Convening sustainability thought leaders to meet green building professionals in emerging economies, Carrier and Otis will hold their first Distinguished Sustainability Lecture Series event in Turkey tomorrow. The lecture follows yesterday's visit in Saudi Arabia coordinated with the support of fire and security brands Edwards, Kidde and Marioff. Combined, the two events will reach more than 350 professionals in Jeddah and Istanbul through lectures, roundtable discussions and green building training. Carrier, the world's leader in high-technology heating, air-conditioning and refrigeration solutions, and Otis, the world's leading manufacturer of elevators, escalators and moving walkways, are both part of UTC Building & Industrial Systems, a unit of United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX).
Turkey ranks eighth for the number of U.S. Green Building Council® LEED® green building program registered and certified buildings, thanks to a recent construction boom. In Saudi Arabia, the government recently decreed that all businesses will have five years to meet new air, water and noise pollution standards. As part of the Jeddah lecture series event, participants had the opportunity to obtain LEED training; a timely offering as the government's new standards will apply to 170 projects overseen by the Saudi Green Building Forum.
Both events feature lectures from leaders in sustainable construction and planning. Nils Kok, associate professor in finance and real estate at Maastricht University in the Netherlands, takes a closer look at the economic implications of energy efficiency and sustainability in the commercial and residential property segments, with new data supporting higher rent rates for energy efficient buildings. Valentine A. Lehr, an expert in innovative high-rise construction, hotel design and master planning of mega projects, presents on how trends in building construction affect building design and system selection, particularly in locations where energy is plentiful and inexpensive, such as Turkey and Saudi Arabia.
"Turkey and Saudi Arabia have already shown strong interest in strengthening their green building presence. We hope our discussions here this week will help further drive advancements and shape the decisions made for years to come," said John Mandyck, chief sustainability officer, UTC Building & Industrial Systems.
Launched in the Middle East in 2011, the lecture series has reached more than 2,500 professionals through 22 lectures in Brazil, China, India, Kuwait, Malaysia, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Thailand, Turkey and the UAE.
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