" The energy system of CSL's new R&D Campus in Marburg is under the legal minimum standard by an impressive 63 percent "
Vicky Pirzas, Managing Director, CSL R&D Marburg
Increasing energy efficiency, using more renewable energy, switching to less carbon-intensive energy sources and redesigning some production sites - these are four key pillars CSL is using to achieve its carbon emission reduction goals. They are part of a comprehensive environmental transformation process outlined in CSL's latest annual report.
An important building block in this process is the new R&D campus "M600" in Marburg. After all, greater energy efficiency is a particularly ambitious and important goal of CSL, which the new building was designed to achieve - and whose criteria it will now even exceed.
"Heating and cooling are provided in M600 by an innovative energy system," says Vicky Pirzas, Vice President, Recombinant Product Development & Managing Director R&D Marburg at CSL. "We need only 37 percent of the primary energy that is legally required for new buildings in Germany." Or to put it another way, "The energy system of CSL's new R&D Campus on the grounds of the Görzhausen Industrial Park in Marburg is under the legal minimum standard by an impressive 63 percent." Primary energy refers to originally occurring energy sources such as natural gas, coal and oil, as well as energy carriers like wind and solar.
Much of the R&D campus' energy savings are achieved through an innovative ice storage system coupled with a heat pump. This system allows the building to be heated and cooled without fossil fuel energy. The heat pump itself is powered by electricity generated from renewable energy. There are also highly efficient ventilation systems that extract heat from the exhaust air and use it to preheat the cold supply air, allowing 80 percent of the thermal energy used to be returned to the system. The cold from the supply air is also fed into the cooling water system. Additionally, all the heat-carrying piping in the new building in Marburg is 100 percent insulated.
"This insulation is primarily for personal protection, but it also saves energy in a highly effective way," explains Carsten Skill, program manager of CSL's new R&D campus in Marburg. "This is because, on the one hand, no heat is lost into the environment and, on the other, rooms require less cooling."
The building’s modern design and construction also minimizes its energy footprint. Thermally glazed windows and building-matched facade insulation reduce heating costs in winter and lower air-conditioning costs in summer. Natural light along with LED lights provide lighting throughout the building to save electricity.
Global pioneering role in Marburg
In addition to the new R&D centers in Marburg, Germany and Waltham, Massachusetts, USA, CSL's new corporate headquarters building in Melbourne, Australia will also feature state-of-the-art sustainable design features. In addition to reducing carbon emissions, CSL is focusing on integrating environmental considerations into key business decisions, minimizing overall waste production through elimination, reduction and recycling, and reducing waste in supply chains. For example, according to CSL's latest annual report, the new plasma dispensing system currently being implemented will reduce plasma bio-waste. And a new flu vaccine production facility will use significantly less water than conventional facilities.
