New solutions for construction

Climate protection through intelligent construction

Adapting a building to the climate is better than adapting the climate to a building. This would be an apt slogan for Bayer MaterialScience’s “EcoCommercial Building” (ECB) initiative. It reflects the principle of bringing together the best materials, systems and technologies in order to construct a building to suit the climatic conditions at the site in question.

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Sustainable material solutions for ecological and economical construction

Energy consumption in buildings is responsible for almost 20 percent of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. Bayer MaterialScience has further developed the “EcoCommercial Building” initiative originally launched at the end of 2007 as part of the Bayer Climate Program into a comprehensive program in itself. A central element is the partnership network that the company has built up with suppliers, construction companies, architects and property developers. Bayer contributes its expertise and high-tech products and arranges for the involvement of suitable partners to facilitate tailored solutions for the construction of energy-optimized commercial and public buildings ranging from low-energy and passive constructions to zero-emission buildings.

Three buildings in the EcoCommercial Building program

The first zero-emission building of this kind is the company kindergarten Bayer has recently built and inaugurated at its site in Monheim in Germany. By using renewable energy and incorporating optimal insulation based on polyurethane raw materials from Bayer MaterialScience, this building achieves an emission-neutral energy balance over the course of the year. The climate-neutral daycare center was honored with the “Energy-Optimized Construction 2009” award from the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology.

Another zero-emission building – an administration block – is currently being constructed near New Delhi in India. It consists of an office building with a usable area of some 1,200 m2 for approximately 50 employees and an adjoining exhibition hall with a six-meter-high ceiling covering around 1,000 m2, both adapted to the climatic conditions of the subtropics. The building is scheduled for completion in 2010. The company also opened a new office building in Diegem, Belgium, in May 2009. This building consumes just half the energy of comparable structures, and received the Belgian award for architecture and energy in 2009. Bayer plans to increasingly apply the EcoCommercial Building program within the new partnership network.