Energy consumption in buildings accounts for approximately 40 % of the world’s total and more than 20 % of total climate emissions. Making buildings more energy efficient is therefore one of the most important things we can do to protect the environment.
Comprising the Powerhouse alliance are developers Entra Eiendom, construction group Skanska, architects Snøhetta, environmental group ZERO, and aluminum company Hydro. Through their collaboration, the companies hope to set new national and international standards in constructing energy-efficient and energy-positive buildings.
Hydro, a Norwegian Fortune 500 company, is involved in the project through their company division Hydro Building Systems. The company division is Europe’s largest aluminum building systems company and supplies the project with energy-efficient aluminum facade. But it is not only in Norway and Europe that Hydro Building Systems is breaking ground. The company also has a solid presence in China. By now the company has set up offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, signaling their readiness to supply both the Chinese and the world’s building markets with energy-efficient aluminum facades. In 2008 it supplied aluminum window frames to the prestigious Morgan Center in the Beijing Olympic complex.
Energy efficiency, including in buildings, has been an important area of Sino-Norwegian co-operation for years. Through ambitious targets and landmark energy efficient buildings such as the Pearl River Tower in Guangzhou, China is among the countries leading the way in this important area, says Guanghou Consul General Tormod C. Endresen.
Norwegian companies active within the energy and environment industries can be found in NEEC – the Norwegian Energy and Environment Consortium, see link:
http://www.neec.no/home.php