GREEN HOMES

Promoting Sustainable Housing in Nepal

June 2014

Volume 1

Issue 1

Year 1

Project funded by

What is Green Home ?

COMPONENTS OF GREEN HOMES

reen Homes - the Sustainable Housing is an initiative that promotes housing

systems which reduce pressure on natural resources and carbon emissions,
thus resulting in human wellbeing, social equity, and promotion of green
economy. Energy efficiency in buildings, eco-friendly practices for water and
waste management at household level such as rainwater harvesting, and waste/
wastewater recycling. Green homes are more than just green buildings - they
reflect a sustainable lifestyle based on eco-friendly systems and behavior.

Green
construction
materials:

Who are we ?
United
Nations
Human
Settlements Programme (UNHabitat) under Switch Asia
Programme
of
European
Union is promoting sustainable
housing in partnership with
Federation
of
Nepalese
Chamber of Commerce and
Industries (FNCCI), Environment
and Public Health Organization
(ENPHO), Clean Energy Nepal
(CEN), Shelter and Local
Technology
Development
Centre (SLTDC) and IHS/
Erasmus University. We have partnered with the Government of Nepal and three
municipalities: Pokhara, Lalitpur and Dharan.

How we promote ?
Volunteerism and hobbies are good but not sufficient. This initiative tries to bring
three equally important partners together- the Government and municipalities, the
small and medium enterprises that produce green products and services and the
consumers. Recognizing the promotional role of municipalities their involvement
pave way towards green labeling system. Private sector involvement may be
encouraged through creating demand by attracting and convincing more and more
consumers. Demonstration, capacity building and policy facilitation are the areas
we address.

Mark of Recognition
The Real Estate Award was awarded to UNHabitat for its contribution to the housing
sector for introducing innovate approach
of Green Homes- promoting sustainable
housing in Nepal by Homeland Magazine.

Construction materials
that have less embodied
energy and less carbon
footprint will be promoted
for housing purpose.

Passive Solar
Design:
Utilizing natural light,
heat and ventilation while
wisely designing the
houses using locational
advantage helps to reduce
energy conservation,
create healthy
environment.

Energy efficiency:
Utilizing solar and other
alternative energy
that are cleaner and
selection of energy
efficient equipments and
appliances, and practicing
energy saving practices.

Water
conservation:
Rain water harvesting,
recharge and judicious
use of water giving less
stress to water sources.

Waste
management:
3R for solid waste
management, recycling
and reusing of grey
water and utilizing
by-products of waste
materials.

EVENTS
Launching Green Homes
Green Homes was launched on May 3, 2013
in the presence of Secretary Mr. Kishore
Thapa, Ministry of Urban Development and
Dr. Alexander Spachis, then EU Ambassador
to Nepal along with high level government
officials.

Eco-Fair at Kathmandu
June 5-7, 2013, Green Homes participated in the Eco-fair to
promote sustainable housing organized on the occasion of 40th
World Environment Day. The project also hosted Eco-Learn and
Eco-tour to discuss and demonstrate green products and services
in Kathmandu.

National Industrial Trade Fair at Pokhara

With the aim of raising awareness on sustainable housing Green
Homes participated in the National Industrial Trade Fair Pokhara (27
Jan 3 Feb, 2014) along with SMEs producing green products and
services. Participants from different walks of life were enthusiastic
in learning the green building and green living.

National Industrial Trade Fair and

Cottage Industry Festival
The national trade festival was organized by FNCSI and Alternative
Energy Promotion Centre to promote renewable energy (Feb
6-10, 2014). Green Homes Project participated in the exhibition to
demonstrate ways of energy efficient construction and services.

Go Green Mela
Aiming to raise awareness on Climate Change impacts, the go
Green Mela is one of the longest exhibition held in Kathmandu
targeting professionals, environmentalists and students from FebApr, 2014. Green Homes participated in the Fair aiming to prepare
future ambassador to green development.

Europe Day Celebration 2014

On the occasion of Europe Day, Green Homes displayed the Green
Homes Model on May 9, 2014.. Chief Guest of the programme,
Vice President of Nepal Mr. Parmananad Jha, Ambassador,
European Union Delegation to Nepal Ms. Rensje Teerink, Mr. Jamie
McGoldrick, Resident Coordinator of the United Nations for Nepal,
and other guests of the event visited Green Homes stall.

Activities
Capacity Buildings
Exposure Visit to Netherlands
An exposure visit of government and municipal officials lead by Joint
Secretary Mr. Suresh Prakash Acharya was organized from 19-24 May, 2014
in the Netherlands to learn from the European experiences. IHS/Erasmus
University hosted the programme in Rotterdam where the participants were
oriented on green building practices of the Netherlands and Europe- the
policy setup, present practices and control mechanisms. Live examples of
new green building of Erasmus University, social housing schemes in Hook
of Holland and Amsterdam, Green Building Exposition, the climate resilient
floating house model were the major attractions. The European experiences
were presented by private social housing companies, Amsterdam Metropolis
and Rotterdam city expansion. The participants gained knowledge on latest
technologies and practices from the European expriences.

