Star Garments Group wins Silver for ‘Energy Efficiency’

 Senura Dharmadasa, Senior Manager - Group Sustainability and Compliance of Star Garments receiving the award from IDB Chairman Dr. Saranga Alahapperuma. Also present is Chalani Panditha, Executive - Group Sustainability 

Star Garments Group (Star) was recently recognized at the first-ever International Symposium on Green Industry Initiative for Sustainable Industrial Development (ISGSD), winning a Silver Award in the ‘‘Energy Efficiency in Industry” category for its Innovation Center based in Katunayake, the first ‘Passive house factory building’ in the world and first ‘Passive House Design’ in South Asia. It is also the first LEED Platinum building in Sri Lanka to becertified under latest LEED V4.

The event, organized by the Industrial Development Board (IDB) and Ministry of industries, was held on the 20th, 21stand 23rd of June at the BMICH, Colombo. 

The industrial sector is a significant energy consumer. Through the usage of passive house principles in renovating an old factory,Star Garments has taken an innovative approach to enhance its energy efficiency and reduce environmental impact. The adherence to these principlesin its Innovation Center achieved a reduction of energy usageby up to 70 percent and Zero kWh/m2a heating demand compared to aconventionally “efficient” modern industrial building of the same size. Thisremarkably lowers greenhouse gas emissions and operational costs.It also enhanced indoor environmental quality, boosting employee productivity, andoccupational health.

The passive house design emphasizes super insulation, airtightness, and heat recovery systems to minimize energy consumption, setting a new standard for industrial buildings in tropical climates. Star’s Innovation Center has also been awarded the 2020 AIA New York (AIANY) Merit Awardin sustainability and the 2021 Passive House International Award.

Following the establishment ofits Innovation Center in 2017, Star continued to invest in becoming a more sustainable entity. Today, eight of its factories are LEED certified, with two achieving platinum status, four gold, and two silver.Further, on its unwavering efforts towards combating climate change, Star has committed toScience Based Targets initiative (SBTi) and has been maintaining carbon neutrality across all its operations for 5 years. Star also continues to reduce its carbon footprint through investments like its 4.9 megawatts of rooftop solar capacity and the transition to biomass boilers in its largest factory.

Sri Lanka is rated as a water risk country by the Aqueduct tool of the World Resources Institute, to safeguard this precious resource, Starconserves around 54 million liters of water every year by recycling wastewater and reusing AHU Drain water for various purposes within its plants.