The green building concept is fast catching up in India, a top official of U.S. Green Building Council and GBCI said today.

The GBCI, the certifying body for all LEED projects worldwide, has so far certified 650 buildings in India out of 2,500 buildings in the pipeline, with 1.17 billion square feet, Council President and CEO Mahesh Ramanujam told reporters here.

He was here to certify ‘Sierra ODC’ e-facility, an IT company building the Leed Platinum, as the World’s 2nd highest ranking green building, which has scored 103 out of 110 points.

At world level, 90,000 green buildings are in pipeline, of which 38,000 have already been certified in 164 countries, he said.

Stating that this project will serve as a model in India and all around the world for how a future that was safe and health for the planet and its people can be created, Mahesh said that by certifying the project to LEED SIERRA OCD, has demonstrated a strong commitment to health comfort and well being of the people.

On criteria of ranking, Mahesh said that energy and water savings, style selection and materials used for construction will be some of the things that were counted for ranking.

SIERA ODC Managing Director Giridhar said that being the developer of eFaciloity-Enterprise facility Management Software, has any clientele including many Fortune 500 companies and Government agencies spread across Asia, Middle East, Australia, USA and Europe.

eFacility has been designed and constructed to be one of the greenest buildings in the entire world, Giridhar said adding that the achievements being 64 per cent energy cost savings, 100 per cent green power and carbon neutral, 89 per cent water savings and 100 per cent water recycled.