A Sustainable Olympic Village
Prior to Olympians flooding the streets of London to compete in this year’s Olympic Games, AEC (architecture, engineering, and construction) teams were hard at work building the Olympic Village. This year’s facilities house technology for energy efficiency and building control automation, among others.
For example, smart meters are at work at this year’s Olympic Games to communicate data to residents of the Olympic Village, including athletes and officials, to inform them of their energy use. This will help control energy consumption, ultimately lowering the carbon footprint of the Olympic Village. In addition, technology is being used to monitor storm run-off water.
At the Velodrome, which is home to the cycling events, low-voltage switchgear can improve power distribution within the stadium. At the Aquatics Centre, technology provides power protection for a number of applications, and at the Field Hockey Centre, an architectural lighting scheme will help improve efficiency.
The village even has an Energy Centre that provides the power, heating, and cooling throughout the park for the Games, which uses alternative energy, water conservation, and recycling strategies.
As another example, outside of the village, the city of London has refitted the Tower Bridge with energy-efficient LED lighting—which will provide value long after the Games are completed.
Building automation technologies allow owners to better manage energy consumption through lighting controls and power consumption controls, among others, that automatically adjust based on a user’s behavior. For instance, if no one is in the room, lights may automatically turn off to conserve energy.
Many of the technologies in these facilities in the Olympic Village are provided by GE, www.ge.com, Fairfield, Conn. The company recently announced it has provided more than $1 billion in infrastructure sales for Olympic Games since 2006.
“GE partners closely with host cities to deliver a variety of critical healthcare, energy, power, water, lighting, and transportation solutions for the Olympic Games,” says Jeff Immelt, chairman and CEO, GE. “Hosting the Games is a transformational opportunity for every city and we are committed to work with the IOC and local organizing committees in Russia, Brazil, and Korea to deliver advanced infrastructure solutions to help create a sustainable Olympic legacy for future generations.”
The company says the technology aims to support the organizing committees’ goals of building sustainable Olympic Games that improve the host city and providing state-of-the-art healthcare for Olympic athletes.