The waste heat from the data centres is transferred to the building’s heating and air conditioning system. The energy provided will reduce the consumption of district heating and the need for cooling energy. At the same time, costs will be reduced for both the owner and user of the property.
“It is a pleasure to carry out investments like this since their returns clearly exceed the typical rate of return in real estate investment. Achieved cost savings have a significant effect on the value of properties,” says Varma’s Real Estate Investment Director Ilkka Tomperi.
Elisa’s headquarters will achieve yearly savings of around 250 tonnes of CO2, which is equal to the yearly output of more than 1,000 solar panels. Alternatively, the savings can be used to offset the emissions of more than 2,000 return flights between Helsinki and Stockholm.
“This is a good example of a solution that combats climate change and strengthens the company’s competitive edge,” Ilkka Tomperi says.
Varma aims for a 20% reduction in its carbon dioxide emissions by 2025. Varma is also committed to an energy savings target of 10% for the period 2017–2025. Last year, the company was ranked fifth in AODP’s international comparison on how the one hundred largest pension funds in the world are preparing for climate change.
“Responsible companies are promptly carrying out economically viable investments in energy efficiency. In recent years, the profitability of energy refurbishments has improved clearly due to fast technological development. Varma has tightened its own energy efficiency goals because the company achieved them ahead of time,” says Ilkka Tomperi.
Elisa challenges large companies to carry out energy refurbishments
Elisa aims to reduce the emissions from its operations by 50% from the level of 2016 by 2025.
“Elisa wants to be strongly involved in the building of a more sustainable society. Bringing the energy efficiency of all the Finnish main office premises up to date would have a significant effect at the system level. This is why we want to challenge all large Finnish companies to investigate possibilities for energy refurbishments in their premises, such as implementing heat recovery solutions, heat pumps and the production of solar energy. Instead of carrying out upsetting savings measures, we should come up with more intelligent, efficient and responsible ways of doing things, says the company’s Corporate Responsibility Director Minna Kröger.
The heat recovery solution in Elisa’s data centres was designed and implemented by the energy service company LeaseGreen.
“The system was designed so that even failures in its operation cannot disrupt the cooling of the data centres because we left the old cooling solution in the background as a redundancy. We were happy to carry out an energy refurbishment that is very profitable for the owner and user of the property while also being beneficial for the society and the climate,” says the CEO of LeaseGreen Tomi Mäkipelto.
Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Company is a responsible and solvent investor. The company is responsible for the statutory earnings-related pension cover of some 900,000 people in the private sector. Premiums written totalled EUR 5.1 billion in 2018 and pension payments stood at EUR 5.7 billion. The company’s investment portfolio amounted to EUR 45.8 billion at the end of March 2019.
Further information:
Ilkka Tomperi, Varma, Investment Director, Real Estate, tel. +358 (0)50 379 1903 or firstname.lastname@varma.fi
Minna Kröger, Elisa Corporation, Corporate Responsibility Director, tel. +358 (0)50 572 7620 or firstname.lastname@elisa.com
Tomi Mäkipelto, LeaseGreen Group, CEO, tel. +358 (0)50 370 4092 or firstname.lastname@leasegreen.fi