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COUNTRY REPORT: AUSTRALIA How are manufacturers innovating to address the skyrocketing price for cooling and the growing demand for IEQ?

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With increasing attention being given to reduce power consumption, as enshrined in the Saudi Vision 2030 (National Transformation Programme), talks on energyrelated regulations have intensified like never before in the Kingdom. GCC Standardization Organization (GSO), along with Saudi Standards, Metrology and Quality Organization (SASO), is expected to play a leadership role in the conference, in terms of offering much-needed clarity to VRF manufacturers, enabling them to increase the market share of the technology, among other cooling approaches, in the Kingdom. In short, the conference comes at an opportune time and is highly relevant.

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VOL. 13 NO. 06

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MAKE AS YOU GO Is Additive Manufacturing (AM) the next big disruptive approach in the construction industry, or is it simply a fad that is perhaps likely to be dismissed as futuristic?

L IS FOR LEED-ERSHIP Mahesh Ramanujam of the United States Green Building Council (USGBC), speaks on the Council’s mission to cultivate a well-balanced built-environment, worldwide, and the importance of engaging stakeholders

18 The building is a differentiator to attract talent Dr Joe Allen of Harvard T H Chan School of Public Health, speaks on how healthy buildings can benefit HR and other functions

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JUNE 2018

PERSPECTIVES The road travelled since 1998 George Berbari, CEO, DC PRO Engineering, looks at the progress made by the District Cooling industry in the region

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Yes, IoT and AI have their place in DC...

The 5th edition of the World IEQ Forum discussed the possibility of a new world order, where IEQ is given the importance it truly deserves among policymakers, consultants, contractors, building owners and equipment manufacturers, among others.

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COUNTRY REPORT The cost of comfort...

How are air conditioning manufacturers innovating to ensure that cooling is not merely a privilege, but a right, with electricity cost in Australia skyrocketing, driven by subsidies to renewables, owing to the country’s looming targets?

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While building management systems have been widely deployed, industry insiders suggest it's a long road ahead for their full potential to be realised.

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n early 2014, I had the privilege of interviewing the boffin behind the world’s first 3D-printed burger. I met Dr Mark Post at the Global Forum for Innovations in Agriculture, in Abu Dhabi, and in the course of an hour, he explained the various possibilities, including how Abu Dhabi could meet its meat needs by ‘growing’ mutton and beef, tissue by tissue, in the confines of a laboratory. The prospect of doing so without feeding pesticide-laced feedstock, as is quite widely the case, was alluring.

I was intrigued also by the possibility of shortening the cold chain, because meat could be grown near the point of consumption, possibly reducing the risk of contamination. But the main story was about how meat could be 3D-printed.

In this issue, our focus is on how we can print an entire heat exchanger, say, and possibly control the process to such an extent that it can increase the scope for innovation and customisation. Perhaps it is not as simplistic as it sounds, and there perhaps are pieces of equipment that would not fully lend themselves to 3D printing, but broadly speaking, the possibilities boggle the mind, as we seek specialised design and installation solutions, unconstrained by what current manufacturing processes can deliver, to improve safety, reliability and energy efficiency and to ensure good indoor environmental quality (IEQ).

On the flip side, we have to consider how 3D printing can disrupt current manufacturing regimes to the extent of destabilising them. The building-performance and cold chain sectors, to name two, need the support of a robust manufacturing base, which is dependent on a measure of predictability in supply and demand for its survival. And that is where regulations and standards need to come in.

To quite state the obvious, regulations, in an ideal world, go beyond ensuring safety, reliability, energy efficiency and IEQ, among other needs of consumers and governments, which have a responsibility of complying with global environmental and healthcare protocols, to name two. They are equally there to protect the interests of manufacturers and, variously, offer balance and protection against disruptive forces. In the context of 3D printing, they perhaps are most needed during the construction phase of projects to ensure that contractors, generally speaking given their proclivity for cutting costs above all other considerations, take a balanced and structured approach to buying equipment from nonincorporated entities.

Generally speaking, 3D-printed heat exchangers and other equipment present themselves as options in a world increasingly seeking flexibility and customisation. As is the case with other aspects of development, the need of the hour is a balanced, measured approach that takes into consideration the interests of all stakeholders.

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OVER STORY

tive p u isr ply a d g m i t b s it si ristic? x e i n tu r the try, o as fu ) (AM indus issed date ll g i urin ction dism mmo or w as t c o e a g ru nuf onst y to b o acc turin serve to it a t c l c e y fa lities tance ould e M the k d i u v l i a n t i ddi ion in rhaps ket re ma l fac reluc , or c ed?

A m a Is vat is pe mar strea ition ket’s rowth ntam o n in that ACR ain rad mar its g and u t m n V fad e H g in ent i will a stunt ated l h , n Is t printi vestm astly lution regu n L 3D oric in ck? s evo ss, u ry‌ o e t t e his ttlen dge i gardl he st o t a b nowle ing re has y ack evolv Jo U risk nah n Ha 10

June 2018

I

t’s just a belief, but a strong one. You can sense the passion in his voice, when Dr Z Haktan Karadeniz says that 3D printing has the potential to change the very nature of the industry. Dr Karandeniz is Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, zmir Kâtip Çelebi University in Turkey.

Elaborating, he asks the listener to imagine an engineering world, where “you can select some base design of a heat exchanger from the library of a BIM software and select a proper place for the equipment in the building façade”. An automated Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) application, he says, designs the new ductline after boundary conditions and analysis tools are confirmed. The cloud computing module, he says, will control the CFD application to maximise the efficiency of the base design of heat exchanger and ductline. “During that phase,” he says, “you can select the proper fan for your system from the supplier’s catalogue or software, which is already integrated with the designer’s software.” The software, he says, will then assess and implement the necessary changes to the project to further optimise its efficiency, after which it will process the order and, following confirmation, send the fan dimensions to the 3D printer, either in the fan manufacturer’s facility or on site, in the event a large number of fans have to be produced.

Once the design is approved, Dr Karadeniz continues, data will be sent to the site and simulation of the additive manufacturing process is cross-checked with the software of the ‘3D constructer’ on the site. Finally, he says, a multi-tasked 3D printer, capable of printing a wide range of materials will start the construction. “Oh, wait!” Dr Karadeniz says. “There is no need for ‘you’! This is all a machine and software world connected by an IoT network awaiting a single order, ‘Start’, and single input, ‘Architectural Design’.”

The ‘you’, in the long-term estimation of Dr Karadeniz, is the HVAC professional at any position across the HVAC industry’s value chain, as he presents the possible paradigm shift that Additive Manufacturing can initiate. How far are we from this future?

WHERE WE STAND TODAY…

Dr Farah Singer, Research Associate, Smart and Small Thermal Systems Laboratory, Center for Environmental Engineering, University of Maryland, in the United States, is well acquainted with the uptake of additive manufacturing over the years.

Leading the research in heat transfer and additive manufacturing of heat exchangers for different applications,

Dr Singer says she has observed growing interest of leading manufacturers in the Center’s recent projects.

“Additive manufacturing,” she says, “is evolving very fast, and many high-end companies [have started] using Additive Manufacturing in their [production] line.”

She points to General Electric’s (GE) move to enter the market, also saying that NASA has also shown interest recently, using a 3D-printed combustive engine on a real flight.

More and more stakeholders are jumping on the bandwagon. Hamid A. Syed, Vice President and General Manager, UL Middle East, shares the company’s decision to enter the AM space in 2014, “when the transition from prototyping to production started to take shape”.

Time to market, cost reduction and mass customisation are some of the benefits AM can offer production, Syed says.

Aerospace and medical industries have already been active in this production, he says, and in the past 2-3 years UL has seen additional industry segments emerge.

“From an HVACR perspective,” Syed says, “in addition to the use of additive manufacturing for part production with energy-efficient designs, there is a great opportunity for replacement parts, tooling, jigs and fixtures.” While 3D-printing technologies have been around for over 30 years, Syed adds, use in mainstream manufacturing is only starting

to emerge. “The technology demands of mainstream manufacturing,” he stresses, “are accelerating the innovation in the technology and its relevance in the future of smart manufacturing.”

In terms of uptake, Dr Karadeniz believes that additive manufacturing for high performance and additive manufacturing for integrated design have different time lines. “High-performance components, such as heat exchangers and fans, are already being manufactured by 3D printers,” he says.

“Considering the fast growth of additive manufacturing technology and industry in the last two decades, the integration of the 3D printers into the HVAC sector as a trusted manufacturing tool would not take more than 10 years.”

Dr Karadeniz, however, believes that more time is needed for the additive manufacturing of whole HVAC components and units in the mainstream market and for integrated design and 3D building construction. “Energy-efficiency policies, increasing IAQ sensitivity and widening applications of “High Performance Buildings” are pushing the limits of engineering,” he says.

In 10 years, maybe, there will be 3D printing [of equipment] onsite, where you can print the whole thing

June 2018

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“Therefore, the conventional engineering methods, both for design and manufacturing, are becoming insufficient to meet the high performance [requirements].”

Dr Karadeniz says that a change in the understanding of design and processes is imperative to increase efficiency. “However the engineering culture of the HVAC manufacturing industry is deeply connected to the machining and metal fabrication processes,” he says, “for which the resulting designs are mostly repetitive linear structures.

These structures are on their limits for the efficiency and far away from being flexible enough to meet the aesthetic needs of an architect.”

The revolutionary change is only a matter of time for the enterprise side, Dr Karadeniz says, However, he adds, 3D printers are considered hobby tools rather than manufacturing facilities, and 3D printing for consumer products is not in the near future perspectives of technology forecasters like Gartner. “I think we will still be buying printed HVAC units instead of manufacturing them at home in the future,” he says.

Syed presents a more conservative approach in view of ensuring quality. “As with any manufacturing application,” he says, “the product lifecycle from design to quality assurance is critical. One of the greatest challenges that industries are facing is ensuring that their workforce is properly trained on the nuances of this technology and how to properly integrate it into their manufacturing value chain.” Syed believes that additive manufacturing is not going to replace all manufacturing techniques.

“It is intended to offer a capability, which traditional manufacturing techniques do not currently offer,” he adds.

Uwe Wassermann, Director AEC Business Development Worldwide, Autodesk, echoes this. “3D printing will develop in the future,” he says. “Today, we see it widespread in different areas with more than a hundred different materials. I think it will always be a combination of traditional and 3D printing.

You can print single elements and combine them with modules and bigger components across disciplines.” This, he says, extends to HVACR applications. At the end, he says, proper logistics and assembly must also be addressed. “I believe there will be an evolution,” he says. “In 10 years, maybe, there will be 3D printing [of equipment] onsite, where you can print the whole thing. Today, I think we are so far off from using what is available, we need to first start to adopt the things in the market and, at the same time, be open to further developments.”

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June 2018

BEYOND ‘CHEAP’ – BOTTLENECKS AND DRIVERS

Dr Z Haktan Karadeniz

Dr Farah Singer

Hamid A. Syed

Uwe Wassermann

Chris Matthews

Initially, Dr Singer says, cost was a bottleneck in the uptake of AM, with research needed to prove financial benefits. However, she says, things are evolving and 3D-printing machines that used to cost a million US dollars are now available at half the price. “I don’t think it needs more than 2-3 years,” she says, in view of such trends. Despite certain stakeholders being adamant that AM is not a practical solution, Dr Singer says that recent studies in material composition have been able to enhance and optimise the benefits of material printing, which, she says can pave the way for greater adoption.

Tatjana Dzambazova, AI Strategist, Office of the Chief Technology Officer (CTO), chimes in. “We are literally seeing daily drops in price,” she says, driven by both material choice and economies of scale. “The biggest problem with 3D printing is that it’s slow, it’s small and it’s expensive. You want it fast, big and cheaper.” Dr Singer says that despite the fact that the payback is attractive, the manufacturing industry is not considering it immediately owing to its conservative nature and historic investments. As such, she says, it is important to also highlight the whole other spectrum of advantages, such as better quality and higher performance, aside from cost competitiveness, while waiting for prices to lower. “Some industries we are in talks with,” she says, “don’t care about the cost. They would tell us to develop a heat exchanger for the same price but with higher performance. This is a great breakthrough, because they can tell the customer that the heat exchanger can survive 10 years instead of five.”

Chris Matthews, Managing Director, Silenceair International, an Australian ventilation company, provides a manufacturer's perspective. “Customisation is becoming increasingly critical to satisfy architectural and construction demands on projects,” he says. “[To address this] we have established a 3D-printing factory, where we have a large number of 3D printers working 24 hours a day to make customised parts that enable us to provide specialised solutions for our customers. We can now offer solutions, where once we would have walked away. I see a huge potential for this type of technology.” Although 3D printing is still in its infancy, Matthews says, the technology will transform the building industry in the decades to come.

Dzambazova adds that another key advantage of 3D printing is that complex

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OVER STORY

Tatjana Dzambazova

Mahesh Ramanujam

Lynelle Cameron

designs are able to be executed, adding that she believes innovations in this field will move in the direction of exploring new types of composite materials with the aim of lowering cost. Dr Singer echoes this, saying that freedom in design, and the ability to specify and control dimensions and size, while increasing performance, also makes a case for AM. Dr Karadeniz admits that while recent 3D-printer technology is very slow for mass production, the issue will be solved as the HVAC industry and other stakeholders define their needs and look towards materials that meet both construction and HVAC standards.

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Syed believes that the technology is naturally going to evolve with the demands of manufacturing. “Software and automation tools are being developed

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June 2018

inherent to the machine, and additive techniques are being combined with traditional manufacturing techniques in hybrid machines. We also see industry trends in digital manufacturing and smart manufacturing that are creating a more strategic opportunity for the technology to evolve and be integrated into the factories of the future. It is important to note that

Despite the fact that the payback is attractive, the manufacturing industry is not considering it immediately owing to its conservative nature and historic investments

as the technology evolves, the benefits and limitations will also evolve.”

Similarly, Dr Karadeniz admits that the future he had envisioned in relation to 3D printing’s role in design approaches, requires the development of relevant background software, network protocols, optimisation algorithms and CFD methodologies.

“The need for innovation, research and development, and standardisation will be increasing,” he says. “Besides, machines and software will be the consultants, and they will carry most of the contractors’ load. Constructers can be named as a manufacturer instead. The building owner will be directly connected to the manufacturer, if there is no intellectual property issue for the project or to the architect, if a special building design is needed.”

Most importantly, Dr Karadeniz says, regulations must be developed, accordingly.

“The role of the regulators will be more important,” he says.

“Although virtual reality lets us travel even into the tiniest pipe before construction, we can revise the design and solve some problems on the way with today’s methodology.” In such a future, he says, while the building owner must trust the machine and software, who will actually be trusted is the certifier or regulator behind the scene. “The result will be certification of the design methodology instead of the product itself,” he says. “The software and 3D printers certified according to the updated regulations will produce high-quality buildings. The highly flexible nature of additive manufacturing will push the limits of the standardisation.”

Dr Singer also touches on the importance of regulation, which she says, currently there is not enough of. “We need regulations,” she says, “and more input on what to validate and what not to validate, and whether, at some point, it would have its own certification for buildings or [as part of] LEED or not.”

Syed adds that in any evolution, new hazards are introduced. “For [AM], there are risks with new materials, the equipment, the production facilities and the final part produced,” he says.

“This technology started as R&D, where compliance with standards and regulations is not as stringent. In the past five years, there have been significant efforts by regulators, standard development organisations (SDOs) and OEMs to align this technology with new and existing standards and regulations.”

Innovation, he stresses, will always precede regulations, and as the innovation timelines accelerate in manufacturing, new approaches must be implemented to ensure there is still a level of safety and risk mitigation implemented.

Wasserman points out, however, that the regulations must also be in the context of existing legislative framework developed for the built-environment. “At the end of the day,” he says, “you need to meet certain standards, whether you make it traditionally, or with components using 3D printing. If the thing needs to bear a certain load, you need to reinforce. You cannot go around regulations by doing 3D printing. You need to meet the criteria with any kind of products.”

Wasserman admits that it might change in the future, if legislation is amended to reduce certain requirements following a better understanding and recognition of fabrication technology and the quality

required. However, he believes it will not serve as a particularly big challenge.

The slow development of international regulations or rules for validation in the field of AM, Dr Singer says, is largely owing to lack of expertise. “AM,” she says, “is going fast. There are a lot of technologies but not a lot of experts.” Additionally, she says, there is a limited number of available educational programmes in the field. The technology, she says, "blew up so fast with new patents and people creating their own machines and techniques", creating a big gap between advancement of the technology and the skills required to ensure its quality. “We always say we need experts,” she says. In the University of Maryland, Dr Singer says, the department is committed to developing courses to address the need for graduates that have the degree, as well as the

theoretical and handson knowledge and experience to participate in the development of relevant regulations.

On the subject of training, Syed also provides an update on what UL is doing through its Additive Manufacturing Competency Center (AMCC) training facility, in the University of Louisville. The Center, Syed says, is a catalyst for the continued learning and development of established AM technical and business professionals.

“The AMCC provides experiential, peerto-peer opportunities to transfer cuttingedge, AM-specific knowledge among AM practitioners, academic and corporate researchers, and industry consortia,” he says. The AMCC was designed specifically for end-to-end AM application-based training stressing the importance of safety, he says. Beginning with process and material fundamentals and progressing

through design, build planning, process parameters, post-processing and quality evaluation, students will design to manufacture parts, he adds.

Further underpinning the importance of standards and regulation, Dr Singer says that the lack of reliability tests and universal certification also serves as a hindrance for AM products to enter and replace equipment in the existing market.

“Even if reducing cost is the goal,” she says, “additively manufactured products won't make it to the market if not proven reliable and robust enough to survive the required lifetime.” Pointing to the 3D-printed heat exchanger as an example, Dr Singer says it will not replace the conventional heat exchanger ‘until it is proven to give the required performance for the same lifetime as the heat exchangers currently in the market’. “This is due to the fact that faulty or unreliable heat exchangers would leak, break or deteriorate

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OVER STORY

early,” she says, “causing unfortunate problems in the industrial system they’re implemented in and, in some cases, these problems are considered disastrous.”

