Rigmor Aasrud, Norway’s Minister of Government, Administration, Reform and Church Affairs, has received a warm welcome at the new headquarters of Hydro in Bangalore, India.
Rigmor Aasrud, a Norwegian government minister, received a warm welcome during a visit to Hydro's offices in Bangalore.
The major focus of the meeting has been on energy-efficient buildings and Aasrud showed great interest in Hydro's energy-efficient building solutions. Aasrud stated that buildings account for about 40% of the world's energy use and hence she is inspired to discover more on Hydro’s methods to develop solutions for energy-positive and energy-efficient buildings.
The new headquarters of Hydro focus on building systems activities and is designed to utilize less than 60 kWh of energy per square meter per year. The building is installed with systems required for production of solar cell-based electricity and for sun-shading. This installation has helped to qualify the building for a LEED platinum certification.
Subhendu Ganguly, head of Hydro's Building Systems unit in India, remarked that the Norwegian minister has been presented with a collection of energy-efficient buildings for which the company has supplied façade systems. He also discussed about the missions of Powerhouse, an association established for energy-positive buildings in Norway, at the meeting. The alliance has been formed by Hydro, ZERO, Snøhetta, Skanska and Entra Eiendom in May 2011.
Currently, Powerhouse works on two projects that include the rehabilitation project near Oslo and the new building construction project at Brattørkaia in Trondheim, Norway.