ASSIGNMENT – 3

BUILDING MATERIAL & COMPONENTS

ENERGY EFFICIENCY & PASSIVE TECHNIQUES USED
SOHRABJI GODREJ GREEN BUSINESS CENTRE, HYDERABAD

SUBMITTED BY
SREELEKSHMI .A. PILLAI
S1 M.ARCH
 SOHRABJI GODREJ GREEN BUSINESS CENTRE, HYDERABAD
The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) – Sohrabji Green Business Centre in Hyderabad is
the first LEED Platinum rated building in India. It is an office building consisting of offices,
research labs and conference rooms.

It offers advisory services to the Industry in the areas of:

•Green buildings
•Energy Efficiency
•Water Management
•Environmental management
•Renewable energy
•Green business incubation
•Climate change activities
General Description
Location: Hyderabad
Site area: 4.5 acres
Built up area : 1858 sqm
Type: Office building
Architect: Karan Grover
Ratings: Awarded the LEED Platinum rating by the U.S Green Building Council (USGBC) in
November 2003.

Design Features of CII-Green Business Center, Hyderabad

Courtyards

The courtyards act as "light wells," illuminating adjacent work areas. When this light is not
sufficient, sensors trigger the deployment of efficient electric lights. Dimmers automatically
control the illumination levels, turning the lights off when they're unnecessary. Also,
occupancy sensors prevent a light from being switched on at an unoccupied workstation.
Wind-Towers and Screen Walls – provide pre-cooled air to the AHUs; thereby reducing air-
conditioning costs.
Roof Garden

Absorbing heat and radiating it into

the building. This is minimized
through the roof gardens covering
55% of the roof area.

Rain water harvesting

Seepage into the ground have been installed in pedestrian areas and parking.
Natural Lighting

Natural light deflection systems

can direct light deep into the
room and ensure better natural
lighting provisions.

Reflective glass (mirror)

This material will most significantly

reduce penetration of radiation from the
reflecting side to the non-reflecting side
(penetration of 11-37% of total striking
radiation).

Such glazing is used in this building where

it is desirable to maintain eye contact
with the outside as well as to prevent
penetration of radiation and in areas
where it is hot most days of the year.

Usage of Light Glazing and Vision Glazing

The double glazed glass will just allow the diffused sunlight to pass through and will radiate
the solar radiation back. It is located in the western direction because the sun’s rays is highly
radiant when it is setting.
Double glazed glass

This consists of two sheets of glass with space in between, sometimes

filled with air or other gases, or vacuum.

Variations in thickness have a certain effect, up to a certain limit, on the

percentage of radiation allowed to penetrate and on thermal
conductance of the composition.

The main advantage of this type of cross-section is its ability to reduce

heat transfer from one pane to the other, both by conduction and by
radiation.

Use of Traditional Jali

Jalis or Lattice walls are used to

prevent glare and heat gain while
ensuring adequate day lighting
and views.

Function of jail in the rains

Root-Zone Treatment – All the waste water generated on site is passed through the roots,
and re-used for the maintenance of the garden.

Efficient Lighting – more than 90% of the interiors are day-lit; and all lighting fixtures are
integrated with day-light and occupancy sensors.

Photo-Voltaic Panels – to generate solar energy which accounts for 20% of the total power
consumption.

Solar Panels
Harvesting of solar energy - 20% of the buildings energy requirement is catered to by solar
photovoltaic
The Solar PV has an installed capacity of 23.5 KW. Average generation is 100-125 units per
day.
The solar panels are placed on the eastern side and they are sloping which helps production
of energy throughout the day and as it is a commercial building more amount of energy is
consumed during the working hours [day] compared to the evenings.
Wind Tower with Evaporative Cooling
A combination of sensible cooling in the ground and evaporative cooling with the flow of air
induced by the wind tower can be achieved by this configuration. The heat loss from air
results in a decreased air temperature, but no change in the water vapour content of the
air.
The hot ambient air enters the tower through the openings in the tower and is cooled, when
it comes in contact with the cool tower and thus becomes heavier and sinks down. When an
inlet is provided to the rooms with an outlet on the other side, there is a draft of cool air.
After a whole of heat exchange, the wind towers become warm in the evening.
During night the reverse happens; due to warm surface of wind tower and drop in
temperature of ambient air due to buoyancy effect, warm air rises upwards. As a result,
cooler ambient air is sucked into the room through the window. As a by-product of this
process, wind tower loses the heat that was collected during the day time and it becomes
ready for use in cold condition up to the morning.
Due to the unpredictable wind direction, opening on all four sides are provided with an
additional affect due to wind pressure. The rate of heat transfer mainly depends on surface
area with which, the air comes in contact. Here the surface area is increased by having
vertical conduits, which gives less resistance to air flow. Further, the effectiveness is
increased by having sprinklers to promote the evaporative cooling
Wind Deflectors

Interior partitions are provided in the building

for various purposes of privacy, which may not
allow openings in the partition.
In this region, due to the warm and humid
climate ventilation becomes very essential,
cross – ventilation becomes the major solution.
This can be overcome by providing ridge
ventilation or ventilating ducts or shafts for
deeper rooms.

