Ten years of savings

Last week Lokale Immobilia had the opportunity to visit the "chill room" at the Warsaw Financial Center (WFC), the room which houses the building's heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) system. The WFC building was recently distinguished with a Trane Energy Efficiency Award, which is given to buildings that achieve high energy-efficiency and environmental conservation standards. This year marked the first time the award was given to a building located outside of the US.

The WFC was completed in 1998. "Three cooling units have worked 8,600 hours each over 10 years. And each hour gave us 700 kW of saved energy," said Jacek Micor, technical director at the building. Similar technology was implemented in the Złote Tarasy shopping center, Blue Skyscraper and the Marriott hotel in Warsaw, as well as the Campanile hotel in Łódź. The Polish factories of confectionery producer Ferrero and tobacco-product manufacturer Philip Morris.

"The HVAC system at the WFC is expected to last for at least the next 20 years," added Micor. He said that the system had not suffered any major malfunctions so far.

"Given that annual energy consumption of an average household in Poland equals 1,800 kWh, the total energy saved at the WFC to date could supply a Polish town of 11,000 residents, for example Mrągowo, for a full year," said Arkadiusz Gajlewicz, Trane's service director in Poland.

The WFC, located at ul. Emilii Plater 53 inWarsaw, features 50,000 sqm of office space. It is owned by CA Immo AG and Pramerica Financial, and is managed by Mahler Property Services. It is home to the Polish offices of global companies and institutions such as the World Bank, GE, MasterCard, Toshiba and Boeing.