Building Green Made SimpleAn Angiras & Co. guide
An illustrated guide that translates sound green-building science into practical, costed steps for homeowners, renters, community educators, and small businesses — across six climate zones and 500+ cities.
The knowledge exists. The translation didn't — until now.
Most green-building knowledge is locked inside standards, rating systems, and technical papers written for specialists. BGMS keeps the rigour and removes the barrier: every recommendation is weighed against three plain filters before it earns a place on the page.
Can a household actually afford it? Costs are given in real ranges, with payback where it matters — not aspirational figures.
Can it be done without specialist skills or equipment? If a measure needs a professional, we say so plainly.
Does it actually work where you live? Every measure is flagged to the climate zones where it delivers — and where it doesn't.
Recommendations are organised by zone, because what cools a home in Jaipur can trap damp in Halifax. Each zone carries its own dominant comfort and indoor-air challenge.
Challenge: rejecting heat while managing moisture, mould, and ventilation.
Challenge: daytime heat and dust; thermal mass and shading do the heavy lifting.
Challenge: mixed seasons; balancing heating, cooling, and fresh air year-round.
Challenge: retaining heat and avoiding condensation in a tight, well-insulated shell.
Challenge: intense sun, cold nights, thin air; thermal mass and solar gain together.
Challenge: hot summers and cold winters; strategies must flex across both.
Read start to finish, or jump to the chapter that matches the decision in front of you.
BGMS treats vernacular building as substantive knowledge — naming the tradition, explaining how it works, and drawing the equivalence to modern practice.
The perforated stone screen accelerates air as it squeezes through each opening — the Venturi effect — cooling the room behind it. Hot-dry, refined over four centuries.
Thick earth and stone walls — the logic of Kath-Kuni and Ladakhi homes — store the day's warmth and release it through cold high-altitude nights.
North African courtyards and Persian badgirs move air without power, pulling cool night air down and venting heat by day.
of global energy-related CO₂ emissions come from constructing and running buildings — more than transport.
Source: UN Global Status Report for Buildings & Construction (2023)Buy a CO₂ meter (~$30–80). Leave it in your bedroom for a week. If readings regularly pass 1,000 ppm with the door shut, that room needs ventilation.
Built alongside the guide — no sign-up, no paywall. They run in your browser at angiras.co/bgms.
Enter your city and get your climate zone, with the comfort challenge to design for.
Open tool →Filter measures by budget, effort, and zone to build a shortlist that fits your home.
Open tool →Estimate how quickly an upgrade pays for itself from the savings it returns.
Open tool →Size a rainwater tank for your roof area, rainfall, and household demand.
Open tool →Suggested citation: Angiras, P. & Sodeiri Jalili, G. (2026). Building Green Made Simple (Version 1.1). Angiras & Co.