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Ecofys has contributed to the realisation of Turkey’s first sustainable energy building: the RMI Research and Training Centre in Istanbul. This centre is designed to meet heating and cooling needs, conserve energy, increase the use of natural light in the building to reduce demand for electrical lighting and make use of passive solar energy. Thanks to this design 40 tonnes of CO2 per year will be saved, that is similar to an annual energy saving of 75%. Ecofys contributed to the project with its expertise and business development.

As most of the Mediterranean countries, Turkey is characterised by a strongly contrasted situation with, on the one hand urban and industrialised centres consuming a lot of energy and on the other hand, rural areas where the energy consumption rate is extremely limited and access to energy is often very low. This situation is expected to get worse, since the growth in population and economy as well as the urbanisation puts pressure on the existing energy infrastructure. That shows the importance to boost to energy efficiency measures and to the use of renewable energy in the Mediterranean construction sector.

“The project in Turkey demonstrates a best practice for energy efficient buildings. As Ecofys’ mission is ‘a sustainable energy supply for everyone’ the contribution to this and future projects for sustainable construction in the Mediterranean is just plain logic”, says Carsten Petersdorff, Managing Director Ecofys Germany.

The energy concept
The energy concept of the RMI Centre integrates new energy sources for heating and cooling of the building, which has a total area of 2,217 m2. Heating and cooling demands are significantly minimized by insulation implemented to the facades and the roof. The total remaining energy need of the building is completely met by a geothermic system, which includes one central ground heat exchanger with 27 heat pump units. Two skylights and solar tubes bring light from the roof to the darkest areas in the building, covering a significant part of the building’s lighting demand. Energy efficiency will be monitored throughout the year.

Energy challenges in the Mediterranean region

The realisation of the RMI Research and Training Centre is one of ten pilot projects Ecofys manages for the MED-ENEC project on Energy Efficiency in the Construction Sector. This EU sponsored consortium with Ecofys, GTZ, NEEDS and ERC aims at giving a boost to energy efficiency measures and to the use of renewable energy in the Mediterranean construction sector. The project will follow a sustainable business approach, which includes demonstration projects and capacity building into an integrated effort. The ten pilot projects are selected to demonstrate best practice and new technologies as well as integrated approaches for the efficient use of energy in the building sector of the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean countries. The Turkish project, which won the second prize out of 31 projects that applied, receives up to €100,000 in technical and financial support from the European Union.

Note for editorial staff

Ecofys (www.ecofys.com)
Ecofys is a leading knowledge and innovation company in the field of renewable energy, energy efficiency and climate change. It delivers research and service solutions from product development to implementation management. Ecofys' clients are energy companies, financials and corporate business, governments and local authorities, international institutions, project developers, housing associations, building companies and energy consumers around the world.

Ecofys is part of Econcern, whose mission is: ‘a sustainable energy supply for everyone’. Econcern, which employs around 1,000 professionals in 20 countries across the world, was ranked No. 234 in Europe’s top 500 listing of high growth, job-creating companies in 2007.

For more information, please contact:

Lies Mantingh-Louwers

Marketing & Communication Ecofys

T: +31 30 283 38 32

E: l.mantingh@ecofys.com

www.ecofys.com

More information on the MED-ENEC project can be found on the internet:  

www.med-enec.com

The sustainable RMI Centre building in Istanbul.