Saving On Rainy Days
Leveraging Malaysia’s heavy rainfall as part of its sustainability strategies, the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre reveals its newly installed zero-energy rainwater harvesting system, designed by its own team member.
Designed to accustom the venue’s architecture, the gravity-reliant system is comprised of four 300-gallon tanks constructed on the venue’s rooftop with the potential of harvesting up to 60,000 gallons of rain water a year. The collected water will primarily be used for day-to-day and post-event housekeeping works such as cleaning of loading bays and to provide non-chlorinated water to plants.
The Centre’s Director of Facilities, Yugatheeswaran Arjunan, said, “The successful installation of this rainwater harvesting system is the realisation of our long-time dream. When first conceived about ten years ago, our biggest challenges were around cost and energy efficiency. Our energy manager, Vikneswaran Murgaiah, designed a system that leverages gravitational energy making it not only 100% energy efficient but also cost-friendly, reducing almost 80% of the initial quotation. Since its installation, we have saved 5% of tap-water consumption used for our operational and maintenance activities.”
The global society’s shift towards a more socially conscious and responsible lifestyle is reflected in delegates and participants’ decisions to choose events that have a powerful sustainable agenda over those with minimal social impact or none. As a result, having a strong sustainability policy and programme has transitioned into a critical requirement when organisers consider a venue from a cherry-on-top-of-the-cake mind set.
