Inauguration of New Building by Honorable Prime Minister of Norway, Ms. Erna Solberg in New Delhi

NEW DELHI, (GNI): Norway is known for actively investing in the development of alternative energy sources and working towards measures to implement a sustainable living. UN reports and various international indexes show that Norway ranks high in terms of global implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Keeping up with this spirit, the Royal Norwegian Embassy New Delhi is proud to announce the inauguration of its New Building by Honorable Prime Minister of Norway, Ms. Erna Solberg today.

While working on the new green building, efforts were made to retain the original compound and overall architectural appearance while not compromising on the high sustainability and environmental ambitions set for this project.

Few of the highlights of the new building includes;

• Almost 95 percent of the materials for the new embassy have been brought from the local market in New Delhi as a part of Norway’s green thinking – as it is more sustainable to use materials suited for local conditions, instead of transporting materials from Europe.
• It is one of the few buildings in India to make use of geothermal wells, taking advantage of the cool temperature of the Chanakyapuri underground.
• The new compound is constructed in a way that leads rainwater back into the ground, including wells for rainwater harvesting. Geothermal wells circulate water in 30 well tubes sunk 100 meters into the earth.
• 200 kWh is produced per day from solar which is equivalent to powering a 40W bulb for 6 months and 26 days or a 3W LED for 7 years and 7 months.
• The new embassy is registered as Green Rating for Integrated Habitat, by the Government of India’s national rating system for green buildings.

The embassy will also host a gathering called ‘Mela’ with individuals coming together from different walks but working seamlessly to achieve a unified goal of sustainability. Mela, as the name suggests, will be an amalgamation displaying the cultural facet of India, with a dance performance and stalls.

The stalls are being setup by the likes of National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR) to educate about the Polar cooperation between Norway and India, Clean energy solutions by TERI to showcase energy access and lively-hood generation activities in rural India, Mahila Sabha in a village like setting by UN Women to mirror how an actual Mahila Gram Sabha is organized at Gram Panchayat level, NIPI (Norway-India Partnership Initiative) to display the collaboration between two countries towards reducing child and maternal mortality in India and showcase  an important invention : The Emergency Triage Assessment & Treatment (ETAT) & Norwegian Research Council to showcase research collaboration between Norway and India.

In addition to this 60 boys and girls from Kailash Satyarthi’s ‘Bachpan Bachao Andolan’ will get to greet the Prime Minister and share their stories and experience with the PM. Ends