The Confederation of Indian Industry today said 20 model world class units across different sectors would be developed by 2017 teaming up with industries with the objective of providing benchmarks for other companies in the sector.

S. Raghupathy, Executive Director of CII Godrej Green Building Centre, said CII has been working with a number of sectors to assess their specific challenges in terms of energy management. By engaging with industry associations such as the Cement Manufacturers Association, Indian Pulp & Paper Manufacturers Association, it is seeking to facilitate sector specific interventions and to adapt and implement energy conservation projects by benchmarking them with model units.

Speaking at the CII Energy Efficiency Summit he said the CII Vision is to make India a leader in energy conservation. In little over 10 years, India has registered 2,800 buildings, some of them with multiple buildings, with a planned area of 2.3 billion sq.ft, making it the second largest after the U.S. in terms of green building registrations.

With the cost differential of a green building now coming down to just about 2 to 3 per cent, and the payback becoming much faster, the adoption of green buildings is set to accelerate, he said.

Raghupathy suggested that the State could incentivise people developing Green Homes by extending tax rebates. He cited the efforts made by some State Governments to encourage Green buildings with such concessions.

About 50 buildings in Hyderabad would be transformed into Green buildings within two years, he said.

Rajeev Sharma, Chief Secretary, Telangana Government, said the State Government was open to partner with private firms in energy conservation initiatives and said that number of initiatives have been taken up towards conservation.

He said that the State was encouraging setting up renewable energy projects and that the policy seeks to incentivise solar and wind power projects. Lands unfit for cultivation in Telangana would be offered for developers to set up solar plants.