As such, Dr Singer says that even if there is an uptake in the use of AM among manufacturers, the adoption of the products in the market will only increase in the same pace that reliability, lifetime and ageing test and certifications and standards are developed that will help consumers ascertain that 3D-printed products not only compete but also exceed the function of conventional products currently being used.

GROWING PAINS AND 3D PRINTING’S VOICE IN THE SUSTAINABILITY DIALOGUE

For Dr Karadeniz, these issues are no different from those that typically plague the new kid on the block. Pointing to Building Information Modelling (BIM) as an example, Dr Karadeniz stresses that it took more than 20 years to move from being conceptual to a real-life application, whereas today, BIM, as a methodology, has become vital for the design, construction and operation of high-performance buildings. Dr Karadeniz believes all components across the HVAC industry’s value chain must be included in the theoretical study for integration of AM, adding that there is room for BIM to further accommodate AM, advocating for a more inclusive dialogue, considering other technological developments, such as cloud computing, IOT and super computers, among others. “Industry 4.0” will not lose the chance to convert the manufacturing methods and also design strategies in HVAC industry,” he says.

“Therefore, the role of professionals will be more on the engineering side than on the site.”

Mahesh Ramanujam, President and CEO, US Green Building Council (USGBC), in sharing the Council’s position on 3D printing, says that they recognise the role of disruptive innovation 3D can play in the development of high-performance buildings. “What is the heart of 3D printing?” he asks. “It is to be able to do rapid deployment, rapid development, most importantly, get the design right and get to mass implementation. We clearly see an opportunity for us to do a two-way conversation: 3D driving ‘Green’ and ‘Green’ driving 3D.”

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June 2018

Dr Karadeniz believes that, at the end of the day, a building owner needs a tailor-made living space with a healthy, comfortable and sustainable building. “These will be satisfied with high quality in a shorter time,” he says.

“Additive manufacturing will be used for high-performance products during the technology transition. The manufacturing process will be really lean. Raw material that is ready for additive manufacturing will be the input, and any product will be the outcome. Logistics will be easier.

Non-linear designs will be producible.

A heat exchanger, for example, can be a porous media for which every single pore is perfectly designed for the flow and heat transfer conditions given as a design goal. That will rise the efficiencies to the desired levels.” Such a design, he says, is only possible by an additive manufacturing approach. “ Speaking on the uptake of new technologies, such as 3D, block chain and AI, all of which the USGBC considers in the pursuit of a healthier builtenvironment, Ramanujam retraces the journey of low-VOC paint products entering mainstream market. “Twenty years ago,” he says, “when you buy paint you get caustic smell, exposure to chemicals and it harms your cognitive function because of toxins and carcinogens. Today, low-VOC paint was pushed by LEED to the market as a

requirement.” In the same manner, he says, 3D printing “can absolutely have a place in LEED and reverse, to push the market to the next level.”

Also, he says, there is opportunity in its acceleration to embed the ethos of sustainability among participating stakeholders in the move forward. “It’s all about promoting best practices around the world,” Ramanujam says, “and we learn from others and we also contribute to their [learning].”

Lynelle Cameron, CEO of Autodesk Foundation and Vice President of Sustainability Autodesk, weighs in on 3D-printing’s role in the sustainability dialogue in the context of similar emerging disruptive technologies, which she calls the “future of making things”. “This is not just bells and whistles,” she says. “This is how

Phase Change Material (PCM’s) between and + release thermal energy during the phase change which releases large amounts of energy in the form of latent heat.

It bridges the gap between energy availability and energy use as well as load shifting capability.

all buildings will be designed. Sustainability is just an inherent part of that, as it enables us to design buildings without the typical 30% waste at the construction site. We have so many buildings being constructed, reducing waste is a key part of that, as well as using new types of materials that can be repurposed and reused after the life of a particular building.”

Cameron says this makes a case for circular construction, where “materials are kept in an infinite closed-loop process”.

Dr Karadeniz adds: “All of the components of the HVAC industry will be a part of this change and will evolve to their new roles. After the maturity of the technology, manufacturers will have flexible production lines that they may not even be a dedicated HVAC equipment or system manufacturer.

Because they can easily switch between the production of an automobile spare part to an HVAC equipment.” He adds that R&D engineering will be the most important, if not the sole, function remaining from the manufacturers of today.

“Discrete engineering tools will be interoperable; therefore, the design process will be smoother,” he says. “Likewise, the HVAC equipment, units and systems. Contractors will be the constructor/manufacturer of the buildings and consultants will be behind the software preparation process.”

Dr Karadeniz admits that there is always a bottleneck towards acceptance of revolutionary changes. However, he believes that the important question to ask is, ‘Do we really need this change?’ “We can continue with the traditional methods and be happy at our homes that were already built by traditional methods,” he says. “However, entrepreneurs always look for opportunities, financiers always look for profit, and engineers always look for challenges.” This, he says, is essentially what forces the overall HVAC sector towards change.

The story of Additive Manufacturing continues to be written, with its feasibility in real-world applications, especially in the HVACR segment, passionately being debated by people from various camps. For both believers and doubters, one thing is for sure – the technology has the potential to have significant implications that could send a ripple effect across current building design practices. How much, or how little, will depend on the respective agendas of stakeholders.

HAVE YOUR SAY! We welcome your views on the article.

Write to editor@cpi-industry.com

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17

Mahesh Ramanujam, USGBC

Mahesh Ramanujam, President and CEO of the United States Green Building Council (USGBC), speaks exclusively with Hannah Jo Uy of Climate Control Middle East on the Council’s mission to cultivate a wellbalanced built-environment, worldwide, and the importance of engaging stakeholders to develop a more holistic design approach and optimise building performance. Excerpts from the interview…

iS for

C

ould you tell us about the uptake in the acceptance of the LEED programme over the years and the strategy of USGBC, moving forward?

This is going to be the 25th year of the US Green Building Council. We were established in 1993, and our vision is ‘everyone in a Green Building within a generation’. We established this LEED programme in 2000. By 2002, [there were] 38 projects. Today, we have 93,000 projects, and close to 46,000 projects that are certified. We are present in 167 countries.

What we are seeing, very consistently, is that the broad market has adopted ‘Green’.

‘Green’ is no longer an applied strategy, it is almost an integrated strategy, and LEED, our green building rating system, has become the de facto language across the world about how new construction should happen.

[Stakeholders] know, by default, if you are not building a LEED building, then you are not building a good building. Currently, we are shifting the same amount of energy and focus to the existing building sector, which is predominantly the larger part [of the built-environment] – I call it the 95%. Many buildings were designed and operated before all these programmes evolved. Some of these buildings have never been certified, so we will try to bring them into this new programme, the LEED existing building programme. We recently announced a version 4.1 to help them actually make progress.

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June 2018

not taken ownership of the platform or the tool, but we have taken ownership or accountability for supporting the leaders, developers, government leaders and educators. Go through the entire ecosystem, each and every person is advocating for LEED, and I think that’s special, because LEED is a global movement and a language.

By focusing its attention on both new and existing buildings, would you say this is the two-pronged strategy USGBC is pursuing, worldwide?

We are also expanding the vision of buildings to communities and cities.

There are big agreements being made by various cities, including Dubai and various Middle East cities. How are they going to track their contributions or reductions in emissions? That’s why it’s important to take the building sector, which contributes 40-45% of carbon emissions, and integrate it with a city-level story. I would call it a three-pronged approach, new and existing buildings and an overarching community and city vision. So, there is an integrated data set, where we are able to track [how] we are making progress in the green strategies.

Mahesh Ramanujam

Could you comment on what makes LEED so universally accepted?

I think the single line we consistently repeat is the L part of LEED, which is ‘leadership’.

Leaders know they can go above and beyond what is possible. We are dealing with business communities; largely, we are dealing with government leaders. They’re trying to differentiate themselves to show they’re going above regulation, above things that are seen as simplistic.

The second aspect of LEED is that it is holistic. It is integrated, so when it comes to new construction we don’t want energy to be saved at the cost of comfort. We don’t want comfort to be compromised at the cost of daylight. We don’t want health to not be part of the conversation. When you think of balancing all the components of a complex building and really [driving] it through an initiated process to optimise design, construction, operations and eventually, performance – I think that methodology is very powerful.

The third one is that LEED is about leaders, which means that there are leaders around the world, millions of people, advocating for LEED on a daily basis, so what I always say to our team is follow the leaders….We have made this very fundamental that we have actually

There is no way I can go around the buildings and take away the plaque, I’m going to create a bad experience for everybody

Building on this holistic approach, there is a lot of emphasis placed on choosing energy-efficient equipment.

However, is the same importance being placed on promoting best practices in installation and operations?

Definitely, equipment has a larger role. We don’t specify products, but we tell them the type of products and technology to be deployed. But what we repeatedly say is that there is a big difference between commissioning and not commissioning, installation and non-installation, verification, monitoring and implementation. Recently, we had a case study where they installed best technology in 85% of the equipment, everything under the sky and roof is there, because [they] are building the fanciest building [but] none of those controls are commissioned, none of those things were verified. LEED integrates one of the unique actors, which is commissioning, and all these things fall under that.

So, did you design right? Did you commission it right? Are you watching the operational characteristics? [It’s about] design to construction and construction to operations. I think that is a very important focus, otherwise it’s like buying a great car and driving it poorly, and how good is that?

Does this makes a case for greater recognition of, and appreciation for, specialised MEP representatives?

Correct. Earlier, I talked about integrated process design. The other part of LEED is integrated project teams. When you talk about integrated project teams, an architect has to pull the structural engineer, the mechanical engineer, the electrical engineer, the construction manager, the facilities manager and be able to actually sit and talk

June 2018

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Mahesh Ramanujam, USGBC

about design and design intentions, because in LEED, the biggest thing is intentions, not strategies. What are you intending to do? What is the goal?

Then strategies, then operational characteristics. We believe very strongly that LEED already advocates for it, and we are also absolutely clear that MEP consultants in this particular case are very critical players, and [we are] engaging them in a proactive manner.

As well as stakeholders from the Facilities Management industry?

Yes. FM, MEP engineers – name the ecosystem of the building composition, and it is important to bring those players to the room during the design stage and embed them throughout the process, so that they know their job is about rightsizing, commissioning, implementation and long-term operation. That is how you will be able to deliver.

Do you believe USGBC’s Arc tool would also help towards a more inclusive dialogue?

That is the next step. LEED recommends an integrated approach, but that’s from a strategist’s point of view. With LEED version 4.1, we have integrated the Arc platform.... An MEP engineer will be able to step in and look at the data, [assess] performance and say, ‘This is the design, this is the operational aspect, either you didn’t commission or design it right or you oversized or undersized the equipment’. I believe data is the new natural resource. Data is the new mirror, data is the new scale and data is the new accountability tool. Arc is all about that.

Data today is a conversation.

Data is not typically numbers, cents and dollars – it’s a dialogue. For us, it's transactional data and content data. Both go in together, because

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June 2018

the conversation creates the context, so you can come back and say the building should perform at this level, says who? In what context? Is it in context of UAE’s particular challenges? You have to have context and the context, comes from those conversations.

As I understand, USGBC’s Arc tool aims to address the issue of buildings certified as Platinum or Gold failing to sustain the status, performance-wise, across their lifecycle?

Why did we design ARC? I went around the world, and everybody is saying ‘Mahesh, you have to bring the LEED police, take the plaque away, they didn’t perform’… [LEED is] a market-driven voluntary management tool, that is why it’s not regulation… it is a behavioural transformation. That is the whole point of LEED… ownership is transferred to you, not to me. The reason why I came back with this vision for Arc is because there is no way I can go around the buildings and take away the plaque, I’m going to create a bad experience for everybody.

It’s your tool and plaque, if I come and take it away, I become the police and the regulator, and then you hate me.

And it’s not like it was not deserving at the time?

Exactly. They say, “Green building should perform.” I said, “What tools have we given to them?” For me, it is about providing solutions and tools to the market to change behaviour.

HAVE YOUR SAY! We welcome your views on the article.

Write to editor@cpi-industry.com

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Dr Joseph G Allen, Harvard T H Chan School of Public Health

T

THE BUILDING IS A DIFFERENTIATOR TO ATTRACT TALENT

here seems to be an imbalance in the region, with palpably more importance being given to energy efficiency than good indoor air quality. How is the situation in the United States?

During an earlier edition of the World IEQ Forum, you spoke of how there’s a need to increase fresh air changes in the room – and you, for one, said that perhaps ASHRAE's minimum prescribed requirement for air changes is inadequate. From that perspective, what is the response you have been getting in the United States to your call for greater attention to indoor air quality?

I think, perception-wise, the reality is that energy is still the driver in the US, but

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Dr Joseph G Allen

what I’m seeing is a big shift in the conversation. I'd like to think the COGfx study has helped, along with other research, to show the economic value around healthy buildings, so we quantify the benefits of a highperforming building to the bottom line of the company, and the way you get there is you show that the higher-performing building’s impact on human productivity and on worker productivity is directly related to the performance of the business, so we see uptake in the US, in particular, when we speak to executives, because the executives get this. They sit high enough in the organisation that they can understand there might be a cost per higher ventilation rate that occurs in the facilities budget, largely.

But the executives also see they could get benefits across the entire enterprise in terms of work performance, worker engagement, the ability to track great workers, the ability to retain those workers and, ultimately, when they are in your building, have them perform.

And that might show in the HR human resources’ budget, but it should show

Dr Joseph G Allen, Assistant Professor, Harvard T H Chan School of Public Health, and Director, Healthy Buildings, Harvard Center for Health and the Global Environment, speaks on how healthy buildings can benefit HR and other functions, in this free-ranging interview with Surendar Balakrishnan...

hours in the building; in a typical work day, it extends beyond that and, of course, the people who slept better that night, perform better the next day. More importantly, we use an objective measure of sleep. We don’t just ask people, ‘How did you sleep last night?’ We were recording actual sleep quality; it’s objectively measured.

Could you explain that?

up across the entire enterprise. So, the conversations we are having with executives – and these are technology companies, big pharmaceutical companies, leaders in commercial real estate, in particular commercial real estate in New York City – there’s a lot of interest in this. Because the math is simple, when you break it down, when you talk about the 90% cost of operating your business, you are talking about the people, and you can do this analysis easily – what the costs are to improve or enhance the building relative to the gains you’re going to get with your employees.

So, the uptake has been good, mostly from the executive side. I’m hearing from, in particular, the pharma industry – they keep saying we are in a global competition for talent, and they are [seeing] building as a differentiator. They know it’s a differentiator to attract that talent, and you spend a lot of money on that talent, so how do you optimise your investment, so to speak, and they see the building as a way to do that.

Do correct me if I’m wrong, but you are also linking the quality of air in the room with quality of sleep as part of the entire study, yes?

There were two studies in the COGfx. The first one looked at ventilation, carbon dioxide and VOCs and their impact on cognitive

To me, the science is so clear – what’s holding it back is this false dichotomy that has been created that we have to have energy or health, and that can’t be the way it works function. It was about our ability to process information and be strategic about decision making, with relatively minor changes in the indoor environment. The second study looked at indoor environmental quality factors but also the building as a whole, and it turns out that the people who worked in these high-performing green-certified buildings actually slept better that evening.

I find that really provocative, because it tells me that the building is influencing our health long after we leave it.

The building owner doesn’t just have the responsibility or impact on my life eight

Similar to what’s on my wrist, a Fitbit, which lets us look at how long they slept, the tossing and turning… even the phase of sleep.

One of the issues that plagued some studies related to sleep. They asked about sleep, and a recall question, such as ‘How did you sleep last night?’

And we all remember things differently. There is a potential for bias in that case, whereas the way we were measuring it was an objective measure, so there was no way to manipulate that data.

Based on the findings of your study in the commercial sector, how does good IAQ influence a student’s cognitive ability?

I have a message… if you want to increase the performance of your students, you should be investing in the school building. There is a wealth of information on factors related to IEQ and student performance. In fact, last year after we released the COGfx studies, we released the nine foundations of a healthy building.

We synthesised 40 years of scientific evidence on the drivers and factors that influence human health, all supported by data. In a report released one year ago in March, called ‘Schools for Health’ by the Healthy Building Program in Harvard, we have laid out all the science on how these nine foundations impact student health, thinking and performance. The way I think about this is we invest so much in our kids and their learning and we think about the curriculum, STEM, arts, student-teacher ratios and standardised tests, but very rarely do we talk about the school building – and it sounds like everywhere I speak, for sure in the United States, the building is an afterthought, and it shouldn’t be.

June 2018

23

Dr Joseph G Allen, Harvard T H Chan School of Public Health

If you’re going to tell me, ‘I’ll work in a building, where the trade-off is my health versus energy’, I’m not going to work in that building

What are the barriers for larger uptake among schools?

What is preventing the school management and leadership from embracing IEQ-related measures? Is it cost, a mixture of disbelief and cost or disbelief in the science behind it? We are trying to understand that aspect, because there seems to be a lot of inertia in the Middle East region when it comes to accepting what is scientifically available in terms of data.

I can only speak on the US, but I would say the big barrier there is cost. I don’t perceive there is a disbelief in the science – the science is very strong. I like what you are doing here. You are going ahead and rating schools. I like the idea of having an IEQ score for a school, because as a parent, I have three kids. When I moved into my town, I looked at my school and how they perform. And wouldn’t it be great if I had access to how schools perform in terms of the IEQ – it would be another factor, which parents can decide. I think we need to get this information, like the COGfx study, and even the ‘schoolsforhealth’ to the administrators and facilitators. Ultimately, I think if you engage as parents – and they see the power of a building – I think it’s a big motivator for action.

Speaking of cost, as we discussed earlier, one of the issues that crops up is that energy efficiency would be compromised if we allow for more fresh air changes.

