A low carbon office of United Nations Environment Programme Regional
Resource Centre for Asia and the Pacific at the Asian Institute of
Technology (AIT-UNEP RRC.AP) was inaugurated by the Executive Director
of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Undersecretary
General of the United Nations. The new low carbon office located in
AIT’s Outreach Building is expected to witness a 40 per cent reduction
in energy consumption and an annual decrease of 50 tonnes of carbon
dioxide emissions.
Inaugurating the office, Dr. Achim Steiner complimented AIT-UNEP RRC.AP
for taking the lead in creating a low carbon office. Dr. Steiner
remarked that “The future has arrived”. He said that such initiatives
should be emulated by others and that it was very good precedent for
others to follow. Dr. Steiner added Sustainable United Nations (SUN)
has been established by UNEP to support UN and other organizations to
achieve climate neutrality and overall sustainability.
AIT President Said Irandoust said “the low carbon office of AIT-UNEP
RRC.AP is truly in line with AIT’s commitment to sustainable
development in the context of climate change. It is befitting that the
low carbon office is housed in the AIT campus at a time when AIT is
celebrating its Golden Jubilee celebrations as well as 20 years of
partnership with UNEP”. He added that the low carbon emissions concept
would be replicated at other buildings in the AIT.
According to Mr. Mahesh Pradhan, Director of AIT-UNEP RRC.AP, “A major
reduction in energy consumption will follow air sealing of the office,
new office layout, installation of the new air-conditioning system, an
energy recovery heat exchangers and carbon dioxide sensors”.
A reduction of 50 tonnes of CO2 emissions is a result of a lesser
cooling load and the introduction of the new energy efficient
air-conditioning system which was donated by Broad Co., Ltd., PR China.
An additional annual saving of 10 tonnes of CO2 would emerge from other
measures to reduce the cooling load. These measures would lead to a
total saving of 60 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually.
Heat exchangers allow the recovery of the cooling in the exhaust air,
by transferring it to the incoming warmer fresh air and thus saving
energy. The indoor air quality would improve with the installation of
the new air-conditioning system and through the new office layout,
which provides for better air circulation since air entering the office
will be filtered, sterilized and formaldehyde-removed. A CO2 sensor has
been integrated in the air-conditioning which will automatically alert
when CO2 concentration exceeds a preset value.
Reaching the stage of low carbon office is a result of three steps
which began with monitoring and evaluation of pre-retrofit conditions;
energy audit and indoor air quality study; monitoring of
air-conditioning and thermal comfort parameters, electricity, lighting,
sound and indoor air quality; and installation of monitoring system
devices. This was followed by measures to conserve energy and improving
indoor air quality. The third step involves offsetting and regular
monitoring after the retrofit; and support of Greenhouse Gases (GHG)
emission reduction initiatives elsewhere to “offset” the GHG emissions
that could not be reduced.
Mr. Marco Silvestri, Consultant, Emerging Issues Component at AIT-UNEP
RRC.AP stated that the entire process of conversion into a low carbon
office has been video documented. The different implementation stages
and the results of the retrofitting have been documented for future
dissemination and replication across the Asia Pacific region.
Background information regarding AIT-UNEP RRC.AP:
AIT-UNEP RRC.AP has been established under a Memorandum of
Understanding between the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
and the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) in response to the growing
demands for capacity building in the environment community at large.
For more information about the Center, please visit the following web
site: http://www.rrcap.unep.org/