Launch Event for Guidebooks & Toolkits, followed with two-day Webinar Series under Mahindra-TERI Centre of Excellence (CoE) Programme
The three-day long webinar series focused on developing stakeholder awareness, and share guidelines and toolkits produced under the Mahindra TERI Centre of Excellence (CoE) Programme through carefully curated presentation and panel discussions by built environment experts.
The Mahindra-TERI Centre of Excellence (CoE), a joint research initiative of Mahindra Lifespaces Developers Ltd. (MLDL) and The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), was established through a memorandum of understanding signed between Mahindra Lifespaces and The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) in 2016.
As a culmination to the Phase-I, Mahindra Lifespaces and TERI jointly hosted a launch event and webinar series from 22nd – 24th November 2021 for the release of ‘Guidebooks and Toolkits under Mahindra-TERI Centre of Excellence (CoE)’ with a special focus on disseminating the innovation & outcomes of the project and creating awareness amongst the built environment professionals.
As a follow-up to the Day-1 event, a two-day webinar series on 23rd & 24th November 2021 was conducted to demonstrate the guidebooks and toolkits. The pool of experts intervened post the demonstration to discuss the current sector state of play and the way forward to mainstream the sustainability principles in the upcoming building stock.
Webinar Series
Session-1: Mainstreaming the Material Properties Database and Design Toolkits to Augment the Daylighting and Thermal Comfort in Buildings
In the first session on “Mainstreaming the Material Properties Database and Design Toolkits to Augment the Daylighting and Thermal Comfort in Buildings,” the highlights of guidebooks and toolkits pertaining to thermal comfort, daylighting, material database, and Eco-Niwas Samhita design aider was presented. Subsequently, a pool of experts intervened through a panel discussion to share their insights and opinion on the various issues and opportunities for built environment professionals. The panel constituted from various disciplines such as architects, engineers, policymakers, manufacturers, environmental ethics, etc., also deliberated the strategies for effectively implementing energy-efficient building materials and design optimization to build thermally comfortable and low carbon homes. Furthermore, eminent panelists highlighted the barriers and gaps at different levels amongst academia, government, and building designers, who are accountable for the lack of importance given to the awareness generation and mainstreaming of thermal comfort and daylighting principles in the building industry.
Session-2: Importance of Visual Comfort for Indoor Environment
The second session on 'Importance of Visual Comfort for Indoor Environment' commenced with an introductory presentation on the outcomes produced under the visual comfort research vertical, followed by a constructive panel discussion amongst experts from industry, lighting engineers, architects, and academia. The panel discussion's overarching theme of visual comfort was focused on the key parameters affecting visual comfort, the effect of visual discomfort on health and productivity, the role of a lighting designer, the technological advancements in lighting design, and awareness amongst the consumers in the Indian industry. The panelists emphasized that visual comfort and good lighting design are predominant factors that contribute to the overall lighting energy reduction and improve the health and productivity of the users. They highlighted that it is essential to generate awareness about this topic amongst the consumers as these concepts have limited know-how in the Indian geo-climatic context. Moreover, they agreed that these outcomes bring out the importance of good daylighting and electric lighting for people's overall satisfaction; this evidence may further assist policy-makers in establishing appropriate guidelines and standards.
Session-3: Sky Modelling: Daylight Assessment- Challenges and Opportunities
The webinar session on 'Sky Modelling: Daylight Assessment, Challenges, and Opportunities' was held to discuss the ongoing study focused on developing a sky model with extensive luminance and radiance data collection, which has not occurred before for any location across the country. The event brought stakeholders from various domains such as academicians, researchers, architects, and pioneers from the daylighting industry to share their experiences and challenges on several aspects, including energy savings and climate change.
The panel discussion was focused on unlocking the upcoming research in the field of effective integration of daylighting. The panelists emphasized that the study's findings will provide architects and building designers with a reliable and simple alternative solution that could incorporate the daylight coefficient approach to predict indoor daylight illuminance under realistic sky conditions. During the panel discussion, an important issue was discussed on the way forward for integrating the captured data for use in daylighting assessment simulation tools. The panel appreciated the work being done at the centre. It recognized the efforts of TERI and Mahindra for taking up such a study which will be beneficial for the building fraternity.
Session-4: Building Water Positive Habitats
A session on 'Building Water Positive Habitats' was organized on the second day of the 2-day webinar series to disseminate the objectives, findings, and way forward of the township (micro-level) and city (macro-level) water sustainability study conducted under Mahindra-TERI Centre of Excellence. The session brought together various panelists such as researchers, corporates, real estate developers, etc., to discuss the shortcomings of the existing water management and measures to strengthen and shift to more sustainable concepts for achieving future proof water positive habitats.
The detailed agenda is enclosed for reference.