Have you been able to engage

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June 2018

ASHRAE directly in a different type of conversation, perhaps involving the use of renewable energy, which could lower concerns about increase in emissions through more fresh air changes? Dubai is making progress with renewable energy. The Emirates recently inaugurated one of the phases of its solar park, translating to 200 MW of power, enough to power 60,000 homes. Could we countenance a near-future scenario, where clean forms of renewable energy would power even energy-intensive air conditioners?

I value what ASHRAE is doing. My approach, or the way to be effective is to partner with leading companies like UTC and bring this research to decision-makers, people who design, operate, maintain and invest in buildings. In my view, that is the quickest way to affect change and helps people’s lives. We can show the hard data that changes how people operate and talk to the people who control billions of square feet in space globally – we can get that changed.

ASHRAE admittedly says it’s a minimum standard. I find it interesting that someone would challenge the fact that it is, and by name it’s not a health-based standard. ASHRAE had its own argument for decades about whether it’s an energyor health-based standards. The latest is that they say it’s a health-based standard. I don’t think this is a true health-based standard – it’s a minimum. The science is very clear. Our studies, plus many others show that there are many benefits to higher ventilation rates. I think if you ask any researcher in the field of indoor air quality, I think you will universally get that

answer – that the benefits are clear with higher ventilation rates.

So, what’s holding them back, in your view?

To me, the science is so clear – what’s holding it back is this false dichotomy that has been created that we have to have energy or health, and that can’t be the way it works.

We have to have both energy conservation and health, and we can have both. Some of that through energy-efficient systems in a building, and others are exactly what you talked about, an energy-efficient grid based on renewable energy, because we have to quickly move to an energy system that has zero marginal cost in terms of cost – in true economic cost but also environmental cost.

If we don’t we have a bigger problem that would warp everything else we are talking about, and that is climate change.

We have to get to this space, so maybe the provocative question then is, ‘How do you design your building knowing it is going to last for 100 years, if there is no cost for energy?’ Then you can make every decision you want based on health alone. I’m not saying you’re not supposed to have energy efficiency right now, we do have to have this, but we can have both energy and health. If you’re going to tell me, ‘I’ll work in a building, where the trade-off is my health versus energy’, I’m not going to work in that building.

And I think that’s where we have been for the past 20 or 30 years; it’s been this trade-off, and it can’t be the way we operate moving forward.

It’s a self-defeating trade-off, yes?

Well, it depends on who you think the winners and losers are. In that case, sure if you have energy savings you can save money; at the same time, it’s at the expense of your employees and their health, so ASHRAE has been trying to find this balance. What this research is trying to do is figure out where that sweet spot is. Clearly, we know if it’s less than, say, 20 cubic feet per metre per person, we see impact. We see benefits if you increase that ventilation rate. Our study – the COGfx study – looked at impacts.

What happens if you double it from 20 to 40 cm per person. Many of the green building rating systems will give credit for enhanced ventilation. The adoption rates of those credits are not as high as they could be.

One of the situations we see is a disconnect among stakeholders.

For instance, there seems to be a reluctance to engage the FM team from the onset of the conceptual stage of the design of a building, which would inform stakeholders on the aspects they need to incorporate in the building towards performance.

There also seems to be a lack of collaboration among consultants, contractors and the general architectural community.

They seem to be at perpetual conflict on issues that affect the performance of a building, be it energy efficiency or IEQ.

Have you with your COGfx study addressed multiple stakeholders, so everyone has that knowledge and is exposed to what you have to share in terms of the benefits of healthy buildings?

I am so glad you asked that question. I agree we have to have all stakeholders engaged with this latest research. We talked about the social benefits of green energy-efficient buildings through the energy grid, and that’s important. We talk about engagement across all stakeholders and everybody gets to win. The tenant wins, the investor gets to win, because now we talk about social performance. And the municipalities and the public win, when we have these energy-efficient buildings. We have tenants, landlords, owners, it’s a win-win- win across the entire spectrum… everyone who has interest in these buildings. To me that tells us we should be able to remove all the barriers to adoption, provide wins for everybody – all stakeholders. There should be no reason why

we can’t help advance this moment that helps everybody, helps people work in the building, helps people outside – it seems to be a very prudent public health strategy.

On a micro level, I have been working with designers and architects. I have been engaging with designers, engineers and architects, and that’s different, because public health didn’t always have a seat in the table in design. So that’s new in the past two years. Designers, architects, engineers, maybe some green building services experts, but public health scientists traditionally did not have a seat at the table, and now we do, and I find that has changed the conversation, because I can bring in health literature that makes a case.

HAVE YOUR SAY! We welcome your views on the article.

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June 2018

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June 2018

A CLIMATE CONTROL MIDDLE EAST SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT

TRACKING THE DISTRICT COOLING INDUSTRY IN THE MIDDLE EAST

INSIDE: The road travelled since 1998

Iot and AI in District Cooling

Three key challenges of delivering smart meter programmes

George Berbari, CEO, DC PRO Engineering

Colin Bridges, Business Development Director, Belimo Automation

Colin Beaney, Global Industry Director for Energy and Utilities, IFS

June 2018

27

ERSPECTIVE

George Berbari is CEO of DC PRO Engineering.

He is also author of the internationally acclaimed book, The Energy Budget. He can be contacted at gberbari@dcproeng.com.

I

t has been 20 years since the inception of Tabreed as a pioneering District Cooling utility company in the Middle East. In this time – and especially in the last few years – the District Cooling industry has achieved several milestones to indicate a certain level of maturity. Indeed, we have been witness to recent significant developments, including… :c\^Z VXfj^g^c\ )% d[ IVWgZZY [dg an amount of AED 2,800 million 9jWV^ >ckZhibZci VXfj^g^c\ *% shareholding in Emicool from Union Properties for an amount of 6:9 *%% b^aa^dc! VcY eaVcc^c\ Vc IPO soon IVWgZZY VXfj^g^c\ *% shareholding in S&T Cool District Cooling company on Reem Island [gdb 6aYVg EgdeZgi^Zh [dg 6:9 ()- million Besides Engie, international District Cooling utilities in Malaysia, Singapore and South Korea are interested in the UAE and are showing a keenness for moving to the region. The interest is owing to record revenues, estimated Vi 6:9 * W^aa^dc! VcY cZi egd[^ih!

Zhi^bViZY Vi 6:9 &#* W^aa^dc! i]Z District Cooling industry in the region has achieved, and is on track to increasing in the coming years.

28

June 2018

On the occasion of Tabreed celebrating its 20th anniversary, George Berbari, CEO, DC PRO Engineering, looks at the progress made by the District Cooling industry in the region and, in the process, highlights some of the issues that need urgent attention for its growth and wellbeing

The financial showing is led by the two major players in the region – Empower with AED 1,960 million in revenues and AED 772 million in net profit, and Tabreed with 6:9 &!(.. b^aa^dc ^c gZkZcjZh VcY 6:9 )%% million in net profit. And then, there are the medium- and small-sized players, such as Emicool, Emaar DC, Pal Technology, DFC DC and City Cool, which to my knowledge haven’t published their data, forcing me to arrive at values based on logic.

Overall, the picture makes for pleasant viewing when we consider that the District Cooling utility industry in the UAE is estimated to have a market value between 6:9 '* W^aa^dc VcY 6:9 (% W^aa^dc VcY can grow even further if government and private institutions sell their District Cooling assets. Indeed, from a District Cooling utility perspective, the current situation is healthy and is set to get better in the years to come.

In Copenhagen, where 98% of the city’s residents are connected to its District Energy network, the end user, on average, is able to save 1,500 a year in comparison with any other system

TRACKING THE DC INDUSTRY IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Buoyed by continuous growth and an assured universe of customers, the utilities, generally speaking, are under no pressure to change their current approach. The room for growth is phenomenal, though, as the current penetration of District Cooling is less than 10% of the air conditioning market, and as the construction and air conditioning market itself is growing at the rate of a few percentage points a year.

All said, the dominant sentiment is, “If it is working, why break it?”

Electricity and water utilities in the Middle East, generally speaking, are making bulk profit as well from selling electricity, water and sewerage to District Colling, amounting to around AED 2.5 billion a year. Most of the utilities penalise the District Cooling and the central air conditioning industry by selling electricity at a higher rate compared to the rate for operating inefficient unitary air conditioners, with the exception of Abu Dhabi, where District Cooling and the central air conditioning industry enjoy lower rates than individual users.

District Cooling brings benefits to the building developer. The truth of the matter is that the main project or building developer enjoys a 5-8% reduction in total construction cost and a 30-50% reduction in utility connection fee, when a building is connected to a District Cooling utility provider.

Everyone is happy, except seemingly the end user, who reluctantly and without having much choice, is probably paying almost double than what he would if using a unitary air conditioner. This is an important aspect for consideration and something that regulatory bureaux, electricity and water utilities and District Cooling utilities need to pay attention to.

In Copenhagen, where 98% of the city’s residents are connected to its District Energy network, the end user, on average, is able to save € 1,500 a year in comparison with any other system. The setup is helping the city to become the world’s first carbon-neutral city by 2025.

The lower rate of the District Energy regime in Copenhagen was designed and created by giving tax rebates to all power producers, industries and wastewaterto-energy schemes to feed their waste heat to District energy plants and give it the incentive it needs to serve everyone

and, at the same time, keep an eye on safeguarding the environment.

Governments in the Middle East need to plan for carbon-neutrality, and that requires the following change in approach: 1 Renewables are growing at a fast rate, but without an integrated energy strategy, the GCC region governments are likely to face an increase in energy costs and a serious disruption in power management and storage.

2 District Cooling needs to reach 90% market coverage through using a completely different technical and financial approach, which would integrate it with the city or country’s carbon-neutral policy: a. Ideally, 50-100% of the electricity needed to run District Cooling schemes should come from renewables, and again ideally, 100% of the water usage should be from Treated Sewage Effluent (TSE), or other sources, such as sea water and geothermal. b. Waste-to-energy should include power generation and large industry and city waste conversion to District Cooling. c. Thermal Energy Storage should become the main energy storage technology used to harvest the intermittent renewable energy, mainly solar, for use during night or during low solar energy periods.

3) Electricity and water utilities ought to consider changing their tariff structure to favour District Cooling utilities and, thus, make it more beneficial for the end user to use District Cooling.

Are we hopeful these changes will soon happen in the Middle East or not?

As an industry representative, I have learnt in the last 20 years that patience brings results in the medium-to-long term and that we need stamina and perseverance to direct the region into a better and more competitive future.

CPI Industry accepts no liability for the views or opinions expressed in this column, or for the consequences of any actions taken on the basis of the information provided here.

June 2018

29

ERSPECTIVE

Colin Bridges is Business Development Director, Belimo Automation FZE. He can be contacted at Colin.Bridges@belimo.ae.

YES,

IOT AND AI HAVE THEIR PLACE IN DC… but could we apply Human Intelligence to how we structure District Cooling for the benefit of all stakeholders, including building owners and tenants? asks Colin Bridges

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lobally, the demand for cooling continues to grow exponentially and is destined to overtake the demand for heating by 2060. While alternative and more sustainable energy sources are being developed, it makes perfect sense to make the best use of the energy available to us.

District Cooling has emerged globally as an ideal vehicle for the centralised production of cooling and distribution to buildings over increasingly urbanised areas. In the UAE, it is common to hear such phrases as ‘Demand Reduction', ' Energy Savings' and ‘Sustainable Development, not to mention the role of the Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) in data acquisition and storage, to improve the efficient running of HVAC systems.

The District Cooling provider has invested in major capital expenses to build and install a huge network provision of chilled water, to which the building owner connects. Subsequently, he is no longer burdened with the local cost of his building’s chilled water production; all that is required of him is to plug into a plate heat exchanger and draw as much thermal energy as he requires.

Sounds simple?

You might be forgiven for thinking this is a most equitable arrangement for the District Cooling provider and the building owner. Not so.

And why not? Do we not have the technologies to balance things out? Yes, we do. We have made much progress, technologywise, be it the availability of variable speed pumps, variable flow chillers, highly efficient plate heat exchangers, cooling coils or Smart Control Devices. IoT is poised and ready to play its part, and AI is waiting around the corner to make our building systems 'selflearning'. So, the primary question is, “Why do we encounter building systems that are operating inefficiently, in so much as contracts are put in place to penalise building owners, when the inefficiency in their building system is passed to the District Cooling provider through the plate heat exchanger in the form of Low Delta T?”

TRACKING THE DC INDUSTRY IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Which begs the question, “Could we apply some HI (human intelligence) to the issue?”

From what I understand, District Cooling providers harvest multiple operating data of all connected buildings, in order to match their supply with demand from the client.

There is no doubt that it is necessary to harvest data for planning and operating the District Cooling plant most efficiently. Across the network of connected buildings there will be efficiency variables, with some operating highly efficiently and others less so. Might it be possible, then, to draw on this rich well of knowledge to identify commonalities between well-operated buildings and those that are less so.

Building systems will display energy use trends over time. Affecting factors, most commonly, would be seasonal climate variations, building use, and the way in which the systems are operated and maintained.

It should, therefore, be possible, using analysis of this data, to identify best practice where systems are operating at acceptable levels of performance.

There is consensus in our industry of the importance of not just setting a building to work and proving it can cool in the hottest time of the year, but of its ability to respond to varying demand changes, and therefore afford the possibility of reducing energy consumption and, consequently, cost.

For this to happen, it is clear that the building system elements must be able to respond dynamically to the changes in an appropriate way. As control valves close, under reduced demand, pumps must be able to accurately 'see' this and respond directly to reduce energy consumption, when less energy is required, and yet maintain the system balance. When the building requires less energy, the supplier will 'see' this and be able to respond by providing less energy.

Temperature and pressure measuring device accuracy, for example, is critical to the performance of the system. The question to ask is, ‘How often is the accuracy drift of such devices checked?’

System commissioning prior to handover will, doubtless, require recommissioning or, better still, continuous commissioning over the life of the building.

To use an analogy, expecting a new car to run perfectly as it was on the day it drove away from the garage, without regular servicing is, at best, foolishly optimistic. Why, therefore, should we expect complex building

cooling systems to be any different?

Fixing things when they break down is not maintenance, it is fire-fighting.

In the context of District Cooling, who sees these changes in performance, and when? Well, directly, the building operator and indirectly, the District Cooling provider, whose business it is to monitor system requirement in order to match it with supply. Who better, then, to provide data to building owners and operators when inefficiencies show themselves evidenced as Low Delta T syndrome?

A penalty issued for Low Delta T is one thing. An Energy Supply Report, together with an Energy Performance Report suggesting actions or checks that might be carried out in which the system could be made to run more efficiently, quite another. And I suspect a bit more welcome, too!

Signing a District Cooling contract signifies a partnership agreement with responsibilities for both sides. It, therefore, makes perfect sense that each party is content with the agreement and sees in it an equitable arrangement that makes economic sense for both parties. The happiest marriages tend to be those where there is positive input from both parties, with each recognising the needs of the other and responding appropriately.

Contracts that operate in an open and communicative manner, I suspect, are the most successful.

We have the knowledge, we have the technologies and, importantly, we have the need. So what measures can be

implemented to positively impact upon system performance, in the short term, for the existing systems, and moving forward, future systems yet to connect?

We might consider greater transparency of harvested system data from both the District Cooling provider and the building system operator.

1. This might take the form of a regular Energy Performance Report from the building system operator to the District Cooling provider. The District Cooling provider could produce an Energy Supply Report (possibly through building energy bills) providing data of chilled water flow, energy and delta T. These would help identify issues around efficiency, which could then inform any subsequent action-plan to address any poor operating performance and/or mismatching of demand and supply.

2.

Mandatory health checks of devices responsible for measuring, monitoring and harvesting measured data values – critical for efficient operation.

3.

Continuous commissioning: This could be a series of checks carried out to verify the efficient operation of key elements within the system, namely pump (VFD), DP sensor(s), PHEX health check, AHU filter check set points being achieved, control sequence for pump staging, and control valve response times.

4. Review of energy tariffs to take account of recorded climatic seasonal variations.

5. A building system Log Book, which might be mandatory wherein all data pertinent to the system operations are recorded, in much the same way as a car service record is maintained for the present and any future owner.

Studies show that buildings that have lower running costs, better indoor climate and well-controlled HVAC systems command higher rents, have higher occupancy levels and a high level of customer satisfaction. All good business reasons to seek improvements in the current status quo.

CPI Industry accepts no liability for the views or opinions expressed in this column, or for the consequences of any actions taken on the basis of the information provided here.

June 2018

31

ERSPECTIVE

Colin Beaney is the Global Industry Director for Energy and Utilities, IFS. TRACKING THE DC INDUSTRY IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Three key challenges of delivering smart meter programmes

Emerging markets will deploy nearly 250 million meters over the next five years

S

mart meter installations that have been around for some time in many parts of the world, are now installing second- or third-generation devices. According to Metering and Smart Energy International, over the next five years, emerging markets, including the Middle East, will deploy nearly 250 million meters, representing an investment of almost USD 35 billion.

According to a special report in 2015, energy usage in the UAE had grown at an annual average of four per cent over the previous six years, with projections that it will increase to five per cent through 2020. Overall, electricity consumption has more than doubled in the previous 10 years, at a pace that will be difficult to provide for over the long-term. According to the report, one relatively straightforward measure to slow the growth of energy consumption is a sustained energyefficiency strategy.

Luis Ortega, Managing Director, IFS Middle East, Africa and South Asia, feels that such a strategy could lead to substantial reductions in consumption and could be implemented swiftly and at relatively little expense.

However, the challenges for this sector are many, but we are focusing on three, in particular, here.

CHALLENGE #1: CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT

Ideally, what all the suppliers involved do not want to do is provide a service to the consumers that is less than perfect and that must be the main objective. Consumers need to feel that they are being treated uniquely,

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June 2018

which is difficult to do within such huge programmes.

Customers are demanding instant gratification, and this dictates a new kind of service experience -- one that is faster and more interactive but one that also caters to self-service.

CHALLENGE #2: RESOURCE OPTIMISATION

Once you (as the supplier) have fixed an appointment with the customer, you have got to hit it, meet the SLA, complete the work in one visit and provide a service that the customer will remember for all the right reasons. Unfortunately, this does not seem to be the case in many instances, for example, during initial investigations, when engineers arrive at a site and suggest that a different skill-set may be required to complete the work. This is often difficult to anticipate without an initial visit.

