How Construction Can Be Eco-Friendly

While the construction industry contributes much to India's development, it also accounts for polluting the atmosphere to a great extent. To curtail this, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) recently ordered that real estate developers that dump waste in public places or burn these in open spaces should pay a fine of Rs 50,000. The tribunal also forbid developers from keeping their dust, sand, cement, brick and other construction materials on the public place and road.
However, disposing waste is not the only way construction activities pollute the atmosphere.

• Development needs water for construction activities, and when access to water supply is limited, they use groundwater. This leads to depletion of water levels in surrounding areas. This is why in cities like Gurgaon, where rainfall is limited, depletion of water happens at a much greater rate.

• Production of electricity using diesel generators, especially in construction projects, also pollutes the atmosphere.

• When developers provide sewage, they tend to dump waste in public places or water bodies.

A look at how environmental pollution and depletion of natural resource base can be curtailed to a great extent by putting in place better construction techniques:

• Using traditional or less energy efficient machinery, equipment and fuel is one of the major reasons why construction activity pollutes the atmosphere. If the building structures, for example, are more in sync with the climate and outdoor atmosphere, the energy required to warm or cool houses would be far greater. Roof structures made of steel are more energy efficient than roof structures made of aluminum sheet, for example, because the amount of material needed is smaller.

• Heavy metals used in construction spread into the soil and harm the ecosystem. But, this is not true of other energy efficient material. New materials, for example are more energy efficient. If the government allows large-scale construction projects and high-rises, using newer machinery and energy-efficient technology would become much easier because the cost per unit of floor space would be lower.

• Using more efficient construction material and equipment will not happen as a result of concern for environment alone. This is generally a result of greater prosperity and a market-oriented regulatory framework that places less constraints on real estate development and private production. 

• The government can also prevent dumping sewage by penalising it. Sewage and other waste is dumped in public land because doing so in private land would invite great penalty.  

• To recycle sewage in its entirety, building cross-property infrastructure is important. A city where land acquisition is easier is more likely to create an environment where such activities would be possible. A harsh penalty for duping sewage on public land or water bodies would also help do so to a great extent. This is true of electricity production, too.

• Electricity and water production would profit from economies of scale. For instance, electricity production using diesel is more common because private players do not produce it on a large scale. As they use diesel generators and inverters that provide electricity on a small scale, pollution is much higher. Similarly, if water is served at low prices, ground water depletion in construction sites would have been less common.