National Level Training on Sustainable Housing

A national level training programme on sustainable housing for decision
makers was organized jointly with Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local
Development (MoFALD) and Department of Urban Development and
Building Construction (DUDBC) on March 25-28, 2014 in Kathmandu.
Twenty-five participants from MoFALD, DUDBC, three selected municipalities
and professional organization SONA and NEA and technical staff of
project partners participated in the training. The main aim of the training
programme was to guide the decision makers towards sustainable housing
approach, services and technologies. The 4-day training programme
comprised lecture classes, group discussion, demonstration and field visit.
Training programmes were divided into different session as per Green
Homes components sustainable construction materials, passive solar
design, energy efficiency, water conservation and waste management
as well as green labelling system. This training has helped to orient the
participants of the government agencies and municipalities on project
goals, global trend towards green building and state of art technologies
and practices developed and adopted worldwide.

Training on Sustainable Construction Materials in Dharan

With the purpose of creating green job for local people focusing on urban
youth and women of Dharan municipality, Green Homes in coordination
with Dharan municipality and Nepal Basobas Basti Samrachhyan Samaj
organized two trainings on Hollow Concrete Block (HCB) production and
its construction process.
Forty-two youths and women, primarily from slum settlements took part in
the training from 6-8 Dec, 2013. The training was helpful to the trainees
as the community was initiating to start rebuilding their housing after their
negotiation with the municipality to relocate their settlement to more safe
and secured location.
The second training on Feb 27-29, 2014 was focused on hands-on training
on construction techniques of HCB building for twenty-six participants
from local masons and urban youths and women from informal settlements.
A physical model of HCB building section was also constructed in the
compound of Dharan Municipality. The participants were also trained on
how to make disaster resilient building.

Training on water, waste water and solid waste management

at household level with roof-top farming in Lalitpur
Building the capacity of local womens group, UN-Habitat in coordination
with Environment and Public Health Organization (ENPHO) and Lalitpur
Sub-Metropolitan City organized four day training on Water and Waste
Management at Household Level. The training aimed to provide hands on
skill how to manage water and wastewater through roof top gardening at
household level. Throughout four days, trainees were provided with various
techniques for roof top gardening in context of urban area where open
space is minimum at household level for gardening and waste management
is a big challenge. The training was successful to impart knowledge on
water and waste management.

Activities
Orientation Workshop in Three Municipalities
Orientation workshops were organized in the three participating
cities - Lalitpur, Pokhara and Dharan in collaboration with respective
municipalities. Programmes were organized in Pokhara on May 31,
2013, in Dharan on June 10, 2013 and in Lalitpur on July 26, 2013.
The main objective of these programs were to share information of
Green Homes Project, its objectives and scope. Total 173 participants
(40 in Pokhara, 83 in Dharan and 51 in Lalitpur) took part in these
workshops that include government officials, municipal officials,
professionals, representatives of SMEs, members of local chamber
of commerce and industries, professional organizations, local
leaders and media people.

Municipal Planning Workshop

Pokhara,
The project along with Pokhara Sub-Metropolitan City Office
(PSMC) and Pokhara Chamber of Commerce and Industries hosted
a planning workshop to chalk out plans and programmes of
Green Homes in this touristic city on 29 Nov. 2013. Ninety-seven
participants from PSMC Environment Section, representatives from
communities, representatives from eighteen different wards and
local SMEs participated in this workshop.

Dharan
On April 18-19, 2014 the project organized planning workshop
along with Dharan Municipality. Seventy participants took part
in the workshop that include municipal staff, building designers,
representative from NGOs, professional organizations, political
parties, civil society, FNCCI Sunsari district, and local SMEs.
Constitution Assembly Member from Sunsari Mr. Krishna Kumar
Rai and Joint Secretary of MoFALD Mr. Gopi Khanal and Mr. Suresh
Shrestha, President, DCCI were the guests in the programme.

Success Story
Located on the foothills of Chure Range, Dharan is one of the growing
cities of Nepal. There is an enormous population pressure and thus the
demand for housing. Started as a logging town, the city of Dharan
use to have its old houses built primarily by wood. In recent years
these houses are replaced by bricks and concrete making the houses
unbearably heated during summer and very cold in winter.
When Mr. Hari Karki, a local small entrepreneur
started his precast concrete business to supply
RCC drains and roof tiles he was not very
convinced with the hollow concrete block
market in Dharan. Bricks are imported
from hinterland and wood becoming
more and more expensive as the forest is
vanishing from this once logging town.
With the Green Homes orientation on

the benefits of hollow concrete blocks and RCC door and window
frames the innovative Hari immediately grasped the opportunity.
After the short training provided by the Green Homes Project he has
invested less than NRP 300,000 (Euro 2300) and leased a plot of
land. Now he has 15 people working with him in his hollow concrete
block industry. His turnover has increased from NRS 500,000 to
NRP1300,000 within 8 months. The first client of his products are
slum population who are improving their houses with these blocks.
Municipality has recently decided to use the blocks instead of bricks
for their construction. Satisfied with the growing market, Mr. Hari is
thinking further to add block making machine and workers and also
exploring the financial possibilities. It is this Green Homes project
that has created market for me without which people would not have
believed me. When the project assured the benefits, and this is almost
30% cheaper than the bricks, now there is a growing interest on my
products. There are few more entrepreneurs exploring to establish such
industries in the city.

For more details:

United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat)

Pulchowk, Lalitpur, Nepal
Tel: 00977-1-5542816, Fax: 00977-1-5539877
Email: unhabitat.nepal@unhabitat.org.np
http://www.unhabitat.org.np
https://www.facebook.com/greenhomes.nepal

This publication has been produced with the assistance of the European Union. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of implementing partners of this project and can in no
way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union.