This can be minimised easily by providing the householder with a simple means of uploading information, including photos of their existing meter install. This data can then be analysed to determine where pockets of differing work scopes could be located. This can then be used to further optimise and refine the scheduling logic to drive down the need for repeat visits.

CHALLENGE #3: LOGISTICS MANAGEMENT

The management of the physical meters is, in itself, not a small undertaking, and a supply chain application needs to be utilised. That application must be able to ensure that the whole lifecycle from procurement, warehousing through issue, installation/swap-out, return and disposal is efficiently controlled. When you then factor in ownership, rental charges, warranty, specification updates, software updates and other considerations, Meter Data Management System packages handle much of this information, but the installers and supply companies may be using different packages to try and manage the process.

CPI Industry accepts no liability for the views or opinions expressed in this column, or for the consequences of any actions taken on the basis of the information provided here.

TRACKING THE DC INDUSTRY IN THE MIDDLE EAST

SAUTER – Middle East We are committed to carry forward the mission of SAUTER – Switzerland to provide best of the products & systems across the Middle East and Africa. We are keen to provide these services by establishing the network of “Solution Sales Partners” for BMS projects and “Sales and Services Representatives” for HVAC controls products across the region. Interested companies are welcome to send their credentials, having their company profile and details of current operations to us at below email address.

All type of technical, marketing and development support shall be provided by our highly skilled team based at our office in Sharjah-UAE and our Head office at Basel Switzerland.

Sauter Middle East FZC P.O. Box 122353 Sharjah, UAE Phone +971 6 5578303 info@sauterme.ae www.sauter-controls.com

Arvind K. Swarnkar Managing Director | SAUTER Middle East arvind.swarnkar@ae.sauter-bc.com June 2018

33

FEATURE

Building Management Systems

U O N E ’ T R A M S ‘ T O N ing n d l ui ent bee b e e hil agem hav yed, W n s lo rs ma stem dep side long ir sy dely ry in s a the wi ust st it’ d for be ind gge hea al to n su ad a tenti ewe ate t ro ll po d. B Clim Eas fu alise of ddle re pez l Mi ry…

Lo ntro e sto Co s th ha

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June 2018

!

H G U O

B

uilding management systems were created with the objective of being able to effectively manage the building’s utilities, such as the HVAC system, pumps, lighting and other equipment. However, industry insiders suggest that although companies have invested heavily in crafting sophisticated systems, they remain underutilised, resulting in reduced energy efficiency and poor indoor environmental quality (IEQ).

MARKET HURDLES

While BMSs have been around for decades, the industry is plagued by challenges. Some of the roadblocks that industry insiders point out are incomplete specifications, wrong design, lack of specialised personnel and the issue of over-control of systems by manufacturers.

Explaining the issue of wrong design and incomplete specifications, Vijay Kumar, President, International Business, Cylon Controls, says that for proper operations, one has to be concerned about the design and specifications. “If the design is not right, all you can do is operate the BMS within its limitations,” he says. “If the design specifications are not efficient, the BMS operations will not be efficient.”

Explaining further, Kumar adds that if awareness needs to be raised, it has to be more on the design side, which is one of the most significant challenges, worldwide.

“MEP consultants don't want to give due importance to the awareness programmes offered by BMS vendors,” he says.

Voicing a similar opinion, Fady Fahmy, MEP Project Manager, Al Shafar United, adds, “A deep coordination needs to be acquired between the BMS vendors and MEP consultants for seamless integration of the MEP systems and BMS.” Further elaborating on the lack of coordination, Arvind K Swarnkar, Managing Director, Sauter Middle East, adds, “While vendors are expected to customise the BMS to achieve the desired parameters of the HVAC systems, it becomes more complicated if the MEP contractor does not diligently connect the other equipment to the BMS.” From an FM perspective, Rijo Abraham, Deputy Manager-Energy Efficiency, Farnek, explains that challenges crop up during the handover process from another FM company, or for a new building, where there may be a lack of commissioning documentation.

“During the handover process, we notice that the field devices like the sensors and

actuators are either not working at all or not working correctly,” he says. “The BMS is never utilised for its capabilities.”

Highlighting the issue of sensors, Charles Blaschke IV, Founder and Managing Director of Taka Solutions, an energy service company (ESCO), says: “We have come across cases where fake sensors are embedded in the BMS to display the desired temperature (23 degrees C), but in reality the temperature is either much lower or higher. That is also when we find the air conditioning unit is not cooling and producing heat. We have observed that as long as all the points are at face value, it’s commissioned. The system has been merely installed and left to operate on its own.”

As an ESCO, Blaschke further adds that during retrofit inventory procedures, it has been observed that sensors were not installed in ducts or the rooms, yet it has been signed off and paid for. “It’s a systemic issue across the industry and the different stakeholders, which include consultants, MEP contractors, commissioners, owners and FM companies, do not care,” he says. “Fake commissioning and fake installation is rampant, and there is nobody to look into this detail and rectify it.”

Apart from the issue of fake commissioning and installation, Blaschke speaks of cases where MEP contractors altogether bypass the BMS. He explains that in order to effectively run a building, all the systems need to be connected to the BMS, but in a lot of instances, it is completely ignored for various reasons. One among them is the situation where the BMS is either broken or the MEP contractor does not know how to connect the system; such instances ultimately affect the performance of the building.

Further elaborating on the issue of bypassing the BMS, Kumar adds that it is a pervasive issue, and while it goes back to the design issue, it is also the case of operations.

“Bypassing the BMS could be because the contractor is unaware of how to connect the system and, therefore, bypasses it,” he says. “Moreover, at the design stage or an operational side, nobody perceived that it would happen, which is why these issues need to be documented specifically. Many people are looking to cut corners to make a profit, and if someone is not looking, the BMS is bypassed.”

Kumar further adds that to overcome such a problem in the specifications it needs to be mentioned that if a pump has failed, the BMS needs to send out an alarm to the entire team, so that if the ground engineer has not fixed it then the matter is escalated

June 2018

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FEATURE

Building Management Systems

till it is fixed; in this way, it can be identified if the pump has been connected to the BMS or not.

THE DRIVE FOR ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND IEQ

Sharing his thoughts on how the BMS plays a role in striking a balance between energy efficiency and IEQ, Swarnkar says, “If IEQ is maintained by using natural cooling, energy efficiency is maintained, and the BMS should be using weather station data to choose and implement the correct control algorithm.”

Voicing a similar view, Fahmy adds, “While BMS plays a strong role in controlling the lighting and HVAC system, it also plays a role in controlling the CO2 levels and air changes per hour in basements as well as the adequate fresh air changes in floors.”

From a retrofit perspective, Blaschke adds that the BMS plays a critical role, because it affects IEQ, energy efficiency and reliability, so the retrofit teams need to know what is going on with the system in real-time to guarantee the savings.

He further says: “Some building owners do not spend much on the BMS, because they do not really care about IEQ and hardly care about energy efficiency. They run everything in the manual to save energy, but they sacrifice IEQ. If you want to run it the right way, where IEQ and energy efficiency are a top priority, you need a comprehensive control system, and that’s the issue that owners cannot see. If you just run the system to save energy, then in the long run, you do not save enough, because IEQ is compromised.”

BMS manufacturers are addressing the issue of energy efficiency and IEQ through software innovations, explains Kumar.

However, he draws back to the point of incomplete specifications and poor design, which do not specify these particulars.

“While a BMS can track the IEQ and energy efficiency of a building envelope, tender specifications are not watertight, and every contractor will try to cut corners,” he says.

“So, if the design is not correct, the project management team will not understand, and it will not be enforced on site, resulting in energy loss and poor IEQ.”

LACK OF SPECIALISED TEAMS

While a BMS may seem to be a system requiring standard operating procedures, it still requires skilled personnel to install, commission and service it. Voicing his opinion on this issue, Kumar says: “The BMS had always suffered owing to the lack of core competency concerning design, when the building was being conceived and when the electromechanical systems were designed. Very rarely do MEP consultants have BMS specialists on their teams, and even if they do, it would be an engineer who is more competent at handling only the air conditioning design, and the BMS is just an add-on responsibility. The BMS is a completely different entity, and one needs to have a specialised competency within the design agencies to understand and specify an efficient BMS.” Mirroring Kumar’s views, Fahmy adds that companies come up with contracts, but none

of these contracts specifies the need for a BMS specialist, which is crucially essential, especially for effective BMS management.

Swarnkar adds that while the scenario of the need of BMS specialists in the UAE is improving, MEP companies have a long way to go to adapt their designs with the fastchanging BMS technologies.

LOCKED-IN

While it is a plethora of challenges from the operations perspective, the flip side is the commercial aspect, where certain BMS manufacturers decide which brands of lighting, HVAC and pumps are allowed to be connected to their systems, which propels a customer lockdown. As Kumar points out, the end-user must not succumb to the commercial underplay. “Specifications written by consultants must specify to the manufacturer, exactly the brands of their choice, even if they are not on the approved list of the BMS manufacturers, and the manufacturers must adhere to these specifications, he says. "The attitude of market control must change, and consultants need to step up and ensure that there are no backdoor entries, who will say that this brand will not work, even before it is tested.”

Echoing Kumar’s views, Blaschke says that most BMS manufacturers follow the antiquated business model, which is centred on locking the customer from doing

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launched the IQ Vision, a new-generation building energy management system (BEMS), which was developed by their independent entity, Trends Control Systems. Explaining the objective of the product, Yashdep Sule, Director, Strategic Marketing, Middle East, Turkey, Africa, Honeywell Building Technologies, says: “The centralised software platform is designed to help building owners and managers optimise energy usage. The functions include centralised data logging, archiving, alarming, trending, master scheduling, system wide database management, and integration with enterprise software applications, all of which can be used for highlighting and investigating energy use within buildings.

“Building managers, operators and owners in the region are increasingly leveraging advanced technology to save energy, optimise building systems and, ultimately, reduce costs.”

Explaining the baseline of the new product, Sule says that the IQ Vision is configured using the advanced Niagara 5 interface, which utilises HTML5 to provide an array of rich features, which are in tune with the evolution of the Internet of Things. anything. “You have a building owner who has invested in a robust BMS, but then the manufacturer tells the owner which brands are allowed to be connected, and this puts the building owner in handcuffs to these companies, because they are only allowed to connect certain brands, which are either manufactured by the same manufacturer or a specific approved company.”

CHANGING TIDES

Sharing his thoughts on the changing trends of the BMS industry, Blaschke says that with BMS manufacturers following the conventional business models, companies like Tridium, the developers of the Niagara Framework, are spearheading the way for change. Explaining how the change is coming in, he adds, “Tridium gives building owners, FM companies or ESCOs the freedom to connect their own devices to the Niagara platform, and this is going to bring in the change in the industry.”

Blaschke further elaborates that control companies have adopted the Niagara Framework to customise their solutions and sell them to the market, and such a practice creates a new opportunity.

Elaborating on how the Niagara Framework can prove beneficial, Roger Woodward, Vice President and Managing Director, EMEA region, Tridium, says, “Niagara brings the whole connectivity to

one platform and allows the experts to make a difference using a simple and an open method, which allows the end-users to choose what they want to connect. Currently, the framework is being used to service the airport terminal three of the Dubai International Airport and the Singapore Changi Airport and close to half a million buildings across the world.”

Offering a counter view, Swarnkar says that with the technological advances made in BMS software, multiple communication protocols can now be accommodated on the BMS, which is why he believes that “the Niagara Framework is not the only software to embed these functions”.

Concurring with Swarnkar’s views, Kumar adds that there are misconceptions that like open-ended frameworks, the BMS is the frontend of the building, whereas it is the opposite.

“The heart of the BMS is spread across the building, because it is not a central computer which is in a room. The BMS is fragmented and distributed across the building. Therefore, the core-BMS will never die,” he says. “Without the core-BMS, which are the components that are spread across the building, the purpose of an open-ended framework is rendered useless.”

SUMMING UP

Whether open-ended frameworks outplay the BMS industry, it is a no-brainer that the industry attitude has to change towards the BMS segment and become smart enough to utilise it as an asset. BMS manufacturers need to unshackle their strategy of lockingdown end users to particular brands.

End-users need to step up their role in maintaining and repairing BMSs, instead of blaming manufacturers for problems of the system that have been caused, owing to wrong installation and commissioning.

As Blaschke explains, many leading manufacturers have developed excellent and robust BMS products, but the problem is that owing to the lethargic attitude of the building owner towards the BMS, the system is a failure and causes more risk to the building than being a solution, due to a degradation of energy efficiency and IEQ, which ultimately increases costs.

HAVE YOUR SAY! We welcome your views on the article.

Write to editor@cpi-industry.com

INNOVATING AHEAD

With the focus on energy efficiency, companies like Honeywell have recently

June 2018

37

Toby Peters, University of Birmingham

Toby Peters, Professor in Cold Economy, University of Birmingham, in this interview with Hannah Jo Uy speaks with Climate Control Middle East on the importance of having a holistic approach towards cooling, how a centre for excellence can move the dial in uniting industry stakeholders worldwide and the need for a paradigm shift in tackling the issue of efficiency.

Excerpts...

I

n the Middle East, cooling accounts for a lion's share of the energy consumption.

Do you believe District Cooling is the way forward for the region in the context of Gulf countries’ respective sustainability goals and bid to promote energy efficiency?

I think District Cooling is part of the package, but we have to look at the total requirement for cooling. Yes, you’ve got a requirement for air conditioning, but you’ve got a requirement for fridges, you’ve got requirements for cold storage, for food chillers in hotels and buildings and, equally, you’ve got all the [cooling for] transport.

So, the answer is to look at the total energy system, then identify the best solutions to meet the total need, because I don’t think we can look at air conditioning in isolation.

There is talk that while technology exists in the market to provide environmentally friendly cooling solutions, the willingness of the stakeholders to adopt innovations is lacking.

Do you believe this is the case?

That’s the key thing, it’s not simply about technology – it’s about understanding how we accelerate technology to market. We have to do this quickly, it’s really urgent.

[It revolves] around changing culture, skill and economic models. That’s why I’m advocating a centre of excellence, which doesn’t just bring together technology but brings together all the other elements.

We have got to deliver [aspects of] social sciences, finance and policy to make these technologies viable within society.

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With regard to the centre of excellence you are proposing, how could manufacturers in the HVACR industry contribute to its success?

What role would they play?

There has to be collaborative partnership among government, industry, academics and the finance community to make it happen. We have to know it’s not simply about [putting] one technology into a demonstrator, it is understanding how you can scale it up to market, so the manufacturers, OEMs and supply chain are really important.

They are essential, because you’re not going to transition from a demonstrator to mass deployment without partnership.

Equally, though, you have to have the after-sales service. You know we’re good at demonstrating a technology, we’re very good at saying, “This is what the world will look like when we have deployed X million units.”

But who is going to maintain and service them? It could take three to four years to train those people. We have to be doing that, as well, ahead of the curve.

The point of a centre of excellence is, historically, if you have new technology, we often moved consecutively through process technology, manufacturing readiness, supply chain readiness and skills readiness. We have to get this right by 2030. We have 12 years, we have got to move concurrently.

Do you consider lack of collaboration among stakeholders to be the missing link in terms of advancing the

development and penetration of sustainable cooling technologies?

I think it’s not about lack of collaboration, it’s the idea of looking at technology outside of society, outside of the elements.

That, I think is the important thing about the centre of excellence. You get everybody together to understand the technology, supply chain, manufacturing, business model, finance, culture and societal changes, and pull it together.

The other thing also is demonstration. But it’s not about demonstrating a technology, it’s about demonstrating systems. If you want to address post-harvest food loss, you don’t want to demonstrate a cold storage unit, that’s not a cold chain. The cold chain

For me, energy efficiency is actually broader than simply the COP of an air conditioning unit; it's about how we use our energy. Should we even be using electricity as an intermediary vector?

E HAVE TO LOOK AT THE TOTAL REQUIREMENT FOR COOLING’ is moving the product from the farm to the market and [giving] the money back to the farmers. If the farmer sees his income doubling through a demonstration project, then other farmers will want to do the same thing.

We don’t demonstrate technology, we demonstrate the impact of technology. We need a centre of excellence to pull together the experts from all the different disciplines and then we need really good centres of demonstrations, [which showcase] not simply the technology working, but the impact for the entire cold economy. You cannot look at them in isolation.

You mentioned that farmers’ seeing advantages highlighted by demonstration projects would serve as an incentive for other farmers to adopt relevant technologies. Do you feel this to be the case as well among manufacturers? What’s the benefit that you see will make a case for their participation?

At the end of the day, if the industry is going to have a sustainable future it has to be delivering sustainable technologies to the market. It has a choice of either waiting and using existing technologies as long as possible or companies [can use] the opportunity to engage and identify the winners of tomorrow.

This is a massive market; it’s going to double in size. What we’re seeing and what’s starting to happen now with events like Clean Cooling spearheaded by the EU GCC Clean Energy Technology Network held from March 9 to 10 in Dubai, is people are realising that the efficiency of current technology cannot take us far enough

down the road to meet our environmental targets. We need step-change technologies.

My argument to the industry would be, get involved now and let’s work out how we bring them to market economically, as quickly as possible, to get market advantage. Look at how Unilever really took on board sustainability early on and, as a result, is actually now ready to capture the opportunity. The point Paul Polman [CEO of Unilever] made was that, we’re going to have to do it sometime, why not do it now and it’s not going to delay us further down the road.

I think what we have to do is show the industry the economic opportunity and economic value, and we have to have market pull. That’s why I want to bring together all the players, and that’s got to include the government, because there has to be policy, there has to be drive to change.

The challenge is, to date, when we talk about energy, we mean electricity, and when we talk energy storage we mean batteries, and all I’m trying to say is once you realise the big demand is for cooling, then you will see the same investment into these new technologies.

This is what you mean about addressing services and not just supplying equipment?

