A Real Lighthouse Project: United Therapeutics Zero-Net Energy Warehouse

Pharmaceutical Logistics Now Also Sustainable A Real Lighthouse Project: United Therapeutics Zero-Net Energy Warehouse

2025-03-04 Von Anke Geipel-Kern 3 min Reading Time

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Is it possible to operate a pharmaceutical warehouse in a CO₂-neutral manner? Yes, it is. And this project did not emerge in environmentally conscious Europe but in the USA, where energy is remarkably cheap. Here, the biopharmaceutical company United Therapeutics Corporation has built a GMP warehouse in North Carolina that truly lives up to the term milestone. We have the details.

Project Lightyear: The Zero-Emission GMP Distribution Center of United Therapeutics.(Bild: Danny Sandler, DPR Construction) — Project Lightyear: The Zero-Emission GMP Distribution Center of United Therapeutics.
(Bild: Danny Sandler, DPR Construction)

GMP-compliant pharmaceutical warehouses are typically not energy-efficient buildings. Temperature control must function properly, humidity levels must remain stable, and of course, everything must be validated. Air conditioning consumes a lot of electricity, and the consumption multiplies again when low-temperature areas are needed for sensitive active ingredients. All in all, these are not exactly ideal conditions for designing a net-zero energy building.

But it works, and that a completely CO₂-neutral operation is possible is demonstrated by the Lightyear project of the biopharmaceutical company United Therapeutics Corporation. The GMP warehouse complex located in the Research Triangle Park in North Carolina has been stated by the company to be one of five net-zero buildings and was officially inaugurated in 2023.

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