How can we entice the common man to build green homes on the LEED model?

Actually, we did a ROI study based more on USGBC standards and found that the payback period on most commercial buildings are between 2 to 5 years, if LEED and sustainable concepts are incorporated from the ground up. I will try to dig up and post that study sometime.

Granted, some of the supporting information was based on Western living conditions, but if anything, homes in India could be even more efficient in terms of cogeneration and netzero buildings.

If any of you guys are on Facebook, join this group - they are working on LEED India and will answer some of your questions based on experience and real data:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/GreenExcel-Leed-Education-and-Green-Building-Database/267872127299?ref=ts

More later.

No need to entice anyone nor give any incentive-support; just let them know that "green homes" afford them life-term benefit of reduced Energy & Water Bills, while giving them health through reduced exposure of the bacteria & fungi ridden conditioned air & artificial lighting during the day.

And media has already started playing vital role:

I agree with you pragya ji that awarness is the key , but affordable solutions must be provided and some financial benifit must be decleared to attract people towards it.

I agree with all the other contributors.

One more way is to promote Green Buildings (GBs) is to encourage wise water management initiatives like rain water harvesting, grey water recycling and ground water recharging, water and energy efficient fixtures etc. in building plan approvals by giving tax rebates or reduction in building fee to the extent of additional expenditure incurred.

Solar or wind energy plants / individual/group residential apartments /commercial complexes may be given higher subsidies like lower tariff for those using solar lanterns, CFLs, LED lamps etc. Slightly higher FSI may also be allowed to GB builders/purchasers.

Public recognition and accreditation to GB developers will also infuse the necessary thrust and enthusiasm in them to take up GBs.

A carrot and stick policy may also  yield results. Some sort of penalising high energy consumers is also the need of the hour, like higher tariffs, higher peak hour tariffs etc.

A rebate in property tax for taking up geen initiatives is highly recomended. In fact Govt. of Karnataka has such a scheme for using solar water heaters.

Actually I support both

It would take a lot of effort to entice the developer/builder to build as per green building standards due to the cost involved. Builders normally would avoid this unless there is a proven demand in this sector along with higher margins.

A slightly less effort may be required to convince the individual common man. But here again, it would be a contractor (Usually small time) or in most cases the “mestri” who would be building. The “Mestri” built houses would far outnumber the BE or diploma engineer built houses in our country.

Hence there must be both awareness and tax sops involved for this concept to succeed.

Because of the costs involved the government must give lots of concessions for construction that follow the Leeds Standard.

The government must treat this as it does the alternative generation energy sector. In the alternative energy generation sector the energy is generated using say the solar or wind source and this is considered to be a “Clean Source of Energy”. This is considered to be a “Positive” or “Gain” to the nation/mankind.

The Green Building saves energy. The same as in the proverb “Money Saved is Money Earned” applies to this area too and hence “Energy Saved is Energy Earned”. So there is definitely a “Positive” or a “Gain” to the nation/mankind if there are more green buildings.

This would actually translate into “Tangible” Gains to the Nation. Hence the government can consider subsidies and tax sops for Green Buildings. For instance, tax sops similar to the 80IB can be considered for all residential green buildings.

I would say that the number of residences built by very small builders (ones who build say 4 in 1 or 6 in one apartments) would far exceed the ones built by the top 500 (all India) or so developers. If some kind of “Tangible” Tax benefits are given to the builder along with the requisite awareness and other training then definitely all these builders would go in for green buildings.

the easiest way to convey message on mass level regarding green building is : A) Media either in form eg print or broadcasting    B) Local Municipal corporation.Government also play an important role in this. govt by  giving tax exemption and incentives etc.and these thing must be highlighted through media.

corporates  who are into manufacturing building products can also convey the message of green building to the people. I think this will be very much effective in educating peoples.also related peoples like engineers, architects, contractor , messons can guide a prospective home owner regarding this, that what to use and what will be the benefit in using .

I agree that 2/3rd of the housing sector is being built through "Misrties". Many of them has no formal training. It is, therefore, important to conduct small one day / half a day workshops / training near their workplaces through NGO's. Owners may contribute suitabiliy to the NGO's for conducting such programs. Such workshops needs to be conducted in small groups of 20 -25 Mistries" / Supervisors.