IIT Ropar awarded with Five Star GRIHA rating

The Indian Institute of Technology, Ropar has been awarded the 5 Star GRIHA rating, one of the highest national ratings for Green Buildings for its upcoming campus in Ropar. The GRIHA LD Plaque was awarded today at the 7thGRIHA Summit happening at India Habitat Center, New Delhi. The campus was rated on 34 criteria categorized under various sections like site selection, conservation, efficient material utilization, site planning among others. Each criterion has certain points assigned to it and a building is required to score a minimum of 50 points being eligible for certification. IIT Ropar’s new campus scored more than 600 points against these 34 criteria, thereby making them eligible to receive the 5 Star GRIHA rating. Prof. Sarit Kumar Das, Director, IIT Ropar said, "This rating reinforces our commitment towards the green movement in our country. We have ensured that we adhere to the 34 points laid down by GRIHA. We are working towards implementing efficient methods and techniques, through which we will be able to achieve the optimum energy efficiency and conservation of resources. We will also work towards setting up processes by which our energy requirements are met through renewable energy sources, our water usage is reduced considerably and also our waste matter is recycled in a useful manner.” The master plan of the new campus envisions a low-energy utilization campus. It aims to reduce the consumption of energy and water by almost around 28 percent. Some of the features inducing sustainability and low energy utilization include renewable energy sources like solar panels, rainwater harvesting, use a of fly-ash bricks for construction of the buildings, setting up a sewage & waste treatment plant among others.