Reflect on this: Shiny towers turning NCR into ‘heat bubble’

Noida: On a May afternoon in Noida, the air does not just feel hot — it feels manufactured as glass towers lining the expressway catch the sun, throw it back doubled, and trap what remains inside their climate-controlled interiors, pushing the heat out onto the street below.Delhi-NCR has always had brutal summers, but something has shifted. The region is no longer just dotted with urban heat islands but is becoming one continuous heat bubble, and the gleaming commercial facades that define its skyline are quietly driving it.Although the Environmental Conservation Building Code provides a broad framework for the use of glass facades, not a single state has enforced these norms in building plan approvals. Haryana, Delhi and UP have no clear guidelines on glass facade use, even as dozens of commercial high-rises come up every year and add to the heat sink effect.Most of the new commercial buildings in the NCR over the past two decades have used glass and steel as primary construction components.Why builders love glassThe economics are straightforward. A nine-inch brick wall replaced by a 6 mm glass panel frees up floor area — and in markets where commercial space fetches up to Rs 25,000 per square foot, every recovered inch translates directly into revenue. According to Rajneesh Sareen, director of sustainable habitat at the Centre for Science and Environment, on a 10,000-square-foot project, the switch can unlock nearly 1,000 additional square feet.Sareen also linked the preference for glass to the speed of construction. “Developers can complete a project much faster than they would have using traditional construction methods,” Sareen said. Glass also eliminates the biannual cycle of painting and plastering that traditional construction demands.But there is a functional argument too. When business process outsourcing (BPO) companies began setting up operations in India in large numbers, the priority was dust-free, climate-controlled workspaces to protect sensitive equipment. An airtight glass envelope, according to chief policy advisor (climate parliament) Sanjay Kumar, was the quickest solution and local developers adopted the template without fully interrogating its costs for the surrounding city.The corporate aesthetic has since become self-reinforcing.Senior vice-president Ishita Goswami at Knight Frank, a property consultant, said that 90% of commercial clients want buildings that project an international, modern image. Just a smaller fraction of their clients were willing to factor in green certification, typically because of the financial incentives it carries rather than environmental conviction. Double- or triple-glazed glass units, which are significantly more energy-efficient than single-pane facades, remain a niche choice because of their higher upfront cost.How glass heats a cityGlass buildings heat urban environments through two simultaneous mechanisms. On the outside, reflective glass surfaces bounce and amplify sunlight, effectively doubling solar intensity at street level. Inside, solar heat is trapped greenhouse-style, forcing air-conditioning systems to work at full capacity. Air conditioning is, at its core, a heat exchange process: the hotter a building’s interior, the more heat it expels into the ambient air outside. The city absorbs what the building discards.India’s climate makes this a particularly damaging equation. Annual average temperatures are already high, and glass facades — designed for cooler, cloudier European climates — function as greenhouse chambers here, trapping heat rather than moderating it.Proponents, however, argue that floor-to-ceiling glass maximises natural daylight and reduces the need for artificial lighting. Experts counter that the energy saved on lighting is easily outstripped by the energy consumed in cooling the resulting heat trap.A medical emergency hiding in plain sightThe consequences at street level are not abstract. The human body begins to struggle at a wet-bulb temperature of 37 degrees Celsius — a measure that factors in both heat and humidity — and sustained exposure beyond 15 minutes can cause heat stroke and, in vulnerable individuals, death. Under urban heat island conditions, such temperatures are increasingly common in Indian cities.At Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Medical Sciences, attached to Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in Delhi, internal medicine specialists report that heat stroke carries a grim survival rate. Only 64% of patients admitted with the condition last year survived, despite full medical support. “Heat-related illness spans a wide clinical range, from prickly heat and cramps at the milder end to heat oedema, hyperventilation and sudden drops in sodium levels in severe cases. Outdoor workers, who have little access to shade in glass-and-concrete commercial districts, are disproportionately at risk.” he said.Regulation absent and overdueIn 2024, the Central Pollution Control Board surveyed all 36 states and union territories to determine whether any had regulations or guidelines governing glass facades in buildings. Twenty-seven responded. Not one had any rules in place. Nine states, including Bihar, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, did not respond at all. Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, the core NCR states, are among those with no regulation.However, a legal framework to act exists. Section 15 of the Energy Conservation Act, 2001, empowers state govts to amend building energy codes to reflect local and regional climatic conditions. None has used it for this purpose.The National Green Tribunal took cognisance of the issue in Jan 2025, when its southern zonal bench directed the ministry of environment, forest and climate change to constitute an expert committee and develop national guidelines on glass facade usage within three months. The order also required regulatory bodies to factor in energy conservation norms before granting environmental clearances to glass-heavy projects.More than a year on, the compliance report has not been filed. The committee has not been constituted. The hearings have been adjourned six times. Meanwhile, the buildings keep going up — and the cities keep heating.