| | AUGUST 202519IN MY OPINIONKripadyuti Sarkar, Group CIO, Ambuja NeotiaIn an exclusive interview with Kripadyuti Sarkar, Group CIO, Ambuja Neotia, he highlights the transformation process that real estate developers and raw material providers are undergoing on the path towards a sustainable future. He has 22 years of experience in leading digital transformation initiatives across numerous well-renowned organizations such as the Adani Group, Reliance and Xerox.SUSTAINABLE BUILDING PRACTICES SHAPING THE FUTURE OF REAL ESTATEIn your view, how are sustainable building practices changing the way real estate developments are planned and constructed?Until the last decade, buildings were constructed using brick and mortar with manual labour, sometimes assisted with heavy machinery like cranes. There was no room for IT services amidst this established process until the last decade. However, currently, to maximize the throughput and adherence to sustainability norms, IT is implemented heavily in every step of development. While monitoring was carried out manually, drones are currently being deployed for this role. The manual activity at present is akin to the role of a sports referee.For safety purposes, CCTV cameras coupled with AI are being leveraged for determining the best security and environmental practices. Being mindful of carbon footprint, the industry is adopting solar technologies and are building infrastructures keeping rainwater harvesting in mind in a bid to reduce ground water consumption. Post COVID, the adoption pace increased and all the aforementioned technologies gained traction.What are the most impactful green technologies being integrated into new real estate developments, and how do they contribute to sustainability?Real estate is a carbon-dense industry. Construction equipments are operated with fossil fuels. The government of India is targeting to make this industry carbon neutral by 2050. The government has mandated a few of the operations that organizations must look into for reducing their carbon output. It can be boiled down to two aspects, water and energy.The first activity that is done in a bare land is the erection of a storage unit that is built in to act as a reservoir for the water that is being harvested via rainwater harvesting. And secondly, for the energy requirements, the boundary of any construction site is marked with solar panels. The energy generated here is utilized for all the construction activities that take place onsite. The industry is targeting 80% of energy requirements being fulfilled by solar power by 2030-2031.Kripadyuti Sarkar, Group CIO
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