ACREX Hall of Fame is a recognition instituted by Danfoss India and ISHRAE to celebrate the excellence achieved in conserving energy by commercial buildings in the Indian subcontinent. The Hall of Fame was introduced at ACREX 2016 for the first time. In its second edition in 2017, a sub-committee of ISHRAE headed by Sushil Choudhury (Chair, ISHRAE Technical Committee) shortlisted the entries, which were then evaluated by the Jury. The Jury for 2017 comprised Dr. Ajay Mathur (Director General, The Energy Research Institute – Chairman of the Jury), Dr. Prem C. Jain (Chairman, Indian Green Building Council), C. N. Raghavendra (MD, C. NarayanaRao Consultants), V. Suresh (former CMD, Housing and Urban Development Corporation), Manit Rastogi (Architect), Ashish Rakheja (Chairman, ACREX India 2017), Sachin Maheshwari (President, ISHRAE), Sushil Choudhury and Nagahari Krishna (Danfoss). The evening of February 24 began with the release of the Draft VRF Standard prepared by ISHRAE and RAMA. The two associations are now working jointly on the AHU Standard. Rajesh Premchandran, Vice President – Danfoss, set the tone for the evening by speaking about sustainability, the energy scenario, urbanization and air and water quality. He emphasized that 70% of tomorrow’s buildings are yet to be built. Technologies to achieve energy efficiency are already available. As much as 38% of the total reduction in emissions can come from energy savings. He disclosed that this year there were about 50 nominations for the Hall of Fame, of which 10 were shortlisted by the Technical Committee. Most of the nominees were Platinum rated buildings, with one being a net zero energy building. He acknowledged the massive efforts made by the Technical Committee and the Jury to sift through the applications and data to select the ultimate inductee. Ashish Rakheja, in his address to the gathering, said that a lot of technical excellence is happening today in India. Sachin Maheshwari mentioned that the response this year was much better than last year. Pawanexh Kohli, Chairman – NCCD and Honorary Member of ISHRAE, averred that engineering tomorrow is about innovation, and is holistic and global. An audio-visual introducing the top 10 nominees was played for the audience.
Top Ten Nominations
• Capgemini
• Paharpur Business Centre
• CARBSE
• Delhi Metro
• JW Marriott Mumbai Sahar
• Indira Paryavaran Bhawan
• Infosys EC-53 Campus
• Reliance Data Centre 2
• Bosch
• Ramanujam IT City

Dr. Prem C. Jain and Ravichandran Purushothaman (President, Danfoss India) recognized the Technical Committee members Sushil Choudhury, Dr. R. Saravanan, Abid Husian, N. S. Chandrasekhar, Nitin Deodhar and Shankar Deshpande. They also recognized the Jury members.  In the absence of Dr. Ajay Mathur,Dr. Prem C. Jain delivered the keynote address. He complimented all the ten shortlisted buildings for brilliant innovations. Operational data for one year – necessarily a computer output – was analyzed. The final verdict was unanimous. Talking about his role as the Chairman of IGBC, he mentioned that India has 4.5 billion square feet of green buildings, and by 2022, when she celebrates 75 years of independence, she will have 10 billion square feet of green buildings to rank as the world leader. A coffee table book featuring the top ten buildings, specially prepared for the occasion, was released by Dr. Prem C. Jain, Ravichandran Purushothaman and representatives of the 10 buildings. A social media campaign was carried out to select a building for the Danfoss Popular Choice Award from among the top ten buildings. Indira Paryavaran Bhawan won this award. Excitement built up as the name of this year’s inductee to the Hall of Fame was declared. Infosys EC-53 Campus at Bengaluru received this distinction. The coveted recognition was awarded to Infosys for being a front-runner in promoting energy conservation and sustainable work environment. With an integrated approach to developing energy efficient buildings that include harnessing natural light, efficient LED lighting, intelligent sensors and controls and the implementation of a radiant panel based cooling system developed in-house, Infosys reaffirmed its commitment to develop and maintain a green infrastructure. Acknowledging the award, Guruprakash Sastry, Regional Manager Infrastructure, Infosys said, “We are happy that Infosys is inducted into ACREX Hall of Fame and serves as a testament to the increasing focus on energy efficiency and sustainability. With a performance based and data driven methodology, we are trying to ap-proach energy efficiency and sustainability holistically and we believe that there is immense scope for energy efficiency in buildings. The key to energy efficiency is proper management.” On this occasion, the Indian Weather Data File 2017, prepared by ISHRAE, was released.
Padmashree C. N. Raghavendran was conferred the Honorary Membership by ISHRAE on this occasion. Vishal Kapur (President-Elect, ISHRAE) delivered the vote of thanks.