Leaving a better world to our children shouldn’t be only a wish but should be action of items. We have less time. In my opinion we should focus on the areas where we can increase a better impact which are big buildings such as airports, big infrastructures… When we built the Istanbul airport, we focused on that. This is only possible with advanced technological infrastructure.
All of them are available in this airport. To create an impact, we should also focus on growing sectors. Because growing sectors come with social and economic benefit but with also environmental impact. Aviation sector is the biggest growing mode of transportation among others. It was really important for us how can we decrease the environmental impact of Istanbul airport. How we did this? By making smart decisions. Firstly, on design and masterplan. New airport is next to the sea. When airplanes come, they leave their carbon to the sea.
Eventually, after the new airport the air quality of Istanbul got better with only the decision of location of the airport. These small decisions create big impact. In the construction period we were careful also. When we designed it, it was important for us that all the applications work smoothly. We measured everything with data and this data allowed us to see where there is an anomaly. When we see it, of course we then get into action and we make our systems efficient again. These algorithms run on the Big Data platform is enabling us to make predictive maintenance. This is being used on elevators, escalators…
We are also using bio jet on airplanes which is a radical for aviation industry and electrical hydrant dispensers. We will start deploying solar panels at the airport because the electricity consumed by the airport is almost equivalent to some cities in Turkey. Now, we want to open the airport to academics and entrepreneurs to implement their ideas, their prototypes on our ecosystem and being able to create an open innovation platform.
Mehmet KALYONCU
Chairman, GYODER THE ASSOCIATION OF REAL ESTATE
