Is India on a sustainable road or not? Between April 2012 and January 2014 the authors have conducted a quantitative paper and online based user survey on energy awareness and attitudes in Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Pune, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Kolkata. The survey was part of the project “Clime Related Energy Efficient Design - Product Solution (CREED-PS)” first funded under the aegis of Germany India Year 2011-2012 “Germany and India: Infinite Opportunities” with a focus on “City Spaces” and then as part of the project “DWIH Excellence on Tour. 2013-2014.” More than 2000 visitors were interviewed during the events about their individual energy consumption, their knowledge of selected energy issues and energy efficient building design and their sustainability attitudes. The majority of the visitors are part of the academic middle class group in India´s Megacities, as a limited group of India's society. One of the main results are that living in energy efficient residences is very important for most of the respondents, although two third don´t know exactly the energy consumption of their household. Yet, most of the respondents are willing to spend more money in energy efficient and energy saving building devices and household equipment. Summing up one can say that the interviewed middle class group (Shukla, 2005, Mawdsley, 2004) is on the sustainable road, although we have identified several inexplicable contradiction in knowledge and awareness as topics for further research work that are relevant for building and product design. This paper illustrates on the one hand the use of survey as part of an integrated design process and suggests on the other hand collaborative approaches to educating architecture and design students about sustainability in building and product design.@en

The tremendous population growth and the booming economy in India have a lot of critical impacts on energy demand, consumption, and supply in the next decades. Natural resources as well in India are limited, but particularly the growing middle class with increasing incomes wants to improve their quality of life. This contradiction can only be solved with a strategic energy efficiency scheme in India. This chapter deals with the threats and opportunities of the building development in the next decades. Today, 40 % of the total energy consumption worldwide is covered by residential and nonresidential buildings. Energy- and cost-efficient design, material use, and maintenance of old and new buildings interwoven with higher user mobility are crucial points of smart cities in the future. Therefore, education, particularly higher education; R&D; and climate-related innovations are the main drivers for a better quality of life and for the more participation in fighting against the climate change. In an ongoing user study in five big Indian cities, we want to explore the awareness of the Indian people in urban areas between the contradictory contexts of energy consumption and the needs and expectations of comfortable living.

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