Design

Once the travel ban lifts and you land at these airports around the globe, make a note of how they’re exemplary examples of green design!

APR 3, 2020 | By Vedika Nair
CLOCKWISE, FROM LEFT Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi; Changi Airport, Singapore.
CLOCKWISE, FROM TOP LEFT Stockholm Arlanda Airport, Sweden; Munich Airport, Germany; Galapagos Ecological Airport.

With our planet on its road to recovery, we’re thinking of spaces that play a really important role in our lives. For all of us, who love travelling, here’s a quick look at environment-friendly airports that deserve your appreciation while you tick places off your bucket list.

Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi Being the eighth largest terminal in the world, our capital city’s airport features well-lit departure lounges and eco-friendly practices like low power LCD screens, 300 rainwater harvesting stations, storm drains to combat erosion, and using battery-powered vehicles to move passengers internally. Plus, it won an award for being the ‘Most Sustainable and Green Airport’ in India.

Changi Airport, Singapore It is hailed one of the world’s best airports not only for its numerous entertainment, retail and relaxing outlets but also for its conscious environment practices. Designed to highlight its pledge to green practices, Singapore airport’s two most recently developed terminals feature skylights to boost natural light, air cons closer to the floor and plenty of greenery with a wall of more than 20,000 plant species to improve air quality.

Galapagos Ecological Airport To avoid the continuing impact of tourism on the islands, Galapagos Ecological Airport is designed to run only on solar and wind power with 65 percent of its required energy supplied by windmills and the other 35 percent from photovoltaic panels fitted on walkways. A significant amount of the infrastructure is created using recycled materials including steel pipes reclaimed from oil extraction fields in the Ecuadorian Amazon.

Munich Airport, Germany Europe’s seventh busiest airport—and 12th busiest worldwide—aims to go carbon neutral this year. In addition to energy saving lights and green landscaping, a sustainable construction plan is in place to help reduce carbon emissions by 40 percent.

Stockholm Arlanda Airport, Sweden Back in 2009, this Swedish airport became the first in its continent to achieve carbon neutrality, and it is till date the only airport worldwide whose environmental permit features a cap on its carbon emissions. To save electricity, it uses biofuel systems to heat the terminals, hangars and airfield buildings, while water is collected by a range of wells connected to an underground aquifier, before being routed to the air con system.