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The office building of the Haryana Department of Renewable Energy in Panchkula has tweaked
the age-old design of courtyards to beat the blistering dry heat in north India. As a result, the
building maintains a temperature of below 30 degrees during peak summers—with little
dependency on air conditioners.
Akshya Urja Bhawan (AUB), which became operational in December 2012, has been designed
with a courtyard in the centre and offices around it. The courtyard is kept cool and the air from it
is fed into the building. The courtyard is covered with sunshades on top that stop direct sunrays
from entering it. “The building has been fitted with a misting system which sprays water into the
courtyard,” says Siddhartha Wig, principal architect at The Elements, the firm that designed
AUB. The misting arrangement works as a giant evaporative cooler popularly used in north India
to cool homes in summer.
A gulmohar tree has been planted in the courtyard, which, once fully grown, will transpire and
reduce the dependency on misting.
Water independence
"Our water management
system has worked so The cooling system in AUB uses only a fraction of water that a
effectively that after last regular chiller plant for air-conditioning system would use. The
year's monsoon, which
building uses water-efficient fixtures and drip irrigation for
filled the water tank, we
have not taken water landscape to further reduce its water footprint. It also collects
from the municipal rainwater which is stored in a 625,000-litre underground tank.
supply"
The rainwater is treated and used for drinking, HVAC (heating,
ventilation, and air conditioning) and horticulture. The building
-Siddhartha Wig, architect,
also has an effluent treatment plant for the water collected from
Akshay Urja Bhawan
kitchen and toilet, which is reused for horticulture and flushing.
Solid waste from the building is directed to municipal sewer line. “This water management
system has worked so effectively that after last year’s monsoon, which filled our water tank,
AUB has not taken water from the municipal supply,” says Wig.
The design, he says, has allowed the building to have a modern glass look without compromising
on energy efficiency. “The south facade is covered with inward sloping solar reflective glass. The
facade is punctured with deep horizontal sunshades to ensure that the glazing does not trap heat,”
says Wig. The sunshades are placed at an angle that they block the summer sun, while allowing
the winter sun to enter the building. The sunshades are lined with white mosaic tiles to reflect the
incident heat back into the space. The roof of the building is covered with special reflective
white tiles that reflect heat and insulate the roof.
Energy wise
The energy performance index (API) of the building is under 15 kWh/sq m/year, according to
green building rating system griha. Operational data of AUB for the first six months of 2013
available with Down To Earth shows that the building consumed 21,576 kWh of electricity,
which indicates that the operational API, calculated after a year, might be lesser than the griha
estimation. The Bureau of Energy Efficiency’s star rating benchmark for a five-star building of
AUB category is 40 kWh/sq m/year.
The building has a 42.5 kWp solar photovoltaic array installed on its rooftop. The rooftop solar
system can generate enough power to meet AUB’s electricity demand. The green building was
built at a cost of Rs.23,672 per square metre, which is similar to the average construction cost of
conventional buildings.
Though highly energy efficient, AUB is meant for only 55 officials and has accommodation
arrangement for 14-15 people. Wig admits that the per square metre energy consumption of the
building is very low, but if looked from per capita perspective it is not as efficient. “The current
standards are based on built-up area and don’t reflect the actual energy footprint of people using
the building. There is a need to introduce a new parameter of people in this calculation,” says he.