Yes. The point is, I don’t think it has really been recognised that cooling underpins our society to the extent it does. As we transition from hydrocarbon to renewables, which require energy storage and different systems, we have to unpick the services we need, if we are going to deliver clean sustainable affordable energy or services.

What do we mean by energy efficiency?

We don’t mean energy efficiency, we

Toby Peters

mean electricity efficiency. This is the point, we have to come away from talking about businesses using technologies and making them more efficient. We have to think in a step-change approach. For me, energy efficiency is actually broader than simply the COP of an air conditioning unit; it's about how we use our energy. Should we even be using electricity as an intermediary vector? Can’t we harness waste heat to produce cold? How do we harness low-grade geothermal to produce cooling? This is the whole point of integrating. Supermarkets have massive [need] for cooling. How can they integrate it to the energy system? And that’s what I’m looking at – energy systems, not electricity.

Would the centre of excellence need to be divided to focus on particular regions? For example, the Middle East region, owing to its high-ambient conditions faces unique challenges and has different requirements, as opposed to, for example, Europe, where heating is a concern?

I think there would be a centre of excellence, which brings together technology and business models as a fundamental starting point, but I totally agree, you have different audiences for demonstrators, which is what I’m saying a centre of excellence for clean cooling, which is the knowledge base and research base. Then, you want different forms of demonstrators, so you might have a demonstrator for rural farmers in India, for much more developed societies in Dubai, a demonstrator for [countries], where you have big migration into new cities being formed.

That’s where you would reflect bespoke models for different social groups, but the fundamental core centre of knowledge can be one, in my view.

HAVE YOUR SAY! We welcome your views on the article.

Write to editor@cpi-industry.com

June 2018

39

ADVERTORIAL

Engineering Consortium Counsulting Engineers

Meeting the mandate for strong

MEP

W

e are witness to several technologyrelated initiatives, such as the use of BIM to improve the design side? What is the impact of BIM on the industry? What technologies has your firm implemented to offer sophisticated design solutions to clients?

While AutoCAD is being used on the design side, I believe BIM will be the game changer in the industry, owing to its advanced features that AutoCAD lacks.

BIM, by itself, is a cost- and time-effective software, and it helps in reducing mistakes in design. BIM works seamlessly across the three important disciplines of the construction cycle – architectural, MEP and structural engineering. The other advantage of BIM is that a simple click would give you the correct measurements and dimensions; further, it alerts you if your design is overlapping, allowing you scope to take remedial measures.

While in conversation with Benwen Lopez of Climate Control Middle East, Dr. Marcus G. George, CEO/ Partner, Engineering Consortium - Consulting Engineers, speaks on the issues concerning the construction industry, stresses on the importance of strengthening the MEP focus and shares details of the latest projects taken up by his company.

Excerpts from the interview‌ As a consultancy, we also use a software, called ArchiCAD, which is on the architectural side of the design.

For structural solutions, we use BIM Revit. Sometimes, there are issues on the field, owing to some oversight; hence, we have now implemented Flat Grid, which is a platform that allows us to transfer data of drawings, measurements, etc., from the office to the site, so that the contractors on the ground are more aware.

In the view of many, on-time payment constitutes a mirage and is seen affecting the general construction and MEP communities. In that context, could tools like blockchain technology help in easing the situation through bringing about greater stakeholder accountability?

Payments have always been a problem in the construction industry. The situation

Dr. Marcus G. George

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June 2018

can be avoided from the onset, if all stakeholders in the construction industry were to follow an ethical framework of fulfilling their commitments, as per schedule. Delay in work results in delay in payment.

Blockchain is a decentralised tool that would definitely play a strong role in changing the situation and strengthening the facilitation of smoother payment processes. The tool creates channels to track the flow of contracts, materials and payments in supply cycles, such as the construction cycle. It is like a virtual contract among the owner, general contractor and the sub-contractor, which has no room for errors, and is tamper proof. As and when each milestone of the project is completed, the funds are released, upon confirmation using a 3D laser scanner.

Could you please elaborate on some of the projects recently undertaken by your organisation?

We have multiple projects, including Celestia, Gallia, Tower 108, a five-star hotel, a jail for Dubai Police and 14 buildings that have been developed by Wasl Properties. The Celestia project is a 1000-room hotel apartment, which is slated to be completed in two months.

We are currently designing the Omar Bin Haider Hotel, a five-star hotel, located in Motor City Dubai, and another hotel in Culture Village. TIARA hotel, developed by Wasl in Palm Jumeirah, will be completed by the end of 2018. We are also designing the Emaar One tower, which will be located in Business Bay. With DAMAC, we have just signed two towers, VERA and REVA, which will be located in Business Bay. We also have undertaken projects in Baghdad – these are mainly shopping malls and mixed-use buildings. Our projects are mostly hotel apartments, hotel rooms, residential units and commercial buildings.

What makes you unique as a design consultancy firm?

We have three key departments in the consultancy firm – architectural, structural design and MEP, all housed under one roof. Such an arrangement facilitates smooth coordination and information-exchange among all departments, thus making the client’s task more manageable. Our ideologies and principles are aligned with one another, so our design processes and coordination become simpler yet sophisticated. Such an arrangement as can be seen in our firm instils a certain level of confidence and trust in the client. For us, honesty is our core principle, and we carefully monitor the progress of the projects; if there are any roadblocks, it becomes easier to tackle them, owing to the easy access to the departments responsible for the issue.

Our system enables us to complete projects on time, and to control challenges like variations. Also, we are able to settle disputes quickly. The overall smooth functioning ensures that clients do not have to visit our office multiple times. We also implement value engineering, which would improve the situation in the construction industry.

in 2020 in Dubai. We can capitalise on the opportunities with the right approach, and that is our focus at Engineering Consortium Consulting Engineers.

Let me elaborate. With the number of consultants mushrooming in the GCC region, competition is very high, but then the question is whether these consultants can deliver the expected quality of work, or not, and that, too, on time? Broadly speaking, besides the EXPO, the UAE presents many opportunities, such as the retrofitting of old buildings, but such opportunities require specialised MEP consultants, a group that is inadequately represented in the region. It is not easy to maintain a design consultancy firm if you do not have the right personnel on your team.

As Engineering Consortium Consulting Engineers, our strategy is to counter the challenge of inadequate MEP expertise in the market by nurturing a strong MEP team, because MEP systems constitute the heart of a building. If the heart is healthy, you have a healthy building.

HAVE YOUR SAY! We welcome your views on the article.

Write to editor@cpi-industry.com

What are the typical challenges confronting consultants in the region?

These are exciting times for the industry. I firmly believe 2018 looks promising for the construction industry, especially considering that we are closer to a mega-event, like the World EXPO

June 2018

41

Fatima Al Hammadi, Manager, Air Quality Management, Ministry Of Climate Change & Environment, UAE

Mahesh Ramanujam, President and CEO, U.S. Green Building Council

Dr Joseph G Allen, Assistant Professor, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health; Director, Healthy Buildings Harvard Center for Health and the Global Environment

Charles Blaschke, Managing Director, takasolutions

T

he 5th edition of the World IEQ Forum discussed the possibility of a new world order, where IEQ is given the importance it truly deserves among policymakers, consultants, building owners and equipment manufacturers, among others.

The event featured vibrant discussions involving industry experts on whether the pursuit of greater energy efficiency was at the cost of indoor air quality or not, and on how stakeholders can achieve a balance in view of the latest technological advancements and recent findings from scientific bodies.

We bring you the event, in pictures‌

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June 2018

Sponsors of the 5th edition of the World IEQ Forum (L-R): Igienair, Camfil, AtmosAir Solutions, Carel , Belimo Automation, Wotek, United Technologies (Carrier)

Technical tour of University of Dubai

Dr Eesa M Bastaki, President, University of Dubai

Dr. Iyad Al-Attar, independent air filtration consultant

Jagath Gunawardena, Senior Manager, Projects & Building Development, Dubai Chamber of Commerce

Panel discussion on sectoral perspectives on IEQ

Saad Hashim Ibrahim, Principal Public Safety Specialist, Dubai Municipality

Members of the audience

June 2018

43

COUNTRY REPORT

AUSTRALIA

COMFORT...

THE COST OF How are air conditioning manufacturers innovating to ensure that cooling is not merely a privilege but a right, with electricity costs in Australia skyrocketing, driven by subsidies to renewables? And with the premium being placed on efficiency, how does IEQ rank in the hierarchy of needs?

Hannah Jo Uy has the story…

A

ustralia is facing a cooling crisis, says Frank Seeley, Founder and Executive Chairman, Seeley International. To prove the statement is not an exaggeration, he points to compelling evidence published in a recent RMIT University report identifying extreme heatwaves as a significant risk to household health. The research included contributions from 70 health and social services sector professionals from 36 potentially heat vulnerable households in Cairns, Dubbo and Melbourne. The most alarming aspect of the report, Seeley stresses, is confirmation that elderly and other vulnerable Australians are “too scared to switch on air conditioners or fans in heatwaves because of spiralling electricity costs, while families are forced to go without groceries or schoolbooks so they can afford to stay cool”.

Seeley says there are calls for authorities to excuse the elderly and unwell from public alerts to conserve electricity in extreme heat to avoid shortages and blackouts. “Australia has just had another hot summer,” he says, “and our leaders continue to tinker at the edges of what is a very broken energy system to keep pressure off the energy grid – and the frail, elderly, and those suffering chronic health conditions made worse by extreme heat, continue to be in danger.” Discussing the findings of the RMIT research, Seeley expresses disbelief at the fact that in

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June 2018

Frank Seeley

Allan Ramsay

modern-day Australia, 78% of respondents do not have cooling at all, and of those that do 89% are reluctant to use it, calling this fact “nothing short of a national disgrace”.

This, he says, should serve as an impetus for politicians to help people access energyefficient home appliances.

Allan Ramsay, Export Manager for Edmonds, shares his observation on the situation's ramifications for the commercial

sector, providing the example of the neighbourhood butcher buckling under the cost of operating a refrigeration unit to emphasise that the biggest burden is placed on SMEs. “A lot of small businesses are having trouble passing on cost increases to the market place,” he says. Ramsay adds that while bigger businesses have enough of a margin to cope, this is not the case for others. “Even supermarkets with large freezer units have incurred massive cost increases,” he says. “It’s a big problem.”

Ramsay says that the skyrocketing price of normal electricity followed the move towards renewables, as the money accrued is being used to subsidise rebates offered to solar and wind projects to encourage their uptake, owing to looming targets.

Seeley, however, advocates for a national rebate scheme to encourage investment in energy-efficient air conditioners and replace inefficient cooling options that bring the power grid to breaking point on days of extreme heat. “What the RMIT report shows is that a rebate scheme should target those most at risk as a first priority,” he says. “The current system, which sees funds made available to try and partially offset high energy bills, isn’t working. We need to see funding that forces business and industry, and encourages and assists households, to invest in more energy-efficient cooling, which not only protects them on extreme days but reduces the demand on the system, too.” Seeley calls for investment in premium evaporative air conditioners and hypo-coolers, some of which he says, are up to 90% cheaper to run than ducted reversecycle air conditioning, while still offering similar, if not better, cooling relief.

These are all unavoidable consequences of the government’s effort to ramp up to achieve environmental targets. Ramsay points to Australia’s promise to reduce air emissions to 28% from 2005 levels by 2030, as an important driver.

“According to the Australian Institute of Refrigeration, Air Conditioning and Heating (AIRAH) in 2013,” Seeley says, “total emissions from the commercial and residential building sector accounted for 127 MtCO2e, nearly one quarter - 23% - of Australia’s annual national greenhouse gas emissions that year (ASBEC 2016). Gridsupplied electricity consumed by buildings was responsible for 86% of the sector’s emissions, so reducing these emissions can help Australia meet its energy productivity target and more than one quarter of our 2030 national emissions target.” However, Seeley says, between 2005 and 2015,

Ahmad Fraij

Chris Matthews

Mike Garrett

building energy intensity has only improved by two per cent across the commercial sector and five per cent across the residential sector. “There is considerable scope for improvement in all property sectors,” Seeley says.

South Wales State Government ‘Apartment Design Guidelines’ documents, but the City Council is the first to enforce these guidelines. Other councils will follow as issues of amenity become more pressing.”

Ramsay adds that another big change is coming in 2019, “when Section J of our National Construction Code is due for change”. Stakeholders, he says, are anticipating the changes and its impact on energy efficiency in Commercial Buildings. Ramsay highlights eight provision areas, which, he says, will see increased stringency in the coming year. This includes building fabric, glazing, building sealing, air movement, air conditioning and ventilation systems, artificial lighting and power, heated water supply and facilities for energy monitoring. The overall objective, he says, is to achieve energy savings of up to 40% in commercial buildings.

Ahmad Fraij, Director, EHVACS, weighs in, pointing to the government’s introduction of Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS) that determines the allowable minimum efficiency for mechanical and electrical appliances and equipment sold in Australia. Manufacturers, he says, have to comply with these standards, making a case for the efficiency of locally made products.

For their part, he says, EHVACS is leveraging the high efficiency of Australian products as a competitive advantage in advancing its penetration in the Middle East and Africa.

Matthews says that the industry itself is an important driver, pointing to the AIRAH, the peak body for ventilation in Australia, seeing itself as key driver in the development of sustainable and efficient solutions through education programmes, in the bid to “be a leader, not a follower”.

EXPRESSION IN LEGISLATION

The government’s move to ramp up efforts to move the dial towards its targets has found expression in legislation. Chris Matthews, Managing Director, Silenceair International, touches on the government’s move to introduce new energy-efficiency codes, primarily to reduce the need for new power generation facilities. “The City of Sydney Council has recently introduced requirements that all new apartments in the city jurisdiction have natural ventilation to habitable rooms,” Matthews says, by way of example. “These have been outlined for some time in the New

June 2018

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COUNTRY REPORT

AUSTRALIA

‘Australia has a strong record of meeting and beating targets’, says Minister of Environment and Energy

“t

he Australian Government is committed to a Australia’s emissions, Minister Frydenberg says, and, following responsible target under the Paris Agreement, significant consultation with industry and strong industry support reducing our emissions by 26–28% by 2030 based for a regulated phase down, the Australian Government legislated on 2005 levels,” says Josh Frydenberg, MP, Minister their gradual phase down by 85% from 2018 to 2036. “This for Environment and Energy, Australia. He says the government phase down period means that consumers can continue to use intends to achieve this target, “while ensuring we maintain energy equipment with HFCs until the end of its useful life,” he says. “With affordability and reliability, as well as the competitiveness of our new technologies that use fewer HFCs or different technologies industries, including manufacturing.” altogether already on the market, it builds on the successful Minister Frydenberg says Australia has a strong record of meeting approach taken to phase down chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and and beating emissions reduction targets. “We beat our 2012 target hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), which is already leading to a by 128 million tonnes and are on track to beat our 2020 target recovery of the ozone layer.” by 294 million tonnes,” he says. “Emissions in Australia are now at With the built-environment representing around a quarter of their lowest on a per capita and GDP basis in 28 Australia’s emissions, Minister Frydenberg says the National Energy years, having fallen 34% and 58% Productivity Plan seeks to boost energy efficiency by respectively since 1990.”

40% by 2030. He concludes, “As such, we’ve HFCs comprise up to two expanded commercial building disclosure per cent of DESIGN TRENDS requirements, developed a new regime to Unsurprisingly, these enable buildings and precincts to voluntarily factors have led to a go carbon-neutral and introduced new paradigm shift among standards on lighting and household stakeholders. Fraij says appliances.” that now, most of the medium to big projects have an Environmentally Sustainable Design (ESD) Report during the design stage, focusing on energy efficiency and the design approaches used to make the building environmentally sustainable. Many buildings, he says, have been certified with Green Star Rating, “which is the Australian green building certification system similar to LEED Certification popular in the Gulf countries”.

Matthews goes further to emphasise that in institutions such as hospitals and Josh Frydenberg universities, where the initiator is the end and New York, where inner city living means user, the value proposition of ESD, both vibrant eating and entertainment options, cultural and economic, is understood and right on the doorstep.”

For Fraij, consumer behaviour continues to realised. In relation to capex, he says, the Over the past 25 years, Seeley says, the be the biggest driver for the industry, saying trends have made a gap in the market number of occupied apartments, flats and that there has been greater awareness for Silenceair products, which he says are units in Australia has increased by 78% and of the consequences of increased energy significantly cheaper than traditional systems now numbers over 1.2 million dwellings. Seeley consumption and CO2 emissions. “Now, and, most importantly, are a code compliant International, he says, is aiming towards normal people hire specialists to conduct ventilation solution, adding that saving in versatility to ensure complete comfort through energy audits to their homes,” Fraij says, “to electricity cost is a driver for designers that hot summers without incurring massive cost, make sure they are using the energy properly have specified their products in projects. especially with extended heat waves. To and cut any wastage.” Matthews seconds Seeley shares his observation on the address this, Seeley says the company came this, adding that customers are demanding growing trend of both first- and last-home out with its new product, Climate Wizard more efficient solutions, “as they are the buyers, downsizing to smaller, high luxury CW3. “Existing refrigerated air conditioning ones who bear the bills”. living options, which, he says, has inspired technology is based on a 100-year-old Ramsay shares the same observation, innovation in the company. “The Australian invention and, in principle, has remained noting that tenants are looking for ways residential building boom continues to defy shackled to it,” Seeley says, stressing that the to save by enhancing the efficiency of air predictions of a downturn,” he says, “and CW3 aims to combine heating and cooling conditioning systems, through better sealing this has largely been achieved by a surge in with energy efficiency. The system, he says, and glazing, which, he says, will be more vital approvals for smaller dwellings. A growing was designed to address demand for lower from 2019 onwards. Ramsay says that this number of Australians are now opting to running cost and effective dual systems in is creating a lot of pressure on owners to follow lifestyles already enjoyed in some humid conditions, with fresh air delivered into update new leasing. of the world’s greatest cities such as Paris the house through one set of delivery ducts.

