Case Study
Building a Green Campus NIIT University, Neemrana, Rajasthan
The goal of the NIIT University campus was to establish standards by which campuses ought to be built as also to define appropriate ways of building in a hot and dry desert regime. Vinod Gupta
T
he NIIT University campus is located about half way between Delhi and Jaipur on National Highway 8, in a very dry and hot part of Rajasthan. An outcrop of the Aravalli Range to the east of the campus gives a special character to the site. Rainfall is scarce in this region but when it does rain, water running down the hills can cause flash floods. The promoters of the NIIT campus were keen to build an economically and environmentally sustainable campus. The need for environmental sustainability is understandable, but economic sustainability meant that one had to build at an affordable price. Looking at the tools available for making a sustainable campus, one realised that simply making green buildings
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April 2011 Volume 4 â—? Issue 5
that are efficient users of water, energy and materials would not create a green campus. Even if the buildings managed wastes and created better indoor air quality, they would not be able to create a sustainable campus. Much of the energy in a campus is used outside the buildings and even more so outside the campus. Students and teachers consume energy to get to the campus and that can sometimes be more than the energy they would consume in the buildings. Like any other large construction project, a campus construction also requires an environmental clearance. The environmental impact assessment (EIA) process, more broad based than green building norms, deals with existing technologies only and merely ensures compliance with existing standards for water and energy use along with solid