Sustainability Assessment Method of GRIHA for Sustainable Built Environment: A Review Based on a Design Perspective
Building industry is the largest world energy consumer at 40% of total world energy. Various agencies across the world have formulated Sustainability Assessment (SA) methods for its assessment. In India, TERI and Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Govt. of India, have established GRIHA as the assessment guideline for the built environment. SA methods recommend a pre-design check list and post completion assessment of the projects. The major parameters of evaluation aim to address environmental, social and economic impact on well- being of society. A comparison is drawn on the broader definition of sustainability which has been adopted world over and it is felt by local practitioners that the parameters need to be adapted to deal with local situations and conditions for effective results. This paper attempts to review the various assessment parameters considered under the GRIHA model in the design evaluation of the built environment considering local conditions in specific locations in the north east. The paper infers to devise a normalization factor to help achieve equalized balance in achieving sustainability.