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June 2018

Matthews says that owing to architectural design trends and new construction technologies, the space available for ducting is disappearing, prompting the company to develop new and more compact wall-based acoustic ventilator products that are 90 mm thin, to fit into steel stud cavity wall systems.

“Ceiling plenum spaces are now only 65 mm or less in many projects. This is just enough to allow for electrical cabling and water piping,” he says. “We have developed an acoustic ventilator for these thin spaces to allow for acoustically controlled make-up air to A/C systems in apartment towers.”

Matthews adds that the company is also finalising designs for acoustic ventilators that are installed into the façade glazing system, for projects where there is no exterior wall surface and acoustically controlled natural ventilation is required in the apartment or office.

Mike Garrett, Managing Director, Plandroid, seconds this, noting that new buildings in Australia continue to have lower ceiling space, with more manufacturers coming out with small duct systems and high velocity systems with very small ducts and special air handling units.

DEMAND FOR NEW TECHNOLOGIES

Unsurprisingly, new design approaches lead to demand for new technologies. To name a few, Fraij says, there has been uptake in demand for magnetic bearing, oil free chillers, chilled beams, condensing boilers, solar PV panels, solar hot water systems and demand ventilation – all new technologies, which, he admits, increase the initial cost of the project. “The demand for green buildings is increasing even though the capital cost is higher,” Fraij says, owing to more consciousness among stakeholders about the effect of global warming, coupled with a desire to mitigate its effect for the coming generations. “The building owners also know that green buildings will attract tenants more than the conventional buildings,” he says, “because the tenants will enjoy less running cost… and better comfort inside the offices.”

“People don’t care about the initial capital cost anymore,” Ramsay adds, in view of provisions being rolled out. Whether or not stakeholders are willing to pay the capital cost, he says, cost of energy is so high it makes a case for investing in such equipment. “It will increase in stringency up until value of the energy savings outweighs increased cost,” he says, adding

that stakeholders keep cost benefit ratio between 1 and 1.5; “a lot will come down to a ratio between 1.1 and 1.2” he further adds.

Edmonds, he adds, is accommodating trends by focusing on glazing. Though the company offers insulation, as well, he says, the current standards for insulation are considered to be sufficient, stressing that of late, more emphasis is given on efficacy of pumps and fans, which has ramifications across the chiller, air conditioning and ventilation sector.

Matthews weighs in: “The traditional drivers in equipment choice has been the balance between Capex, energy costs and maintenance. There will always be projects, clients and situations, where economic considerations are the principle drivers of equipment choice. The various stakeholders, and when they realise their investment in the building’s life cycle, also needs to be understood. A developer who builds apartments and sells them as soon as they are completed is only interested in how cheaply he can build them and how exclusive he can make them look to maximise his profit.” Operating, maintenance and replacement costs are of no interest to the developer, Matthews says, but these costs are of critical importance to the apartment buyers and the building managers.

Ramsay adds that though many efforts are directed towards construction of new buildings, there is pressure among owners of existing buildings to retrofit to higher standards to attract potential tenants who have the power to opt for newer, more efficient developments.

WHAT OF IEQ?

Though efficiency is front and centre, stakeholders are equally aware of the IEQ. Buildings are investment vehicles, Matthew says, “These investors want high returns on their investment, and it is demonstrated that buildings employing ESD principles with high IEQ can charge a premium rental.”

People, Matthews says, are becoming more aware of the value and health benefits of adequate and good quality ventilation, and businesses are becoming more aware of the financial benefits of a healthy and productive workforce. “Awareness of IEQ issues is gaining ground,” he says. “This awareness has taken some time to gain traction, but I believe general awareness is rapidly increasing. Stories have begun to appear in popular media, such as TV, on the importance of IEQ. Here in Australia, AIRAH is an active promoter of the values of good IEQ. Recent research, Matthews adds, has piqued interest amongst building owners and tenant

groups leading to a customer-driven demand for better IEQ. Additionally, he says, the regulatory framework is becoming more stringent for schools and hospitals in Australia, a trend he believes is set to continue. The move, he says, is welcomed by facility management and engineers in general, and they are actively driving change where possible. “Compliance from these groups is usually excellent,” he says.

Ramsay says that in New South Wales, there is a growing number of new schools owing to rapid increase in population and the government’s immigration programme.

Ramsay adds that in addition to this, the state government is not permitting use of air conditioning in the schools and they are asked to rely on ventilation, leading to a conversation on the balance between energy efficiency and better IEQ through more fresh air changes. “In NSW,” he says, “they require 5-7 air changes per hour in schools.” This he says, has driven demand for the company’s EcoPOWER solution, as it can operate in natural, wind-driven mode during the day to provide air exchange, then revert to power mode at night, with flow rate 4-5 times greater than during the day, to ensure all radiated heat is removed from the building and the lowest external temperature is reached by start of next day.

Matthews provides a perspective for Sydney, which he says is introducing guidelines that will force grade B, C and D office space to be more energy efficient during their next equipment upgrade. “Most of the owners of this type of building stock are driven by economic factors, and are trying to do the cheapest solution possible,” he says, “but the growing awareness of the importance of IEQ on the personal health of people will lead to more demand from tenants for higher IEQ and a demonstrated performance from their landlords. In a classic competitive market, landlords will be forced to upgrade or have empty buildings.” This, he says, will drive growth of superior IEQ solutions.

Efficiency, evidently, is imperative in Australia, but not at the cost of IEQ, as the country has an educated market looking to strike a balance between cost and comfort, thus driving innovation among local manufacturers.

HAVE YOUR SAY! We welcome your views on the article.

Write to editor@cpi-industry.com

June 2018

47

NEWS REGIONAL

Progress of UNEP global initiative reviewed in Copenhagen UNEP’s Global ‘District Energy in Cities’ initiative held its fourth Annual Partners Meeting during Nordic Clean Energy Week

By CCME Content Team

hmad Bin Shafar, CEO of Emirates Central Cooling Systems Corporation (Empower), reviewed the progress of the UNEP’s Global ‘District Energy in Cities’ initiative, in which Empower is a partner, at the Fourth Annual Partners Meeting held in Copenhagen, Denmark, the company said in a Press communiqué.

The meeting was held on the sidelines of the Nordic Clean Energy Week, held from May 21 to 25, at Copenhagen, the communiqué said.

According to Empower, Bin Shafar took part as CEO of Empower and Special Advisor on District Cooling to the UNEP initiative. Bin Shafar took part in two sessions that were held on May 23 and 24 and highlighted Dubai’s success story, as well as its adoption of sustainable Ahmad Bin Shafar and other delegates at the UNEP Annual innovative projects, the Partners Meeting communiqué said.

Speaking on the occasion, Bin Shafar said, “Sustainability projects are key elements that Dubai and the UAE have relied on in the development and creation of a strategic environment for investment and excellence.

Our competitiveness largely includes our innovations towards green living and sustainability. This has been recognised by global bodies and initiatives such as UNEP and its ‘Sustainable Energy for All (SE4All)’ programme, in which District Cooling is selected as one of the key accelerators and Empower has been cited as a successful case in energy efficiency and defending climate change.”

The communiqué said the Annual Partners’ Meeting, held on May 24, reviewed the results of last year's meeting and the evaluation of the phases of introducing District Cooling systems in developing cities, including the cities in Bosnia & Herzegovina, Chile, China, India, Serbia, Malaysia Bin Shafar at the entrance of UN and Morocco, among others. The communiqué further said the session also shed light on the steps to Copenhagen Headquarters promote and deploy District Cooling systems in more cities.

A

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June 2018

Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park completes 200 MW Remaining stages under construction to generate 600 MW for a total of 800 MW by 2020

By Hannah Jo Uy | Features Writer

.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai, inaugurated the 200 megawatt (MW) first stage of the 800 MW third phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park on April 30, 2018.

The project is being implemented by Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (DEWA) , based on the Independent Power Producer (IPP) system, in partnership with Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) and EDF Group, through its subsidiary EDF Énergies Nouvelles. According to DEWA, the second and third stages of the third phase, which have a capacity of 300 MW each, will be completed in 2019 and 2020, respectively.

H.E. Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD and CEO, DEWA, spoke on clean energy’s role in building a sustainable future, in the context of a post-oil era and in anticipation of the UAE centennial in 2071. Al Tayer traced the history of the third phase, which, he said, began in June 2016, in Abu Dhabi following the signing of a partnership agreement between DEWA and Masdar to implement the 800 MW third phase in stages using photovoltaic solar panels at the cost of 2.99 US cents per kilowatt hour, which, he said, is the lowest in the world.

The total capacity of the photovoltaic and Concentrated Solar Power IPP–based projects, Al Tayer said, is 1,500 MW. The inauguration of the milestone, he said, will ensure that solar power will generate four per cent of Dubai’s total installed capacity.

Touching on the features of the solar park, Al Tayer said advanced features in the park

H

include over 800,000 self-cleaning solar cells and that the project was implemented with over 2.4 million accident-free man-hours.

“It will provide over 60,000 residences with electricity,” Al Tayer said, “reducing over 270,000 tonnes of carbon emissions every year”.

H.E. Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of State and Chairman of Masdar, spoke on the country’s progress towards energy security by cultivating a diverse mix of conventional energy, renewables and nuclear energy. Solar, Dr Al Jaber said, makes perfect economic sense in the region, owing to its weather conditions, and that it complements conventional energy by helping to reduce energy costs through peak shaving.

Jean-Bernard Levy, Chairman and CEO, EDF Group, spoke on how the emirates have taken an extraordinary lead in the region in terms of economic growth and cultural influence, with this progress extending to the issue of energy transition and climate change. The solar park once fully commissioned, he said, will be among the largest photovoltaic grounds in the world, occupying an area of 16 square kilometres, with more than three million modules used in its construction. The solar park, he emphasised is also a significant milestone for the renewable energy industry globally, by

breaking the USD 30 dollar per megawatt hour mark. A limit, which, he said, most industry observers thought was impossible to achieve. “The solar park,” Levy said, “is a clear reference in terms of scale, cost competitiveness and execution.” The company, he said, is also working on a project in Hatta, supporting DEWA in the construction of the first pump storage hydro plant in the Gulf region.

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49

NEWS REGIONAL

MEFMA member receives Silver Award at Global FM Awards 2018 Enova recognised for its business processes and procedures

By CCME Content Team

he Middle East Facility Management Association (MEFMA) has revealed that one of its founding members, Enova has won a Silver Award at the recently concluded Global FM Awards 2018. The company was recognised for its excellent performance and key contributions Ali Al Suwaidi, Global FM Awards judge, hands over the Silver Jamal Lootah to the FM industry – particularly its Award to MEFMA’s founding member Enova exceptional business processes and procedures, MEFMA said through a Press communiqué. Enova is at the forefront of digital transformation in the Middle East’s FM industry through its network of complementary smart tools and cutting-edge technology as well as its use of big data analytics, the communiqué said.

Organised by the Global Facility Management Association, the Global FM Awards competition celebrates and acknowledges outstanding best FM practices across the globe. It aims to raise the profile of the FM profession; expand the industry’s influence and promote the health, safety, productivity and wellbeing of people who utilise the built-environment. For this year’s awards, three MEFMA members – QBG, Emrill and Enova – were shortlisted during the judging process.

Jamal Lootah, President, MEFMA, said: “We at MEFMA would like to extend our congratulations to Enova on its latest achievement. We are proud of the company’s accomplishment and its contributions to advance and raise the global competitiveness of the regional FM by adopting the best practices and globally recognised FM standards. The award not only reflects its commitment to deliver excellent FM services, but also shows the world-class standards that we follow across the entire Middle East region. Again, congratulations to the men and women behind Enova, and keep up the good work.”

According to the communiqué, the Global FM Awards is a fierce competition among international entrants, with each entry being of the highest calibre and worthy of recognition. The criteria are strict, the communiqué added, with entrants held to the highest standards within the FM industry.

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Blue Star partners with Sands International and Saudi Retail Company Company plans to expand into the Saudi Arabia residential and commercial market, CEO says

By CCME Content Team

lue Star International FZCO, the air conditioning and commercial refrigeration company, Blue Star Limited’s wholly owned subsidiary in Dubai, has announced its partnership with Sands International, as its official distributor in Saudi Arabia for its unitary products range, the former company announced in a Press communiqué.

Blue Star, along with Sands International, is offering a wide range of eco-friendly and energy-efficient room air conditioners (split and window), catering to every related requirement in the residential and commercial space in Saudi Arabia, the communiqué said. The company is also launching an array of water-cooling solutions comprising bottle water dispensers, storage water coolers and water tank chillers, the communiqué further said. This range of water-cooling solutions primarily caters to the requirements of the commercial sector, with a special focus on commercial, healthcare, residential, education and hospitality segments, the communiqué added.

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Speaking to the Press at a conference in Riyadh,Saudi Arabia, Dawood Bin Ozair, CEO, Blue Star International FZCO, said: “Blue Star’s products are backed by robust R&D and world-class manufacturing. We are wellequipped to deal with the rising demand for AC&R products in the Saudi market and are confident that Sands International’s well-entrenched distribution network of retailers and dealers will help us ensure an extensive reach for our Unitary Products range.”

Commenting on the partnership, Sharoon Shamsuddin, CEO, Sands International, said: “We are extremely pleased in partnering with Blue Star, an air conditioning and refrigeration giant, and look forward to a long and successful relationship. Blue Star’s expertise in cooling and refrigeration products, with its best-in-class manufacturing and robust R&D set up, will enable us to offer the best cooling solutions to an ever-growing consumer segment, as well as commercial sector, in Saudi Arabia. Together, with Blue Star’s quality and Saudi Retail Company’s commitment towards delivery and service infrastructure, we are confident of providing a worldclass consumer experience in Saudi Arabia.”

Ariston Thermo inaugurates new plant in Bahrain The plant will produce water heaters for the Middle East and North Africa markets, company official says

By CCME Content Team

Hörmann launches upgraded DOBO system for warehouses New system has additional safety features and is ideal for refrigerated warehouses, company official says

By CCME Content Team

örmann Middle East and Africa, has launched the upgraded DOBO system for warehouses, which ensures increased security and reduces heat loss through the loading bay doors when trucks dock, the company announced in a Press communiqué.

The DOBO system ensures safety and prevention of theft, the communiqué said.

With this system, the lorry doors are only opened shortly before loading and the semitrailer can remain docked to the loading bay unattended, for example, overnight, the communiqué further said. It also provides safety for drivers, as they can dock completely without exiting the vehicle, and do not have to enter the zone between the vehicle and the ramp, the communiqué added.

The DOBO system is also perfect for refrigerated warehouses, the communiqué said. To fully utilise the floor space of a refrigerated warehouse, the DOBO system is combined with a thermal loading house, the communiqué further said. The industrial door closes the loading house from the outside and the temperature-controlled area is insulated efficiently through insulated panels on the exterior walls and under the pedestals, as well as the door in front of the dock leveller, the communiqué added. The DOBO system can prevent any interruption of the cold chain of refrigerated or frozen goods, as the lorry doors are only opened after docking, the communiqué also said.

Commenting on the upgraded system, Darius Khanloo, Managing Director, Hörmann Middle East and Africa, said: “Hörmann DOBO system is a well-designed solution for precisely compensating the differences in height between various lorry floors and ramps. With dock levellers, the load can be moved in or out of the lorry in a single horizontal movement.”

H riston Thermo has inaugurated a new production plant at the Bahrain International Investment Park, the company announced in a Press communiqué. The ceremony was attended by H.E. Domenico Bellato, Ambassador of Italy to the Kingdom of Bahrain and Dr Carlo Andreatini, Rapid Development Countries and Americas Director, Ariston Thermo.

Speaking on the occasion, H.E. Zayed R. Alzayani, Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, said: “This project was an important one for Bahrain as it met several key objectives, enabling the growth and diversification of Bahrain’s economy, as well as creating quality skilled jobs for Bahrainis in the fields of engineering and business.

The Ministry and Ariston are partners for the long-haul.”

Commenting on the inauguration, H.E. Khalid Al Rumaihi, Chief Executive of the Bahrain Economic Development Board, said: “Ariston Thermo’s new plant is a truly welcome addition to the Bahrain International Investment Park. The plant’s opening is a clear indication of the vast potential and advantages that the manufacturing industry in Bahrain provides, and further reinforces the Kingdom’s position as the ideal hub to meet growing regional demand. I am delighted to be able to welcome Ariston Thermo to the region.”

The new plant, located in a total area of 7,000 square metres and employing 50 people, will manufacture storage electric water heaters branded Ariston, which will be mainly marketed in the Middle East and North Africa, the communiqué said.

The new plant provides a maximum annual production capacity of up to 250,000 electric water heaters, the communiqué further said. The new production site in Bahrain will be in line with the sustainable model of the Group, at the forefront of innovation and in respect of the environment, the communiqué added.

Carlo Andreatini said: “With this new production site in Bahrain we aim to strengthen our presence in this area. Keeping production close to the most important markets is indeed a key pillar of our Group’s growth strategy that allows us to better and promptly respond to the specific needs of our customers.”

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SKM Air Conditioning joins Eurovent Middle East

UAE’s move to boost FDI will positively impact the construction sector

HVACR sector association further strengthens its regional profile says Director, Eurovent Middle East

Stakeholders highlight benefits of 100% business ownership and 10-year visas for players in the HVACR industry

By Hannah Jo Uy | Features Writer

By CCME Content Team

KM Air Conditioning has joined the Eurovent Middle East association, the latter announced in a Press communiqué.

According to Eurovent Middle East, SKM Air Conditioning is now Eurovent Middle East’s 40th member company.

Speaking about the membership, Ammar Abdulateef Abdulhameed, QHSE and Lab Director, SKM, said: “We fully support the aims of Eurovent Middle East to improve standards and legislation in the region while raising awareness and knowledge on latest technologies. As a truly local manufacturer, SKM has always acknowledged its wider responsibility towards society. Improving energy efficiency and indoor air quality and reducing the region’s CO2 footprint are challenges we can only solve by working hand-in-hand as an industry. We hope that many more manufacturers follow our example of joining Eurovent Middle East.”

