Green living isn't an expensive indulgence any more; it makes cold, hard economic sense
Navin Chandra is enthusiastic as he takes me to the roof of Sea Line, a seven-storeyed building in Bandra, Mumbai. This slightly built man walks and talks with an energy that belies his 79 summers. He is explaining the social and economic benefits of living green.
Not all buildings are as fortunate. Hyde Park Galaxy, a building complex in Thane district, used to suffer from a lot of water cuts. They used to spend Rs. 10,000 on water tankers every year. Ever since they began water harvesting in 2007, they haven’t had to call the tanker guys. “We spent Rs. 40,000 on the whole system. Both our buildings, with a total of 56 flats, don’t have to rely on Municipal water,” says Rajesh Parakh, chairperson of the housing society. While the rest of us have to contend with water cuts due to a bad monsoon, these buildings are set for the year.
(This story appears in the 28 August, 2009 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)