Conditioned to save energy
Our EC-53 building in Bangalore has won the ACREX Hall of Fame award
When Infosys adds infrastructure to its campuses, one of the primary considerations is to save energy. Our comprehensive Green Building strategy ensures that we employ the best practices in construction, electrification and plumbing services.
In recognition of our efforts, the EC-53 building in our extended Bangalore campus has been honored with the Hall of Fame award for 2017 by ACREX (Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Expo) India. ACREX India is an annual exhibition organized by the Indian Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (ISHRAE). The exhibition is primarily focused on air conditioning and also features diverse building engineering services that include electrical and plumbing services, building automation, and the cold chain industry. Exhibitors and participants from across the world attend this event.
While providing a platform for showcasing the success stories in the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) space in India, the award aims at setting new industry benchmarks by identifying and honoring commercial buildings that achieve excellence in energy conservation in the Indian subcontinent. These iconic projects not only set standards for energy efficiency and sustainability, but also encourage industry peers to utilize the knowledge for further explorations in the HVAC industry.
Best practices in place
Our EC-53 building has been recognized for its combination of innovation and excellence in building design and operation. Having already been certified with the highest platinum rating by LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), sustainability measures are an integral part of the design right from the concept stage of the building. These include the building envelope, innovative cooling system, energy metering, automation, and continuous performance monitoring.
The important features of the building are:
- The building’s Energy Performance Index (EPI) is 50-60% less than that of conventional building. EPI is a key performance indicator for comparing energy efficiency of a building.
- The building uses the radiant cooling system, developed in-house by our Green Initiatives team. A patent has been filed for the technology.
- Fully insulated envelope with high-performance glass for reducing heat gain and proper shading to avoid glare and admit ample natural daylight into the interiors.
- LED lighting has been used throughout the building to ensure low energy consumption and low maintenance requirements.
- 10% of the building’s energy requirement is met through a rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) plant. The unique feature of the plant is that it consists of five different solar technologies of equal capacity on the same roof. This makes for a very accurate comparison between different technologies for similar conditions.
- Efficient fixtures and rainwater harvesting have reduced our fresh water demand.
- Waste is segregated at building level. Wet waste is sent to biogas plant/composting and dry waste is sent for recycling.
- We recycle and reuse 100% waste water for flushing and irrigation.
- We continuously monitor performance through our Building Management System (BMS) to ensure efficient operation of the building systems. Smart algorithms defined in the BMS make sure that the systems ramp up/down based on requirement.
What we learnt
All the above strategies are replicable for other buildings, and do not involve higher costs than conventional buildings. It is observed that with the right focus from the initial design stage, efficient buildings are less expensive than regular buildings. Besides designing to accurate expectations, it requires questioning of assumptions and thumb rules, frugal engineering, and the adoption of a data-driven approach. Most importantly, it requires will from the entire design team and the company leadership to achieve a sustainable, high-performance building.
Our objective is to continue exploring new ways of achieving radical savings in energy and other finite resources across our campuses.