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Ammar Abdulateef Abdulhameed

Markus Lattner

Markus Lattner, Director, Eurovent Middle East, added: “We are very proud of welcoming SKM Air Conditioning to our association. Since our very beginning, we have made clear that we want to be an association from the region, for the region. Our aim is to contribute to a regional level-playing field while rising standards and requirements across the GCC for the benefit of everyone. Together with strong partners such as SKM, we can definitely achieve this.”

According to Eurovent Middle East, the association represents the Middle East region's leading manufacturers of Indoor Climate (HVAC), Process Cooling, Food Cold Chain, Industrial Ventilation, and Building Automation Technologies, as well as sector associations and industry initiatives active in these fields.

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Naveen Sivakumar

Safdar Badami

Brian Suggitt

n a bid to attract FDI, the UAE government has recently announced that it will allow 100% business ownership to foreign investors and grant 10-year visas to expatriates. What does this mean for the country’s built environment?

Stakeholders from the HVACR industry speak up on the direct, and indirect, impacts on the construction sector.

Naveen Sivakumar, Head of Marketing and Business Development, Turkey, Middle East and Africa, Danfoss, called the announcement an “extremely positive and welcome move”. Safdar Badami, Managing Director, Al Muqarram Industry (AMI) called the decision a “landmark moment for the economy”. The decision, Badami said, will give “a boost both in numbers and value” to construction firms, which he believes are set to grow exponentially, adding that the move attracts both financial gains and value addition to the economy. “Policy decisions such as these make us more confident in its future ability,” Badami said. “We can hope to see more investments, employment opportunities and growth prospects for the economy and our organisation by association.”

“It’s got to be a good thing,” added Brian Suggitt, Chairman, Eurovent Middle East and Managing Director, Systemair. “It makes it easier for people to make a decision. It gives people a wider choice of what they can do and how they wish to invest.”

Badami spoke on its two-fold effects. “Firstly, they make procedural necessities and hassles convenient for the existing businesses,” he said. “In addition to this, they also make innovating and merit a prime factor in growth. Secondly, they also convey to the global business community that UAE is taking concrete steps to making it a hub for business. The stability works as an incentive to attract more firms to the region.”

Sivakumar weighed in: “For key stakeholders, such as contractors, it will increase the sense of ownership and foster an environment of stability and security. They will now be able to focus more on the important practices of energy efficiency and green technology, without having to worry about various cost-saving procedures.”

The decision is also expected to have positive ramifications with regard to attracting talent. Suggitt added that the inclusion of engineering specialists among those likely to be granted 10-year-visas is an excellent move, one that would attract global manufacturers, particularly European ones.

Badami added: “The UAE construction market will not only become a preferred destination for investors but also for the best global talents. As we look to bridge the skills gap in the economy, there could not be a more timely policy change than this. I definitely see a more inclusive construction industry that values and welcomes talent.

I can confidently say that the construction market will see an influx of talent that will help it to grow exponentially.”

Suggitt stressed that the influx of more people could only benefit the country in the long-term in view of more projects. “Investors will still look to use UAE resources,” he said. “That will increase as well, so overall it’s a very good thing.” Badami said this decision will greatly affect the quantity and quality of investments and projects in the UAE going forward.

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Empower launches ‘Steps to Cooler Summer’ campaign Pre-summer awareness campaign highlights preparations to reduce energy consumption in summer

By CCME Content Team

mirates Central Cooling Systems Corporation (Empower), the District Cooling services provider, launched its pre-summer awareness campaign, ‘Steps to Cooler Summer’, aiming to prepare its customers, by providing best practices Ahmad Bin Shafar and ways, to reduce District Cooling consumption during the upcoming summer season, the company said in a Press communiqué. This helps reduce the energy consumption cost of customers, and promotes customer happiness by providing the best and most efficient cooling services that maintain environmental sustainability, the communiqué further said.

According to Empower, the campaign promotes sustainable development goals and helps in reducing carbon emissions. This

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supports the Dubai Plan 2021, which aims to transform the Emirate into a smart, environmentally integrated city in terms of health, hygiene and sustainability, the communiqué said.

Ahmad Bin Shafar, CEO, Empower said: “The campaign is part of Empower's efforts to raise awareness, among its customers in Dubai, about rationalising the use of District Cooling systems to conserve natural resources and protect the environment. This supports the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to reduce electricity and water consumption by 30%, transform Dubai into a global hub for the green economy, and make it the city with the lowest carbon footprint by 2050.”

Bin Shafar highlighted that the campaign consists of eight steps. These steps are simple and effective advice from Empower to all its building owners, investors, developers and end-users. The steps include: Closing curtains, keeping the door and window cracks sealed, tinting glass doors and windows, reducing heat sources, checking the AC thermostat, keeping the AC filter clean, doing periodic home maintenance and paying bills on time, the communiqué said.

Grundfos Dubai updates its ISO Certification Company has achieved the latest Quality Management Standard, GM says

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June 2018

rundfos has recently updated its certification to ISO 9001.2015 – ISO’s latest flagship quality management standard, the company announced in a Press communiqué.

Grundfos supply chain processes have a world-class level of efficiency, speed and flexibility to cater to clients around the Middle Eastern region, the communiqué said. The high level of digitalisation and modern equipment used in the operations, the use of SAP software to process orders and the strict quality control procedures applied by Grundfos in its own test facilities, ensure the highest levels of quality, reliability, energy-efficiency and performance that Grundfos demands and customers expect, the communiqué further said.

Speaking on the development, Kostas Poulopoulos, General Manager, Grundfos Dubai, said: “Grundfos Dubai is much more than a pump distributor in the region, it is, in fact, a manufacturer and assembly warehouse with cutting-edge capabilities. Our strategic location means we can deliver Grundfos’ leading pump solutions quickly and efficiently, to meet the tightest deadlines.

All pump components are sourced from Grundfos’ manufacturing base in Denmark and have the same standards as those used in our European factories. They are then stored in Dubai, ready for assembly as needed, under strict quality control conditions.”

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DRI, Bry-Air hold technical seminar on new air technologies Industry experts elaborate on ideal applications for equipment in UAE

By Hannah Jo Uy | Features Writer

ahwa Group’s flagship companies, DRI and Bry-Air jointly conducted a technical seminar on new air technologies on May 7 in Dubai. Dinesh Gupta, Executive Director, Bry-Air, described the purpose of the event as being able to introduce the latest products to local stakeholders and spotlight the commitment of the two companies to advancing new technology. This was echoed by Vinod Ramnani, Business Head, Arctic, Evaporative Cooling Solutions, DRI. “Innovation is life,” he said. “That is our mantra, and Pahwa Group keeps looking at new ways to improve energy efficiency and bringing in new technology to effectively [provide] temperature and humidity control. Air is our business.” Gupta, Ramnani and Varun Pahwa, Executive Vice President, DRI, gave in-depth presentations, highlighting trends, developments and applications related to indirect evaporative cooling, gas-phase filtration, adsorption chillers, swimming pool humidity control, desiccant humidification and Dedicated Outdoor Air Systems (DOAS).

Gupta said the UAE has showcased appreciation for new technology, pointing to the country’s move to mandate energy conservation in construction of new buildings, despite the fact that energy is abundant in the country, as one of the drivers in this regard. This, he said, makes a case for indirect evaporative cooling, which Gupta said will see stronger uptake in the near future. Gupta

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added that legislation to promote energy-saving was also a welcome development and that this has influenced stakeholders’ adoption of more efficient equipment.

Ramnani echoed this when he said: “The consultant community in the UAE is vibrant and alert with what is happening as far as energy saving is concerned. There are a lot of areas, where conventional air conditioning can be replaced with indirect evaporative cooling.”

Touching on applications of the technologies in the context of commercial spaces, Ramnani said the main goal is creating a good environment for workers and technicians in manufactirong areas and service stations to provide comfort and enhance their productivity.

Touching on the food and pharmaceutical applications of desiccant dehumidifiers, Gupta said that he believes government efforts to enhance transparency through initiatives such as the Food Watch programme will help encourage best practice and enhance adoption of such technologies. “It will help increase shelf life of products and ensure the quality of products in the market,” Gupta said. He added that such technologies are especially vital in view of quality control mechanisms being implemented in compliance with emerging rules and regulation. In the field of pharmaceuticals, he said, temperature control and dehumidification are even more important to ensure quality of critical products.

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June 2018

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Eros Group, Hitachi celebrate a golden partnership Both companies mark 50 years of successful partnership

By CCME Content Team

ros Group, a distributor and retailer in consumer electronics in the Middle East, along with Hitachi, a Japanese brand for electronic products, marked the beginning of their 50th anniversary as partners in the United Arab Emirates, the companies announced in a Press communiqué.

Eros Group was founded in 1967 as a small store in Deira and soon took on the distribution of Hitachi products in the United Arab Emirates, making it the first brand distributed by Eros Group. Since then, Eros Group has been distributing the brand's products such as refrigerators, air conditioners and air purifiers.

Commenting on this occasion, Deepak Babani, Executive Vice Chairman, Eros Group, said: "This occasion marks a landmark for all of us here at Eros Group. It is mind-boggling to think how we started our journey with Hitachi products being the first partnership, and 50 years later, the relationship is still going and it is stronger than ever."

Niranjan Gidwani, Chief Executive Officer, Eros Group, said: "We are honoured to be partners for 50 years with a successful brand such as Hitachi. Japanese brands truly understand and respect longterm relationships, where the understanding and the mutual working environment keeps getting better with time. The partnership we share will definitely strengthen further and over the years we stand committed to take Hitachi products to greater heights of success."

Hidenori Zen, Managing Director, Hitachi Sales Middle East, commented: "We would like to express our great appreciation for

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United Technologies highlights Green Building trends at Sustainability Lecture Series Event features a key presentation by Dr Joseph Allen of Harvard on his latest research on how Green Buildings influence human health in two critically important ways

By CCME Content Team

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reaching 50 years partnership with Eros Group. Eros has always been there for Hitachi, trusting, resilient and with a never-give-up attitude.

Without these values, Hitachi–Eros 50 years' partnership would not be possible. In the region, Eros Group has been our long-trusted partner, and we look forward to another 50 years of working together, with stronger ties and respect for one another."

Interesting discussion at #WWPEU18 about #BIM for FM, but still fuzzy. BIM is a digital representation of the building (static), it needs sensor (dynamic) data to be valuable for FM. An example below monitoring IAQ improves users productivity + helps FM to detect technical issues

Francisco Forns @USGBC

nited Technologies gathered more than 100 building professionals on May 2 in Dubai to discuss trends in global urbanisation and the advantages of “building green”, from health effects to the preservation of priceless works of art, the company said through a Press communiqué.

The UAE is undergoing rapid urbanisation, with 86% of the population currently living in cities. With such exponential growth happening so quickly, there are environmental and health considerations to be taken into account, the communiqué said.

“The Middle East has a great opportunity for Green Building and sustainable urbanisation,” said Giorgio Elia, Vice President, UTC Climate, Controls & Security, Middle East. “There are proven economic, environmental and social trends driving the demand for sustainable urbanisation across the world. Today’s event offered local building professionals a new look at those trends to help drive the conversation on the value of Green Buildings.”

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Seeley International overcomes challenges posed by Mina Valley project Company installs 50,000 Breezair evaporative air conditioners in Saudi Arabia’s tent city

By Hannah Jo Uy | Features Writer

eeley International in 35% energy saving and has installed increased cooling performance 50,000 Breezair by approximately 35%. air conditioners Reliability, Delaigue said, in the tent city of Mina is also essential. While the Valley, Saudi Arabia. Xavier company’s partner, Alsaeed, Delaigue, EMEA Sales provides full service during the Xavier Delaigue Director, Seeley International Hajj, he said, the company Europe, Middle East and has a stock of spare parts on Africa, outlined the unique challenges the site, in case of any problem. Touching on the company faced on the road to completing production and installation scale, Delaigue the project. stressed that not many manufacturers are Delaigue pointed to the high ambient able to “swallow” an additional production conditions of the country as one of the of tens of thousands of units on top of main challenges, adding that energy was usual production. “At Seeley,” he said, “we also a concern. “You can imagine the energy have the skills and the flexibility for such an requirements for such a city,” he said. “It is exercise. Not only in production but at every a must to think of energy-saving, not only step of the chain, from supplies to delivery.” to avoid extra power plant infrastructure The global portfolio, he added, allowed the investments but to reduce the carbon company to address this problem in a timely impact.” The high-efficiency motors made a manner. Lastly, Delaigue said, with regard to case for the Breezeair coolers, he said, which supervision and maintenance, it is vital that offered reduced consumption. The fans, in the event issues emerge, the coolers must he added, were also designed to optimise be operating again in less than 30 minutes. airflow, avoid airstream disturbance and Prior to the final order, Delaigue said, tests reduce the sound level, noting that the were done all year round with installation blades were inspired from latest technology of data loggers on site, to compare all in aeronautics. This, he said, culminated competitors’ performances in the same

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conditions. He said, "At first, a live test was made during one pilgrimage, with few coolers, as continuation of all initial tests. After this pre-selection, on the next pilgrimage, a new live test was made but this time on hundred units. The reason for this large-scale test was to make sure that our performance and reliability are stable.”

Otherwise, he said, it would be easy for a manufacturer to supply a “super prototype” and get good test results. The last test, he added, was to check reliability of standard serial production, stressing that the company doesn’t compromise on quality and reliability, while providing value for money Speaking on the company’s in-house design and production facility and scale of manufacturing, Delaigue said this served as a competitive advantage. “When officials from the Public Investment Fund and Hajj Ministry saw our facilities,” he said, “they were confident the project would be perfectly handled on time, with no compromise on quality and they were also reassured about business longevity.” He also commended Alsaeed for facilitating local logistics, installation and operations supervision.

The event featured presentations from:

Michel Grabon, Director of Advanced Systems, UTC Climate, Controls & Security Dr Joseph Allen, Assistant Professor of Exposure Assessment Science, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and Director, Healthy Buildings program at the Center for Health and the Global Environment at the Harvard T.H. Chan School

Dr Allen’s lecture focused on his latest research from Harvard, showing how Green Buildings influence human health in two critically important ways – on an individual level through optimised indoor environments and on a population level through reductions in energy use and reductions in air pollutants, the communiqué said. Primary support for Harvard’s research came from United Technologies and its UTC Climate, Controls & Security business.

Dr Allen said: “These indirect, population-level health co-benefits of the Green Building movement have not been fully accounted for when exploring the benefits of better buildings. We can quantify the savings per square foot in Green Buildings, as compared to conventional buildings. Ultimately, we strive to produce high-quality scientific results that will allow practitioners to make data-driven decisions for buildings.”

Grabon spoke about the practical application of Carrier equipment that helps preserve famous works of art. Carrier’s installation of an innovative HVAC system in the Sistine Chapel demonstrated that energy-efficient, quiet equipment could be retrofitted to meet the Vatican’s demanding requirements and protect some of the world’s most precious art, Michelangelo’s famous frescoes.

#DYK? Clean energy now employs more workers than the fossil fuel industry in 43 states and the District of Columbia!

Read more in @E2org’s Clean Jobs America rankings #cleanjobscount

USGBC @USGBC

June 2018

57

NEWS REGIONAL

Autodesk University Middle East focuses on global trends in the built-environment Sixth edition of the event spotlights BIM, 3D Printing, Generative Design, AR and VR in the future of construction and design

By Hannah Jo Uy | Features Writer

utodesk University (AU) Middle East focused on emerging global trends within the built-environment, during the inauguration of the conference’s sixth edition on May 7, in Dubai.

The two-day conference aims to showcase the latest innovations and applications in the field of 3D Printing, Generative Design, AR, VR and BIM 360 in the context of sustainability and optimising construction materials.

Mohammad Saleh, Regional Head, Autodesk, gave the welcome address and spoke on social, economic and technological trends, particularly in view of IoT, cloud computing and data. “Data fuels everything,” he said.

“The integrity, consistency, availability – it becomes more available moving forward.”

Saleh touched on the importance of disruptive innovation in view of Dubai 10x, which positions the country to be ahead of other cities in the world. Looking at broader developments in the GCC region, Saleh also spoke on the ambitious targets of Neom [ a project in Saudi Arabia]. “Autodesk,” he said, “will be there to help shape and design and make use of things.”

Lynelle Cameron, VP, Sustainability Foundation, Autodesk, elaborated on trends and technologies that will affect society.

Emphasising current challenges, Cameron said that there will be 10 billion people by 2050, which will double the demand of energy. In 2050, she said, 75% of people will be living near cities, resulting in a need to build 5,000 buildings per day. “How do we design more things for more people but with less impact on the planet?” Cameron asked. Cameron touched on the three major catalysts for disruption, namely production,

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Autodesk University (AU) Middle East showcases Virtual Reality (VR) experience

connection and augmentation, leading to a more integrated approach to optimise existing solutions.

Uwe Wasserman, Director, Industry Business Development, AEC/ENI Worldwide, Autodesk, spoke on Connected BIM and the move towards digital transformation. He said, “Disruption is all around us. By 2020, 50 billion devices and sensors will be connected to the internet.” Wasserman outlined three eras of disruption. The first, he said, was the era of documentation, which began with the introduction of Autocad. The second, he said, is the era of optimisation driven by Building Information Modelling, which began 15 years ago and has led to significantly lower costs and faster delivery. Moving on to the era of connection, Wasserman elaborates on Connected BIM for 2018 and beyond, which he described as BIM enhanced by cloud computing which, he said, provides unlimited computing power. Cloud computing, he said, solves in real time the most complex analytical problems and can run through

design integration steps in real time.

Ayman Al-Mousawi, Director, Ministry of Public Works in Kuwait, provided a government perspective on BIM adoption from the government perspective and touched on the benefits, which he said, includes reduction of design iterations, RFI’s, Variation/Change Orders and overall cost of the delivery of the facility, improvement in collaboration and coordination between departments with the ministry and adoption of more informed decision-making by depending on BIM models for design visualisation and collaboration. Moreover, Al-Mousawi said, BIM provides a more accurate estimated budget by the end of the design phase, helps speed up getting approvals from other governmental entities during the design phase and reduce waste and paper-based production. Al-Mousawi also spoke on the importance of optimising BIM competence and the importance of changing mindsets for greater adoption and awareness of its benefits and value to projects.

