and energy independence, cost of construction, aesthetics, and built-up area without any holistic approach, and seem to want the best of all at the cheapest price. Many of them feel that gleaning the internet or reading a few articles will turn them into an architect, contractor, materials expert, energy expert, and sustainability guru, all rolled into one, overnight! While a few will trawl through trash to find waste that can be converted to a building material (for a wall or door), they are rarely willing to sully their hands in the mire of understanding required to build the right home for themselves while keeping the local and environmental aspects in the balance. And finally, while some of them do not mind forking out megabucks when buying from a ‘known’ developer, they seem to tighten their purse-strings to their detriment when they deal with an architect or contractor. The result is either a house-that-jack-built or severe delays in construction which eventually inflates the cost of construction anyway.

Corporate Houses:
This group’s story is a story of two protagonists. One is the CEO, or head honcho by whatever name, who inevitably has a vision about everything his organization does. The other comes with the non-flattering title of ‘Facilities Manager (FM)’. Even honchos who have disedified the Bangalore skyline with bizarre steel-and-glass monstrosities have a perspective on sustainability. They appear in unending articles on eco-sensitivity just because they are corporate captains of IT, pharmaceuticals, mining, media, fashion technology, or any industry for that matter. The fact is that some of these leaders are so devoid of sensitivity to the environment, and people as well, that they usually lump their corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities under the awkward stewardship of the HR department! Now if have got your message somehow past the CEO you have to contend with the FM. Unfortunately, the FMs in many corporates are not a professional lot. The FMs I have met all have at least three of these four attributes:

a) They are complete yes-men to their CEO
b) They want an idea for free so that they can get it done from their contractor
c) They have usually failed at all other jobs in the corporate hierarchy
d) They are taking a cut from every vendor that enters the premises

Again, the outcome is institutional structures that are eyesores, as well as resource insensitive. Of course, there are exceptions, but who is to find them amongst the thick haystack of corporate greed and incompetence.

Developers:
Easily the most despised lot, not only amongst the three listed here, but also amongst all business categories listed in India. Developers, the chieftains of the real estate industry, are a motley crew of desperadoes from all walks of life. They span a wide gamut from being front-men of politicians; criminals, even; to foreign returned technocrats, and from village rustics to architects who have abandoned their almost Hippocratic ideals to the lure of the lucre. One tawdry developer in Bangalore, after hearing a presentation, said, “You see, I am a businessman,” in a tone that refused to acknowledge that the others present in the room (architects, consultants, contractors, and suppliers) were also businessmen. For some reason, all developers feel that they are the only ones who should be raking in the moolah while their technical partners should be happy to fork out ideas and advice at a fractional cost! While expecting developers to forefront the cause of sustainability is not inappropriate; the developers themselves will only incorporate any aspect of sustainability so long as it is on paper only, or is decreed by law, or is a minor cost element, which if adopted, can be touted with blaring bugles in the next ad campaign.

The result, friends, is again, buildings that are shoddy and unhealthy, flout all sorts of building codes, and bring disrepute to many aspects of sustainability. And, as for tom-tomming the cause of sustainability, for now, let’s keep piping plaintive little notes and hope that the strains reach a crescendo sometime in our lifetime!

How Green ‘is’ my valley

At what point in its development does a product become Green? Does adding a rainwater harvesting system to a building make it a Green building? Would using a small amount of recycled materials to a larger mix of inputs required to develop an end-product tantamount to it being labelled Green?

Image: renjith krishnan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

This is a subject that questions the edifice upon which companies and their respective product lines are built. Companies should not be able to merely change a process or an input and enjoy the fruits of being in the Green category. As the world focuses its attention on the environmental impact of every product, and even service, the ‘code of ethic’ practised will assume a magnitude of greater importance. Companies and their concomitant industry associations need to pay great attention to this matter so that it can protect its categories and products and command more than a semblance of credibility from consumers and other upholders of civil society.
A simple background research to this article indicated that there are many groups who are concerned and are articulating what their collective Green ethos is. The charter documents of these associations and groups throw much light on how difficult (or easy) it is supposed to be to sit around a ‘green’ conference table with your head held high. Barring the common ones involving recycling, here are a few:

• Practice Fair Trade
• Fair treatment of employees
• Practice energy efficiency and reduce energy consumption
• Minimize waste in our production processes and in our end product
• Give back to our communities
• Be an example of Capitalism with a Conscience

In the quest for mainstreaming Green many such ethical questions will dog us along the way. Merely having a code of ethics will not help the cause. The answer lies in self regulation and an inclination to innovate at every stage to identify the best practices. Too many companies today are way too glib in professing Green without comprehending the full import of their actions. If they will not self-regulate, they run the risk of denigrating the positive aspects of the Green quotient and levelling the playing field for all the pretenders. When this happens companies and their brands will lose the advantage of the Green tag and will find it painstaking to cut through the Green clutter. Taking off on a classic Hollywood film with a similar name, it is our responsibility to examine ‘’How Green ‘is’ my valley?’’

