The Alternative along with ZED Habitats presents ‘Greenprint Your Home’

BANGALORE, India - Dec. 5, 2013 - PRLog -- Between now and 2030, surveys project a roughly 250% increase in the number of buildings and built-up area created across India’s top 50 cities. In keeping pace with the rapid growth of cities, built urban development has led to a huge environmental footprint: buildings today create 40% of our country’s carbon emissions and 60% of its waste.

Amidst the increasing demand for natural resources and degradation due to development, there has been growing awareness among residents in Bangalore and Karnataka around building and living in greener homes and following more sustainable lifestyles. The State ranks fourth in the number of green buildings, with over 90% located only in Bangalore!

Thanks to technology, expertise, accessibility and support, building or retro-fittinghomes and apartments to be eco-friendly costs just the same as living in a regular home. And the benefits are many: healthier, beautiful homes that are closer to nature, save on water and power bills, use resources wisely besides lending to building a better planet. The city has also a vibrant ecosystem in terms of solution providers for green homes, a closely-knit community of apartment champions, kitchen gardeners, lake champions and citizens concerned about the city and the environment.

In order to support the growing consciousness around green homes, The Alternative and ZED Habitats present “Greenprint Your Home”, an onsite practical workshop that equips citizens with the right information, tools and know-how on green homes.

GREENPRINT YOUR HOME: EVENT HIGHLIGHTS

“What’s a green home” 360 degree session with renowned green architect Sathya Prakash Varanashi
Powering your home with the sun, from technologies to costs and maintenance with K. Harinarayanan, CEO, U Solar
Water sustainability with Avinash Krishnamurthy, Biome Environmental Solutions, one of the country’s leading water sustainability solution designers
Using good wood – forest-free, recycled and eco-friendly wood options by ZED’s award-winning Forest-Free furniture designers
Site-walk through of green home technologies, from natural bricks to vertical gardens
Interactive sessions with green home owners on “how we did it”
Site visit to Kachra Mane – built completely out of scrap from demolished sites and second-hand discards

BANGALORE’S GREENEST HOMES

Bangalore has a huge number of success stories around green homes – homes that respect land, cut down on use of material, live off-the-grid for energy and water, manage their wastes, leverage native wisdom and more. Some examples:

Stop paying for your electricity: Running completely on sun power, the Muthiah home on Bannerghatta Road hasn’t paid BESCOM a paisa in the last 8 years! The family uses rain water for its everyday needs, sustainable mud bricks for walls and leads a lifestyle that presents a perfect blend of sustainability and native wisdom.

No water bill in 19 years: Nature has all the answers, demonstrates Sourabha. Built in 1994, the house of AR Shivakumar runs completely on rain water, hasn’t paid the water bill in 19 years, heats and lights up on solar energy, cools naturally and has water bodies all around to refresh the air.

Use and never throw: With 80% of the fittings from demolished houses, wood reused from scrap dealers and second hand household appliances, GV Dasarathi’s Kachra Mane in Sadashivnagar gives a whole new meaning to the word 'trash.'

Grow what you eat: Rajesh and Vallari Shah’s retrofitted green home in Whitefield is smart about water use and recycling, gets 90% of its vegetables from its own backyard, uses the power of the sun and has extended the philosophy to a thriving community garden project right inside their layout.

More from the Bangalore’s Greenest Homes series here: http://thealternative.in/tag/bangalores-greenest-homes/


(Green home owners from the above homes will be at the event, answering questions and presenting their experiences).

Greenprint Your Home is for anyone looking to build, buy or modify their existing homes to be eco-friendly. Greenprint Your Home is the first step towards growing the movement towards a cooler planet and smarter living, starting with the home. More details at: http://goo.gl/29PUDe