Sustainable Building

The lifestyle choices we make could be a fairly good indicator of the green sensibilities we ascribe to. These green sensibilities are evident everywhere right from our homes, offices, shops, schools etc. and eventually influencing out resource footprint.

Our small decisions on -- buy products, how do we light and air condition our home, offices and shops, use water, dispose waste define livability. Green sense is nothing else but this sense of resource conscious.

CSE’s Green Sense Survey was an effort for individuals to test their green sensibility through a set of a few quick and easy questions.

Here are the preliminary results of this survey!

10 multiple choice questions….to test respondent’s green sense. Of the 286 respondents, 36% were female, while 64% were male. Of the total number of respondents, almost 45% were between the age group of 20-30, 25% were aged between 30-40 years. Almost 12% and 17% respondents were below 20 years and above 40 years respectively.
Question 1- Has lesser product packaging been a criterion in your buying decisions?
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47% of the total respondents consider packaging either often or always as criteria, when buying a product. While, 20% never give a thought about packaging. The age group between 20-30 years seems to grant importance to product packaging.
Question 2- Do you look for manufacturing location of the product on the label before you buy?
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25% survey respondents never look at product’s manufacturing location while buying. While 21% people always look at the location where the product has been manufactured. Male respondents seem to be more concerned about the manufacturing location of a product than female respondents.
Question 3- Do you look for the Energy Efficiency label given by Bureau of Energy Efficiency on the electrical appliances?
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About 46% of the respondents always look at BEE’s energy efficiency label when buying an electrical appliance. Together almost 85% of the respondents at some point of time had considered the BEE label while purchasing an electrical appliance. Women seem to be less aware of the BEE label placed on the electrical appliances. Maximum respondents who always considered the BEE label are between 20-40 years.
Question 4- In what ways do you use Renewable energy for your domestic needs?
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Almost 63% of the respondents are not using renewable energy in any form as part of their daily chores. Only a small section of 8% of the respondents state that they are using all the three options namely, solar cooker, solar water heating and solar energy from the grid as an energy source for their domestic needs. Almost 1/4th of the respondents have integrated atleast one of the three renewable energy using systems. .
Question 5- How do you take care of your appliances?
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Over 50% of the respondents get their appliances repaired in case a break down. Only 2% respondents, mostly women get a new appliance when it breaks down, without attempting to repair them. 40% respondents take care of their appliances by getting them serviced regularly, to increase its life span.
Question 6- What is the flush tank capacity of your water closet at your home?
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20% of the respondents have a flush tank with a capacity of over 10 litres, therefore not using a water efficient WC. Almost 80% of the respondents have water closet with capacity less than 10 litres. More than half of the respondents amongst this 80% have WC’s with capacity less than 5 litres, which qualify for water efficient water closet.
Question 7- Do you ask if the company takes back the used product and recycles it to new products before you buy them
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More than 42% of the respondents never consider asking about the company’s policy of taking back used product and recycling them. 11% people always a make it a point to ask this from the company they are buying the product from. Respondents between 20-40 years never ask about company’s recycling policy of their used product.
Question 8- What is the temperature setting of your air conditioner in summer?
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More than 55% of the respondents say that they don’t use A/C in summers. A very small percentage of respondents i.e. 6%, set very low temperature (15-20°c) on their A/C in summers. Almost 38% respondents maintain A/C temperature between 20-30°c.
Question 9- How many mobile phone handsets did you change in the past 2 years?
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45% of the survey respondents are using the same mobile for the last two years. 6% of the respondents do not own a mobile phone. About 31% of the respondents have changed their mobile either once or more than once in the past couple of years.
Question 10- How often do you switch off the appliance at the main switch rather than leaving them in standby mode?
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Over 56% of the survey respondents always make sure to turn off their appliances from the main switch. Only 3% respondents are in a habit of leaving them on stand by mode, always. 40% of the respondents do not regularly turn off their electrical appliances from the main switch and leave them on a stand by mode.