Getting the youth on board
The Hindu
Students will now be involved in creating a more sustainable world by influencing the way buildings are built over the next 30 years
We have five years to prevent our planet from reaching a global heating tipping point, after which we may not be able to reverse the damage. Net zero is a possible solution for reversing the irreversible. With the climate crisis worsening by the day, businesses worldwide are looking for ways to reduce their carbon footprints and do their part in saving the planet. Reducing emissions is crucial if we want to achieve net-zero global emissions and prevent catastrophic temperature rise. Every business has a responsibility to act now.
The shift from traditional, exhaustible fossil fuels to sustainable energy sources can be partially attributed to technology solutions being integrated within companies and enterprises. Achieving net zero emissions requires the utilisation of all available clean energy technologies, and the good news is most of them already exist. We just need to take and use them for the greater good to achieve Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambitious net-zero emissions target by 2070.
In India, energy-efficient building design is still in its early stages. To help students and engineers become better equipped to design and construct net-zero energy buildings (NZEBs), we need to incorporate more NZEB-related content into the curriculum of the 500,000+ students who graduate from building sector-related courses each year. As it stands, these students are not receiving the education they need to properly design and construct net-zero buildings.
It’s a known fact that of the over 450 architecture colleges in the country, hardly 20 of them offer courses on energy efficiency or sustainable design. The hindrances in developing high-performance buildings include a lack of stringent policies, the perception that sustainable buildings cost more, and a massive lack of technical expertise.
Even though there are regulatory policies in place — such as the Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC) and Eco-Niwas Samhita — which provide guidelines for efficient energy usage in commercial and residential buildings, these are not mandatory. As of March 2020, only 14 States and two Union Territories have adopted these codes but none of the urban local bodies are enforcing them.
A healthy collaboration between academia and industry is key to ensuring that students are getting the best education possible to help them succeed in their future careers. Integrating lessons on NZEBs into the curriculum of architecture, civil/ mechanical/ electrical engineering, and design, students will help to create a more sustainable world by influencing the way these buildings are created and built over the next 30 years.
It is important that these students learn about topics such as building science, engineering of building systems, water sufficiency, and resilience so that they can be better prepared to design and construct NZEBs.