New Delhi, Nov 11 (IANS): To spread awareness about the need to construct green buildings to save the environment, a tour to the country's first net zero energy building -Indira Paryavaran Bhavan- was organised in the national capital Tuesday.

Situated in south Delhi's Jorbagh area, the seven-storey building is spread across 32,000 square metres. It was built by the Central Public Works department (CPWD) at a cost of Rs. 209 crore and houses the environment ministry.

The tour was organised by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and ADaRSH (Association for Development and Research of Sustainable Habitats).

Explaining the design in detail, Deependra Prashad, who was the sustainable design consultant to the CPWD, told IANS that the building has been constructed through the adoption of solar passive design and energy efficient building materials.

With an installed capacity of 930 KW peak power, the building has the largest rooftop solar system among multi-storey buildings in India.

"The net zero energy building implies that the electricity required by the building to operate is generated by the solar panels. So, it is a self-sustaining building when it comes to electricity," Prashad said.

"The design of the building is such that 75 percent of natural daylight is utilised to reduce energy consumption. The entire building has an access friendly design for differently-abled persons," he added.

Green materials like fly ash bricks, materials with high recyclable content, high reflectance terrace tiles and rock wool insulation of outer walls were used in the construction while bamboo jute composite material was used for door frames and shutters.

In addition, recycling of waste water, use of plants with low water demand in landscaping, geothermal cooling and rainwater harvesting are some of the many features that the building boasts of.

Hoping that more buildings in the future will be green, Akash Deep, programme officer of ADaRSH, told IANS that giving incentives was the only way to entice private builders.

"The municipal corporations must lure the private builders with some incentives. We are currently in talks with the municipalities of many states," he said.