Professional Ecosystem Support Project (PESP)

India is yet to build 70% of the buildings that will exist in 2030. Cooling the interiors of these buildings through conventional air-conditioning would mean a 700% increase in the number of residential air-conditioners, from 32 million in 2015 to 225 million in 2035, and a 1150% increase in commercial ACs from 9 Million-TR in 2015 to 104 Million-TR in 2035. Alarmingly, the power required to run artificial cooling systems (ACs) in Indian commercial and residential buildings would require 1010 additional power plants by the year 2030. If nothing is done to avert this scenario, ACs installed in Indian commercial and residential buildings would emit, 338 MT CO2e by the year 2030 (approximately 12% of GHG emissions in 2010 ). One of the main reasons behind this is that architects and HVAC engineers continue to adopt unsustainable building practices. Moving away from traditional building practices and an absolute disregard towards context and climate has led to the creation of an energy guzzling building stock in India.

The Professional Ecosystem Support Project (PESP) is a twin-purposed capacity building and eco-system building project.

The project seeks to provide a spectrum of support services to architects and HVAC engineers to enable them to offer sustainable cooling-related design services to the building industry as a ‘non-negotiable value’ and not an external ‘value-addition’ for a higher fee. The underlying hypothesis is that if sustainably cooled buildings are offered as a value-addition, then the client (builder) can choose to reject it and opt for status-quo designs which use up natural resources at an inexorable rate, that can never be replenished.

This idea looks to provide comprehensive knowledge, tool, and design process support to professional architects and HVAC consultants so that energy efficient and sustainably cooled buildings are built in India by ‘default’ and not only for pliant and interested ‘clients’. The idea leads to energy efficiency and sustainable cooling becoming elemental concerns for every building designed, congruent with the unsparing attention given to structural and fire safety in all buildings (not just the one’s where the ‘client’ wants a safe building). This idea is already being tried in India in amongst 24 architecture firms who’s personnel are being re-trained and re-tooled to design climate responsive buildings without necessarily being paid higher design fees or even receiving consent from the client. The DNA of these professional design firms is being infused with extensive motivation, skills and design-process-transformation so that 50%-more efficient than Business-As-Usual buildings emerge by default.

The project also engenders culture shifts in professional design firms through organizational behavior change workshops and ‘nudging tools’ that help deconstruct barriers to change. One goal of the project is embedding sustainable cooling related skills into professional licensing requirements for Indian Architects (COA) and HVAC Engineers (Indian Society of Heating Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers).

The other goal is amalgamating sustainable cooling related skills into formal training of green building consultants aligned with major certification systems (LEED, IGBC, GRIHA).