With 42 green buildings, Chennai leads the pack
Chennai is home to more green buildings than any other city in the country. Chennai is home to 42 of the 212 structures in India that are certified as eco-friendly by the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC). Chennai is followed by Mumbai, with 29 green buildings, and the National Capital Region (28), among cities awarded Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification by IGBC. Hyderabad and Bangalore are tied in fourth place with 24 each and Kolkata is sixth with eight. Tamil Nadu tops the states with 47 green buildings and 57 more have been registered for certification in 2011, a big increase over previous years. Sriperumbadur has three green buildings, Tirupur, two, and Madurai, Salem, Siruseri and Coimbatore have one each. In India, the IGBC (Indian Green Building Council) gives the LEED rating, a system which rates buildings on design, construction and operation and offers four certifications for new constructions: Certified, Silver, Gold and Platinum. Adarsh (Association for Development and Research of Sustainable Habitats) founded by TERI and the ministry for new and renewable energy also issue GRIHA (Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment) to deal with small residential complexes and homes. GRIHA ratings range from one star to five star.