1 week Ago By Prashant Rupera
Vadodara: Gujarat's youngest state university — the Shri Govind Guru University (SGGU) — has become the first out of 105 university campuses in the state to get a green building tag. SGGU, which operates from the tribal-dominated Panchmahals district, has been conferred with a green building certification by the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC), India's premier certification body. After the collectorate office in Vyara, which was constructed around 12 years ago, SGGU is the second green building constructed by the R&B department that has earned the green tag.
The university now has the distinction of being the first zero-emission, zero-discharge, and water-positive campus in the state, apart from being a plastic-free zone. "We are proud that out of all the public, private, or deemed universities in Gujarat, we are the first to have received the green certification," said SGGU's vice-chancellor Pratapsinh Chauhan, who was handed over the green certificate by Godhra collector Ashish Kumar on Sep 5. He said that although the university received the green certificate now, it had started taking green steps in 2021.
"SGGU campus is not only the first zero-emission campus in Gujarat but probably the first under ISO 14064 considering scope 1, scope 2, and scope 3," said Vadodara-based N K Ojha, technical advisor and green building consultant, who facilitated green building certification for the project. "With an artificial lake and a Miyawaki forest, it has turned into a water-positive campus and carbon-neutral campus," said Ojha. The university, established through an Act by the Gujarat govt, started developing its new campus in 2019 on 108 acres of land at Vinzol, 10 km from Godhra town.
To date, the state govt has allocated over Rs 80 crore for the campus. With the help of the forest department of Godhra, it has planted around 2,200 trees on five acres of land to create a Miyawaki forest. Additionally, 800 trees were planted along the periphery of the compound wall.
"These trees absorb carbon, turning it into a zero-emission campus. Plus, the trees act as heat exchangers," said Ojha. The Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA) norms mandate water consumption per day per person in office buildings to be 35 litres, whereas that for visitors is 15 litres.
Considering the occupancy of 40 staff and service personnel apart from 20 visitors per day, the water consumption per day at the administrative block of the university came to 1,700 litres per day. At the same time, the National Building Code norms suggest that 450 litres per day should be used for landscaping. "The total water requirement at the campus was 2,150 litres, which was reduced by 30% by installing water-efficient flow fixtures, irrigation systems, and landscaping.
Now, only 1,505 litres of water per day is consumed. Considering 290 working days in a year, 4.36 lakh litres of water is consumed annually," said Ojha.
Against this, an artificial lake that has been created within the campus can store 48 lakh litres of water. "The total rainwater that gets recharged annually in the large open space stands at 7.68 lakh litres, making it a water-positive campus," he said.
Pointers: Green Measures - Miyawaki forest on 5 acres of land with 2,200 trees - An artificial lake stores 48 lakh litres of water - 7.68 lakh litres of rainwater recharged from open spaces - Water consumption reduced by 30% - Energy consumption reduced by 25-30% - Green transportation promoted through carpooling and CNG vehicles - Steel tramming done to reduce heat inside the building - Five-foot buffer gaps kept between walls of the building to reduce the temperature inside the building.
