GRIHA

The Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment (GRIHA) is a methodology created by the Tata Energy Research Institute (TERI) and adopted by Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) of India as National Rating System of India. It is a green building ‘design evaluation system’, and is suitable for all kinds of buildings in different climatic zones of the country.

A GRIHA system employs a holistic approach to assess how well a building performs in the key areas of human and environmental health. GRIHA rating system consists of 34 criteria categorized under following sections:

Eight of these 34 criteria are mandatory, four are partly mandatory, while the rest are optional. Each criterion has a number of points assigned to it. It means that a project intending to meet the criterion would qualify for the points. GRIHA has a 100 point system consisting of some core points, which are mandatory to be met while the rest are optional points, which can be earned by complying with the commitment of the criterion for which the point is allocated.

Different levels of certification (one star to five stars) are awarded based on the number of points earned. The minimum points required for certification is 50. Buildings scoring 50 to 60 points, 61 to 70 points, 71 to 80 points, and 81 to 90 points will get one star, ‘two stars’, ‘three stars’ and ‘four stars’ respectively. A building scoring 91 to 100 points will get the maximum rating viz. five stars.