The Vodafone Innovation Centre, in Midrand, has won the Mail & Guardian's Greening the Future award in the “Innovations in renewables” category.
The building, situated at Vodacom's head office, in Midrand, has a Six-Star Green Star rating, making it one of the greenest in Africa. The centre is carbon-neutral and designed for water, energy and emissions savings. It houses a team of engineers working on ways in which Vodafone can implement additional cost-efficiencies and reduce carbon emissions worldwide.
The company says it's honoured and excited to have received the award. “Not only because it is testament to all the hard work we put into making the Vodafone Site Solutions Innovation Centre a reality, but also because it speaks directly to our commitment to reducing our overall carbon footprint by 5% every year,” adds Suraya Hamdulay, Vodacom's executive head of corporate citizenship.
Mail & Guardian's Greening the Future Awards, now in its ninth year, is an annual celebration of efforts to create a cleaner planet without compromising progress. According to the Mail & Guardian, the judges chose the Vodafone innovation centre for setting the bar for renewable resource innovation. The entry demonstrated a reduction in environmental damage, increased access to low-impact technologies, and proven economic savings because of eco-friendly innovations, the judges said.
The building includes various features to optimise efficiency and minimise waste, including the structure of the building itself, which reduced the amount of concrete used in the foundations and sub-structure by 34%. All the demolition material from the site has been reused or recycled.
The site also makes use of renewable energy, and the photovoltaic panels reduced the wind load, absolute weight and total amount of wood and structural material required for the roof, says Vodacom.
Efficient water fixtures ensure reduced water consumption and the mechanical air conditioning, heating and ventilation system is designed to deliver 2 500 litres/second of fresh air to the office during normal operations, and 1 250 litres/second of fresh air in heating mode.
In addition, the chiller uses lithium bromide as a refrigerant, which has both a zero ozone-depleting potential (ODP) and zero greenhouse warming potential. All thermal insulants have an ODP of zero.
Hamdulay says sustainability is a critical part of Vodacom's strategy, operation and overall business philosophy. “It also makes sound business sense because, done right, the adoption of a sustainable policy allows companies to reduce operational costs. It is an imperative, not only for business, but also for the sake of our people, country and planet.”
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