Today, we visited The Change Initiative as members of our school?s eco committee. It was simply 3 hours of fun. It was a feast to the eyes to see such a building. Their goal is to get the LEED platinum certification from the USA. Right from the floor to the ceiling everything was made of eco friendly products.

It concentrated on mainly 5 points- Location, Energy, Water, Waste and Building materials. If these 5 points are fulfilled, then it is qualified to be green building. They have an apt location. It was such a point, that a person could cycle or walk to approach this building or simply ride in a metro or drive to reach the building. Since it is a retail building, any customer can approach it as it was right between the ibis hotel and apartments. It is also a  shopping destination.

 They have all eco friendly products. Natural nail polish, aerated taps, reusable printing cartridges, etc. Also they have  s device which filters the water while brushing and the same water can be used for flushing. On the roof of the building, there are large solar panels so that  sunlight can be trapped and to warm the water solar thermal evacuators are used. For the cooling of the building Sustainable ways are practiced. For the decoration of the building scrap materials are used.

 For instance During renovation, if some cut out tiles are left over, using those they decorate them on the wall. Using e- waste like computer, keyboard, etc. they have created Steve jobs, using nuts and bolts they made a bench, using spoons to make a horse. and the most amazing part of all they have made a 16 seater sofa using CARDBOARD. Living in UAE for 7 years I have never seen a building like that. I would like to request all the readers to visit this astounding building. It was an informative and fun filled session for the members of eco committee. Thanks to DPS.