The effect of positioning the apertures at various heights above the floor influences the
efficiency of the natural ventilation in a given space.
Inlet and outlet are high. Airflow only near ceiling. No air current at body level. Good for
removing hot air for warm season. Layers of still air at low levels.

Inlet higher than outlet. Good interaction of air layers. Current at body level. Pocket of
warm, still air over the outlet.
Electricity
Use of Solar photovoltaic cells on the rooftop grid provides about 24KW or 16 % of the
building's electricity needs.
Water system
Collecting rainwater for external use i.e. garden/washing car.

Use water conserving appliances including toilets, shower, taps, washing machine and dish
washer e.g. Low flow faucets, water saving dual flush tanks
Reduce irrigation and surface water run-off.
Zero water discharge building
System35% reduction in potable water use
Low flow water fixtures
Waterless urinals
Use of storm water & recycled water for irrigation.
Entire waste water in the building is treated biologically through a process called the 'Root
Zone Treatment.
Sustainable Materials
A large amount of energy — and pollution — was also reduced through choices in the
production and transportation of building materials.
•An impressive 77 percent of the building materials use recycled content in the form of fly
ash, broken glass, broken tiles, recycled paper, recycled aluminum, cinder from industrial
furnaces, bagasse (an agricultural waste from sugar cane), mineral fibres, cellulose fibers,
and quarry dust.
•The building reuses a significant amount of material salvaged from other construction sites
like toilet doors, interlocking pavement blocks, stone slabs, scrap steel, scrap glazed tiles,
shuttering material and, interestingly, the furniture in the cafeteria. A waste management
plan ensured that 96 percent of construction waste was recycled.
Principles followed
Waste Reduction

 Selected materials using recycled components.

 Designing for re-use and recycling.
 Controlling and reducing waste and packaging.
 Reducing resource consumption.
Energy Efficiency
Designed-Orientation for maximum day light.

of neutral glass to reduce heat gain.

CFG refrigerators in refrigerators and air conditioning.

Establishing baseline data for energy consumption.

ACHIEVEMENTS
1. The building boasts of lighting energy savings of 88 percent compared to an
electrically lit building of the same size.
2. Vegetation that was lost to the built area was replaced by gardens on 55 percent of
the roof area.
3. The building achieves a 35 percent reduction of municipally supplied potable water,
in part through the use of low-flush toilets and waterless urinals.
4. Thirty percent of users have shifted to alternative modes of transportation: carpools,
bicycles, and cars that run on liquefied petroleum gas, a low polluting alternative to
conventional gasoline and diesel.
5. 95 percent of the raw material was extracted or harvested locally.
6. An impressive 77 percent of the building materials use recycled content.
7. A waste management plan ensured that 96 percent of construction waste was
recycled.
Energy savings 55% reduction, with ASHRAE 90.1 as the baseline 120,000 kWh / year
Reduction in co2 emissions ~ 100 tons / year (building is functional since January 2004)
Water savings 35% reduction in potable water consumption envelope
Thermal transfer value U-value of double glazing: 1.70 Watt/m2 °K
U-value of solid wall: 0.57 Watt/m2 °K
U-value of roof: 0.294 Watt/m2 °K
Air conditioning system efficiency 0.8 kW/ton (watercooled scroll chiller system with CoP:
4.23 at ARI condition)
Installed two 25 TR chillers
Energy efficiency index (eei) 84 kWh/m2/year
Cost and Benefits
This was the first green building in the country. Hence, the incremental cost was 18% higher.
However, green buildings coming up now are being delivered at an incremental cost of 6-
8%. The initial incremental cost gets paid back in 3 to 4 years.
Benefits achieved so far: Over 120,000 kWh of energy savings per year as compared to an
ASHRAE 90.1 base case
Potable water savings to tune of 20-30% vis-à-vis conventional building
Excellent indoor air quality
100% day lighting (Artificial lights are switched on just before dusk) Higher productivity of
occupants
REFERENCES :
www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/files/file/CII_Sohrabji_Godrej_Green_Business_Centre-
Case_Study.pdf

http://nirman.com/blog/2016/08/31/cii-sohrabji-godrej-green-business-center-hyderabad-
a-guiding-light/

www.asiabusinesscouncil.org/docs/BEE/GBCS/GBCS_CII.pdf