PETALING JAYA: As governments worldwide step up efforts to combat climate change, the building energy efficiency market in Malaysia is gaining momentum.
Neapoli founder and CEO Stellios Plainiotis said the market is projected to grow steadily by 6% per year until 2030 both in Malaysia and globally, with the highest growth expected in India, China and in Asean.
He told StarBiz,: “This is because buildings are responsible for over 40% of global energy use and governments are intensifying efforts to combat climate change.
“A great emerging trend in the industry is digitalisation which is transforming the energy landscape and enables progress toward continuous energy efficiency improvements.”
Towards this end, he said emerging digital technologies are introduced into buildings to enable greater energy efficiency gains. These include building information modelling, active energy management systems, data-driven consumer engagement platforms, and new performance-based revenue models.
Plainiotis was one of the masterminds behind the green design and infrastructure of Kuala Lumput International Airport 2, after which he started on his own and established Neapoli headquartered in Kuala Lumpur. It has offices in Seoul, Brisbane, London and Beijing. Neapoli is an environmental design and engineering consultancy
Among some of the projects which the company undertook is the triple platinum-rated PKNS headquarters, the 118 storey Menara PNB, the Penang International Airport Expansion, TRX Exchange, HSBC headquarters, low Carbon Petronas corporate office in Kerteh, Novartis HQ, Mastercard HQ and the Suria Mall KLCC.
Among some of the projects which the company undertook is the triple platinum-rated PKNS headquarters, the 118 storey Menara PNB, the Penang International Airport Expansion, TRX Exchange (file pic), HSBC headquarters, low Carbon Petronas corporate office in Kerteh, Novartis HQ, Mastercard HQ and the Suria Mall KLCC.
On the overseas front, Neapoli has secured the Paya Lebar Central masterplan in Singapore, the Doha International Airport expansion in Qatar, and is recently working on a University masterplan in the Hubei region of China.
In terms of competing with other environmental based companies, Plainiotis stressed that it combines extensive national and international experience with a data-driven approach.
“Every recommendation in our portfolio has been validated with past practice and rigorously optimised using building modelling.
“We are world leaders in building modelling and have developed new technologies that we released as open-source and are used by thousands of projects around the globe.
“Over the past years, we became more process-oriented which enabled us to access markets that require efficiency and effectiveness.
“So although Neapoli has been traditionally associated with mega-constructions and new platinum-rated green buildings, recently we have gained a big market share in the growing but competitive markets of energy retrofitting and workspace improvement,” he noted.
To have a stronger foothold in the green, environmental and energy market, the company recently launched the Carbon Index (CI).
The CI is an accreditation system that benchmarks energy use and carbon emissions of buildings.
It is designed to be an accessible and affordable tool that could be applied to any building type, at any stage of the building’s lifecycle from design, construction, remodelling to operation. It does not replace green building certification that focuses on design only, has a different scope and covers a broader sustainability band such as site ecology, water and waste.
Plainiotis said the Ci aims to be 10 times more affordable, fully performance-based and hassle-free.
As it monitors operation, he said the Ci puts the occupant at the centre of the equation and incentives true energy savings. But the most unique and revolutionary element is that it enables carbon trading, he added.
On the carbon certification based projects which Neapoli is looking at, he said at the moment it is involved in the Suria Mall KLCC project.
“We plan to certify 50 projects by March 2022 across several countries, a wide spectrum that includes affordable housing, commercial, educational and transportation projects to calibrate and test the system.
“The grand launching is planned for March next year. We have received massive interest from international real estate corporates who want to partner and adopt the system for their projects,” he said.
Plainiotis is widely recognised as one of Asia’s pioneers in sustainable design.
He is the co-author of China’s first guidebook “Design for Sustainability”, which is used as a textbook at Tongji University, Shanghai.
His work is focused on the long-term impact of the built environment on human health and society, climate change and land use.
Over the past 20 years, he has consulted over 80 projects across Asia, Australia and Europe which include the Crystal Palace Park in London, the American University of Beirut with renowned Iraqi architect, artist and designer Zaha Hadid and the Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2.