IT shows the way

The green talk of IT fraternity is not just restricted to creating energy
efficient data centers. The Indian IT industry is leading the way in terms of
going green in all aspects of the business. According to the latest data from
Indian Green Building Council (IGBC), the body that rates green buildings in
India, out of the seventy-seven buildings in India that have been rated by the
leadership in energy and environmental design certification (LEED), eighteen
belong to IT companies.

Green buildings use less water, optimize energy efficiency, conserve natural
resources, generate less waste and provide healthier spaces for occupants as
compared to a conventional building. LEED certification is the most popular
green building rating system in the world that rates these buildings in three
levels: platinum, gold and silver.

As per the Dataquest research, nineteen out of the seventy-seven LEED-rated
buildings in India are owned by IT companies, with Wipro having the lion's share
with eleven of them. The #2 Indian IT company has gone overwhelmingly for these
buildings with most of its new centers having the rating. While its Gurgaon
center is platinum-rated (highest); it has gold ratings for six of its
buildings: one in Kochi, two in Hyderabad, two in Pune, and one in Vizag. The
rest four silver-rated buildings are: one in Chennai, two in Bengaluru and one
in Bhubaneswar.

In addtion, there are quite a few technology parks that have also gone for
the LEED rating. They include Olympia Technology Park in Chennai, ETL BPO Park
in Chennai and Bagmane World Technology Center in Bengaluru. All these have
received gold ratings. There are many others which are registered for the
rating.

According to the data from IGBC, there are seventeen platinum rated buldings
in India. Chennai has the highest concentration of such buildings with as many
as seventeen LEED-rated buildings, Mumbai follows at a distant second with eight
such buildings. While Bengaluru has seven, Pune and the NCR region have six
each. Interestingly, within NCR, four of the buildings are in Noida, including
the Patni Knowledge Center and two in Gurgaon (Wipro and ITC Green Center).
Delhi city does not have a single such building.

Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly is the only assembly house in India to be
LEED-rated. It has a gold rating.

Shyamanuja Das

Source: DQ