The sustainable design of Istanbul New Airport in Turkey means that when complete, the building will save the equivalent power usage of 19,000 households and water usage of 5,500 households, according to standards set by The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE).
Mehmet Kalyoncu, board member at Kalyon Holding and executive board member of İGA, the airport operator, said, “We started off with environmental and social impact assessments of the highest world standards.
“In an era marked by a rapidly changing technology, the fact that we are building the entire infrastructure from scratch enables us to bring to life a much more innovative and sustainable airport.
“With these features, Istanbul New Airport will outperform existing airports in respect of saving and efficiency. We estimate that savings from power and water will amount to YTL33.2m (Turkish lira) [US$8.5m] annually.”
Ülkü Özeren, director of environment and sustainability, İGA, said, “Climate change is one of the most critical factors that affects and shapes the future operations of airports and other stakeholders such as airlines. At İGA, we have been striving since day one to develop global benchmarks in an effort to minimize the impacts of climate change.
“Rainwater, recycled water, and greywater will be used to respond to the terminal building’s own needs. This means saving 1,500,000m³ of water in a year, which equals the annual water consumption of 5,500 households. With regard to energy efficiency, we expect our efforts to culminate in saving on power corresponding to the annual consumption of 19,000 households and 30,700 tons of CO₂ per year.”
The first phase of the €10bn (US$11.8bn) project is due to open in the first quarter of 2018 and will have an immediate capacity of 90 million passengers per year. When completed, this will rise to more than 200 million passengers per year.