Sustainability
Green Design.
To be able to utilize Green Design the buyer of a pharmaceutical
facility - regardless if it is a new facility, an extension or a
refurbishment of an old plant - must decide to "go green" at a very
early stage in the project, preferably already at the
pharmaceutical development stage. This intention must be clearly
communicated to all parties and stakeholders involved in the
project.
This decision will also, inevitably, mean that the project must
be calculated and purchased based on the facility life cycle cost
rather than on the corporate investment cost. Moreover, current
research indicates that the main contribution to the life-cycle
cost comes from the energy costs accrued when running a facility.
In a pharmaceutical facility 50-60% of the total energy costs come
from the HVAC-systems.
Pharmadule therefore focuses on minimizing the energy costs in
the design in general, but specifically in the HVAC-systems. By
using 3D-CAD to optimize the room design, volume can be reduced by
up to 15% and as a bonus 3D-drawings are highly favored by the
maintenance organization.
Furthermore, when prefabricating the rooms off-site in a
controlled environment the construction will have a higher quality
with less energy and air leakage. This in turn enables Pharmadule
to reduce the safety factors on differential pressures and air
changes, leading to further energy reductions.
By, together with the client, ensuring that the specifications
are met in an optimized way, humidity can be controlled at the
right level, in some cases saving 1000MWh/year. All in all, by
optimizing the facility together with the client the energy costs
and the green imprint of a facility can be reduced with
substantially, savings can typically be in the magnitude of
>1000MWh/year.
Pharmadule is also actively seeking to reduce the energy
consumption in the facilities by using risk and science based
design to challenge current GMP-levels. This is more of a long-term
initiative but still important. E.g challenging the current best
practice for air changes and pressure cascades show opportunity for
further energy saving improvements.
Partnering with Pharmadule does however not only mean energy
savings within the HVAC field. The architectural surface, the
materials and equipment chosen are also part of the green design
initiative as well as prefabrication to a high quality and the
possibility to add renewable energy sources like solar panels to
the design