A candid peek at the Environment Day Celebrations

Image: digitalart / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Was both elated and appalled to see the Environment Day Celebrations! While it is great to see that many organizations are taking a verdurous leap into matters ‘green’, it is abysmal to see them touting their brands as eco-friendly from the front pages of our ubiquitous green newspaper! The newsprint professes to be recycled but is tinted green to add colour to the proceedings.
Shampoos in plastic bottles, a shoe sole with a huge transportation footprint on their acquired recycled rubber, real estate developers shrouding concrete under green canopies, computers and laptops and data-centers all reducing the heat they generate, have all trucked up the path of the green bandwagon. A television channel was running a protracted fundraiser, and both companies and individuals bared their economic chests for Saving Private Gaia!
At the rate at which the Environment (Day) turned verdant, our quandary will be centred around assigning it another colour by the end of this decade itself! But who’s complaining? We cannot blame the heavy polluters from trying to alleviate some of their guilt by adopting a measure or two of the potion of deliverance, nor can we admonish the newbie fresh-com (read new company) from ‘green-washing’ their dirty linen in public!
So what does the common man do? Wear the green badge proudly on one’s chest and be labelled a Mr. Psycho Pants, or shroud oneself in ignorance and be branded an anachronistic bum-chum! There’s nowhere to run, but many places to hide. Join the CSR department of a corporation and try planting a tree, shake a fig leaf at all the acerbic activists, become a rating agency to monitor both sides of the Kyoto protocol, or simply annihilate your-self on a road made from recycled plastic!

The Business of Green

Opportunities galore they say! Entrepreneurs are meant to feel excited by the various doomsday scenarios dished out to our target audiences. Yes, it is true... our rivers are running dry, weather patterns seem to be changing, fuel prices are threatening to go up, many of our resources are dearer by the day, national emblems- tigers, lions, gharials can now be counted on ones fingertips.....

But has all this made 'green businesses' any more lucrative than before? Has it really? It is equally true that a perceivable change towards greener development is being seen. Buildings are going green, cars are going green, power and fuel is going green, textiles are going green, food products are greener (read organic), governments are imposing compliance standards and banning polluting practices. Ok, so the going green has caught on. So, green entrepreneurs must be seeing surging growth rates and newer markets adding to their burgeoning TG...... Well, that's where it gets weird. No, not all is green in the sustainability trade.

Why are we not hearing great success stories of green entrepreneurs? At least in the numbers that we expect after we hear all the positive stories. Rainwater harvesting schemes are limited to a few instances, green homes are for the exclusive few, Green paints have not dislodged regular paints, Are the technologies or services wrong...no. Then what is?

Now let us look at consumers and mindsets at large. Have these perceptions changed?

• Why should I save power… it really does not pinch my purse
• Why should I harvest water…. My current water is available pretty cheap.
• No sense of urgency as the impending absence of these natural resources and environmental aspects don’t pinch us at all.
• I don’t mind participating as long as it doesn’t cost me.
• What is in it for me?
• The environment is a cool thing to be associated with…. The truth is that I may not do a thing further.
• Why should I manage my waste? I don’t get anything from doing so.

We have found these views being echoed all over. We know some of the reasons too.... water and power are relatively cheap, we don't pay much for waste management, in fact we dont get taxed heavily if we dump too much waste, the costs of green alternatives are high, and more importantly, green solutions don't talk the language of the mainstream. No guarantees on water security, no clarity on the clear benefits of the product... to the extent that green is considered pretty vague that necessitates the employment of specialists.

So what should green entrepreneurs be doing? At IGH we have been working on the following:

1. Better communication based on sound knowledge. Involve your consumer in understanding all sides to a sustainable alternative.
2. A parallel conversion activity... through viral awareness campaigns which aims at increasing acceptance amongst the masses
3. Find ways in monetising the customer's financial obstacles
4. Ensure that a high impact solution is found that can cut across all sections of society
5. Collaboration- Many entrepreneurs end up re-inventing the wheel, when by working with others who are already involved in their focus area, would have enabled them to start from a higher rung.
6. Knowledge building- Actually this should be high up on the list. IGH has been working on putting together various information sets on all things green. This forms the backbone of all the work that we do.... the value that we add.

What else would help?

• Unsustainable alternatives should be heavily taxed.... same logic as polluter pays.
• Governments need to get bolder... if not have a larger vision of sustainability from a national perspective. The idea is to make sustainable development an imperative not a choice (as it is currently).
• Increased spending on R&D by individuals, corporates and institutions

Here's to a greener beginning.