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ALDAR Properties wins “Green School of the Year” at 2018 MENA Green Building Awards Aldar Academies-operated Al Mamoura Academy picks up top honour

By CCME Content Team

ldar Properties has won “Green School of the Year” at the 2018 MENA Green Building Awards for Al Mamoura Academy, operated by Aldar Academies.

The MENA Green Building Awards are organised by the Emirates Green Building Council and endorsed by the World Green Building Council. In winning the award, Aldar was able to demonstrate that the Academy’s construction and completion has respected the highest sustainability standards and included innovation in design and process, as well as showing excellence in terms of design, construction site management, waste and green standards.

Commenting on the results, Ramy Zaghloul, Executive Director – Development at Aldar Properties, said: “This award is testament to the hard work and commitment of all those involved in this development from its initial design stages through to execution and delivery. As part of our vision to deliver desirable destinations, Aldar Properties strives to create developments that are sustainable not only in an environmental sense but also in the way that they can support long-term communities. We are proud to win this award for Green School of the Year, and we look forward to creating and delivering more award-winning developments in the future.”

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The Al Mamoura Academy has a number of key features, which led to the award win. Firstly, its approach to “daylighting”, where 78% of all occupied areas have a direct line of sight to the outside, following studies that show students who have greater access to daylight are healthier and adopt better work habits leading to improved academic performance. The integration of building sustainability into the curriculum has enabled students to learn more about waste from plastics. In the lobby of the school, BMS output on water and energy consumption is displayed to enable better tracking of consumption. The way in which Al Mamoura Academy has been built ensures a significant emphasis on insulation to improve efficiency. Lastly, the school sits on a site previously occupied by a government defence installation, demonstrating best use of land, and a desire to evolve and regenerate within the community.

NEWS GLOBAL

Regulatory reform key to meeting renewable energy targets in Panama Panama’s target of 70% renewables by 2050 is achievable with solar and wind power, says IRENA

By CCME Content Team

pgrades to Panama’s regulatory environment and power system management are critical to achieving the renewable energy goals set out in the country’s National Energy Plan, said the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) via a Press communiqué.

IRENA launched a Renewables Readiness Assessment Panama report, which was presented to Dr Victor Urrutia, Secretary of Energy, Panama, the communiqué further said.

According to IRENA, a central recommendation of the report calls for amendments to the country’s regulation of Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) for variable renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind.

Adnan Z. Amin, Director-General, IRENA, said: “Enabling policies and attractive

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regulatory frameworks can drive renewable energy deployment. Panama’s abundant renewable energy resource potential offers the country an opportunity to costeffectively meet its long-term energy needs.”

Panama’s National Energy Plan is a roadmap that seeks to increase the share of renewables in the power system to 70% by 2050, the communiqué said. By the end of 2016, wind and solar power capacity had reached 270 megawatts (MW) and 90 MW respectively, the communiqué further said.

Dr Urrutia said: “Panama can set a strong example for the Central American region by utilising our potential to generate 70% of our electricity from hydropower, wind and solar resources. Renewables are no longer an alternative option but instead offer a clear path to the future.”

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NEWS GLOBAL

Department of Energy issues Spring Regulatory Agenda Updated agenda lists planned regulatory actions for the near- and long-term

By CCME Content Team

arlier in May, the Department of Energy (DoE) issued its updated regulatory agenda listing the regulatory actions it plans to take in the near- and long-term, AHRI informed its members in a Press communiqué.

Changes in these updated Active and Long-Term lists, which involve rulemakings on products within AHRI's scope are detailed in the General Rulemaking Information section (members-only) of AHRI's Regulatory Resources website, the communiqué said.

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According to AHRI, based on the Active List and indications from DoE, Requests for Information (RFIs) for test procedures for single package vertical air conditioners and heat pumps, automatic commercial ice makers, computer room air conditioners, variable refrigerant flow multi-split air conditioners and heat pumps will likely come out this year. RFIs for test procedures for water-source commercial heat pumps, air-cooled dedicated outdoor air systems, commercial refrigeration equipment, walk-in coolers and freezers refrigeration

systems, commercial water heaters unfired storage tanks, and water- and evaporatively cooled commercial air conditioners and heat pumps will also likely come out this year. The communiqué said action is also indicated for the procedures, interpretations and policies for consideration of new or revised energy conservation standards for consumer products, which DOE intends to finalise prior to other rules.

ASHRAE Learning Institute announces courses for 2018 Annual Conference Courses are open for registration and eligible for Professional Development Hours or Continuing Education Credits, organisers say

By CCME Content Team he ASHRAE Learning Institute (ALI) announced that 10 courses will be offered during ASHRAE's 2018 Annual Conference in Houston, Texas, United States, to be held from June 23 to 27, 2018, via a Press communiqué. This includes four courses being presented for the first time, the communiqué said.

Bjarne W. Olesen, President, ASHRAE, said: "Each ALI course provides meaningful, credible technical information to industry professionals.

We are proud to offer courses that communicate the value of the latest innovations and technology, as we work toward a more sustainable world for the next generation."

New half-day courses include: ‘Advanced Designs for Net Zero Buildings’, ‘Latest in High-Performance Dedicated Outdoor Air Systems (DOAS)’, ‘Save 30 % Complying with Standard 90.1-2013’ and ‘Cool Thermal Energy Storage Systems for Air Conditioning’, the communiqué said.

In addition to the four half-day short courses, two full-day seminars and four additional half-day courses are being offered from June 23 to 26, the communiqué said. All courses are led by experienced professionals to provide real-world engineering guidance, the communiqué further said.

According to ASHRAE, the complete conference course schedule is as follows:

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Joseph Deringer and Erik Kolderup

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June 2018

»:cZg\n BVcV\ZbZci 7Zhi EgVXi^XZh¼ ( =djg ! G^X]VgY Pearson June 24, 2018 »6YkVcXZY 9Zh^\ch [dg CZi OZgd 7j^aY^c\h¼ ( =djg ! EZiZg Simmonds and Charles Eley »AViZhi ^c =^\]"EZg[dgbVcXZ 9ZY^XViZY DjiYddg 6^g HnhiZbh (DOAS)’ (3 Hour), Art Hallstrom June 25, 2018 »HVkZ (% 8dbean^c\ l^i] HiVcYVgY .%#&"'%&(¼ ( =djg !

McHenry Wallace and Joseph Deringer »9Zh^\c^c\ VcY DeZgVi^c\ =^\]"EZg[dgb^c\ =ZVai]XVgZ =K68 Systems’ (3 Hour), Donald Burroughs June 26, 2018 »8dda I]ZgbVa :cZg\n HidgV\Z HnhiZbh [dg 6^g 8dcY^i^dc^c\¼ (3 Hour), Douglas Reindl »KVg^VWaZ GZ[g^\ZgVci ;adl HnhiZb/ 9Zh^\c VcY 6eea^XVi^dc¼ (3 Hour), Paul Doppel and Jocelyn Léger »=jb^Y^in 8dcigda >>/ GZVa"LdgaY EgdWaZbh VcY Hdaji^dch¼ ( Hour), Mark Nunnelly All 10 courses are open for registration and are eligible for Professional Development Hours (PDHs) or Continuing Education Credits (CEUs), the communiqué said.

For more information and to register for the ASHRAE Learning Institute course offerings, visit: www.ashrae.org/houstoncourses.

PRODUCED BY

OFFICIAL PUBLICATION

11 November 2018 | Muscat, Oman

Attendance is free for all, except HVACR manufacturers and suppliers.

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Co-Founder and Commercial Director T: +971 4 375 6833 • M: +971 50 714 7204 F: +971 4 434 1906 • E: fred@cpi-industry.com

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Marketing Executive T: +971 4 375 68 42 • M: +971 55 647 7089 F: +971 4 4341906 • E: marketing@cpi-industry.com

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Kanika Saxena

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Our representative in Saudi Arabia T: +966 566 565 965 E: numair@cpi-industry.com

June 2018

61

NEWS GLOBAL

Schneider Electric, Danfoss, Somfy in partnership initiative The three join forces to create a connectivity ecosystem for residential, mid-size building and hotel markets

By CCME Content Team

chneider Electric, Danfoss and Somfy have through a Press communiqué announced that they are partnering to create a Connectivity Ecosystem that aims to accelerate the adoption of connectivity in residential, mid-size building and hotel markets. Committed to openness and Philippe Delorme interoperability, the three companies combine 300 years of innovation and expertise with the largest global network of trusted installers in the industry, the communiqué claimed.

The partnership brings connectivity for smart homes and smart buildings to maturity by delivering efficient solutions that are easy to integrate and that work simply together, the communiqué said. The connectivity solutions are supported by qualified installers, making them simple and easy for customers to deploy, the communiqué added.

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The global market for connectivity is growing fast, with an estimated 8.4 billion connected devices in 2020. In 2016, fewer than 17% of US homes had any kind of smart home system, and less than four per cent in Europe. Most of these are singleapplication devices.

The challenge is that connectivity is still widely perceived as lacking in simplicity, reliability, interoperability and after-sales support, the communiqué said. Installation quality is also an issue, particularly when the installation process is left in the hands of the end users or unqualified installers, the communiqué added.

Schneider Electric, Danfoss, and Somfy, the communiqué said, believe it is time for major industrial players to come together to accelerate on connectivity and deliver efficient solutions that work simply together. Through the partnership, the three global leaders bring their own field of expertise in lighting, heating and shutter control that are supported by the expertise and proximity of professional network of installers, the communiqué said.

“Controlling lighting, heating and shutters together in one system is a real expertise that we can now jointly offer by combining more than 300 years of industry leadership – all backed by our extensive professional installer networks,” said Lars Tveen, President, Danfoss Heating Segment. “In recent decades, we have also developed a high level of compatibility with other application leaders within HVAC equipment, access control, door entry systems and audio-video. We believe the time has come to further consolidate interaction among other players and to build seamless and simple integration of our applications.”

Belimo launches new butterfly valves and actuators

Innovative technology was especially designed for HVAC, company official says

By CCME Content Team

elimo has launched new butterfly valves and actuators, the company announced in a Press communiqué.

The butterfly valves and actuators were developed together, match with each other and remain maintenance-free throughout their entire lifecycle, the communiqué said. The butterfly valves can be used universally as tight-closing two-way and three-way valves

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June 2018

Added Jean-Guillaume Despature,

CEO, Somfy: “Over many years, we have developed a massive network of over 300,000 installers from around the globe.

Thanks to close, daily interaction, we have built up mutual trust and understanding with our installers. For them, our brands signify reliability, ease-of-use and effective technical support. In addition, our channel partner programmes – Schneider Electric EcoXperts, Somfy Experts and Danfoss installers – are the perfect platforms for us to continue to build and develop connectivity expertise within our channels.”

Further added Philippe Delorme, Executive Vice President for Buildings & IT Business, Schneider Electric: “We have already built established connectivity platforms based on our core applications and have experienced significant success with Schneider Electric’s Wiser, KNX, C-Bus, Danfoss’ Link and Somfy’s TaHoma. We believe in openness and interoperability. Connectivity protocols and platforms are still very diverse. We have built the technology know-how that incorporates all the major communication protocols and is compatible with all emerging user interfaces and voice controllers. And we are fully committed to long-term compatibility with our legacy platforms.”

Under the partnership, Schneider Electric, Danfoss, and Somfy will align their connectivity and technology strategies to develop an open ecosystem, making their products seamlessly interoperable at controller level, or at cloud level through APIs (Application Programming Interface), the communiqué said.

The three companies are committed to train their installer network to ‘champion’ connectivity in their daily activities, helping customers and end-users to deploy solutions that meet

for open-close, change-over and control applications (as mixing and diverting valves), the communiqué further said. The energyefficient and multifunctional actuators guarantee this flexibility, the communiqué added.

According to Belimo, all actuators are fitted with Near Field Communication (NFC).

This allows the actuators to be started up in

their needs and requirements, the communiqué added.

The ecosystem’s first three use cases, demonstrated at Light+Building 2018 trade fair in Germany, are targeting:

=diZa l^i] [jaan ^ciZ\gViZY \jZhi gddb bVcV\ZbZci

=^\]"ZcY gZh^YZci^Va hZ\bZci l^i] WZhi"^c"WgZZY Xdcigdah! combined in a seamless integrated system

CZl ]djh^c\! dg XdbegZ]Zch^kZ ]dbZ gZcdkVi^dc dg je\gVYZ! using a new smart-home-ready electrical panel Illustration: Hotels will fully integrated guests room management The benefits for hotel operations are seamless integration of systems, providing a consistent and excellent guest experience, while optimising energy use without impacting customer comfort and health, the communiqué said. The solution, the communiqué added, also allows hotel facility managers to control everything through a single integrated system.

a matter of minutes, via a smartphone, using the Belimo Assistant app, the communiqué said. They are also very easy to parameterise, and their operating states can also be displayed in this manner, the communiqué added.

Belimo has also succeeded in reducing the torque requirement of the butterfly valves and the power consumption of the actuator, the communiqué said. Energy demand can be cut by up to 80% with the new butterfly valve and actuator combination, the communiqué further said.

According to Belimo, two further highlights of the butterfly valve and actuator combination are the position indicator and smart heating in the actuator. The position of the butterfly

valve can be seen from a distance thanks to the flexible position indicator, the communiqué said. The smart heating prevents condensation inside the actuator, the communiqué further said.

Thanks to an integrated temperature and humidity sensor, the intelligent heating only switches on when actually required by the application, the communiqué added.

The communiqué said the latest Belimo technology for butterfly valves and actuators is the most energyefficient and reliable solution in the heating, ventilation and air conditioning sector. The communiqué added that the main focus of the product series is the simplicity of its installation, the flexibility of its application and its durability.

June 2018

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NEWS GLOBAL

ENGIE Refrigeration to provide cooling solutions at Hamburg Airport

Airport operator selects Quantum chillers for Terminal 2, company official says

By CCME Content Team

NGIE Refrigeration GmbH has secured a major deal to supply Hamburg Airport with cooling solutions, the company announced in a Press communiqué. Hamburg airport has already been running four Quantum chillers at Terminal 1 and on the premises of the German air traffic controller service DFS for several years, the communiqué said. The airport operator has now ENGIE Refrigeration’s Quantum chillers provide cooling at awarded ENGIE Refrigeration the order for handling terminal 2’s Hamburg Airport. refrigeration, the communiqué further said. ENGIE will be installing an innovative refrigeration solution utilising three additional Quantum chillers, the communiqué added.

According to ENGIE Refrigeration, Hamburg Airport handles more than 17 million flight passengers a year. To ensure that all travellers at the airport enjoy a pleasant climate and to keep the technical facilities operating without disruption, air conditioning and process cooling need to be utterly reliable, the communiqué said. ENGIE Refrigeration is collaborating with the engineers from Pinck Ingenieure Consulting to set up new refrigeration technology at Terminal 2, the communiqué further said. Three air-cooled Quantum chillers, each with a capacity of 1.35 megawatts and four oil-free Turbocor compressors, have already been installed on the roof of multi-storey car park P5, the communiqué added.

Jochen Hornung, Managing Director, ENGIE Refrigeration, said, “Airport operators have particularly strict requirements for refrigeration technology. Our refrigeration systems are as safe as they are reliable, meeting the stringent criteria without fail.”

According to ENGIE Refrigeration, the company has been supplying Quantum chillers to airports all over the world for 10 years now – from Bremen to Sri Lanka to Moscow. At present, more than 60 Quantum chillers with a total capacity of around 56,400 kilowatts ensure reliable, efficient cooling at airports, the communiqué said.

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China still the largest market for solar panel air conditioners, says Midea Uptake in Middle East and Southeast Asia slow owing to higher initial cost compared to conventional systems

By Hannah Jo Uy | Features Writer

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June 2018

hina is still the largest market for Midea’s solar-powered air conditioners, said Peck Zhao, Senior Specialist of Marketing, Midea. In the Middle East and Southeast Asia, he said, the market size is not very big, despite some interest, owing to two reasons. “[The first issue] is installation,” he said, “because it occupies space on the roof, which means only villas or big houses have space for it. For apartments, it is not really possible. Secondly, the solar panel and the battery are expensive. For the overall system, the initial cost is still much higher than the conventional system.”

When asked whether growing interest towards renewable energy sources in the GCC region will help advance the penetration of such products, Zhao stressed that the government’s efforts to push is one thing, but acceptance among stakeholders is another issue. Additionally, he said, most of the efforts are directed towards independent solar systems for power generation, not necessarily integration with air conditioning systems. Nevertheless,

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Zhao said, he hopes trends in renewables would go in favour of this, emphasising that he believes Midea is the first company that can claim mass production of this kind of air conditioner. In China, Zhao added, while it is being sold, compared to the total market size it is still very small. “The Chinese market is about 50 million units,” he said, “The solar air conditioner is less than 100,000 [units]. That is less than one per cent.”

This Business Saved 25% on Annual #Electric Cost by Installing #EnergyEfficient Chillers to Cool their Product & Energy Efficient #AirConditioning to Stabilize their #Production & #Distribution Operating Environments.

IndustryArchive.Org @B2BArchive

EU announces Green Public Procurement criteria for Data Centres Core and comprehensive criteria to address stakeholder needs, organisation says

By CCME Content Team

n advance of the second Ad-Hoc Working Group (AHWG2) meeting, to be held in the format of a webinar on 29 and 30 May 2018, the second criteria proposals for Green Public Procurement (GPP) for Data Centres have been published on the Joint Research Centre (JRC) Product Bureau website, the EU JRC announced via a Press communiqué.

According to the JRC, the GPP criteria will be based on the requirements addressed in EU Communication COM (2008) 400, ‘Public Procurement for a better Environment’. The purpose of this project is to develop the EU GPP criteria to have updated, clear and ambitious environmental criteria, based on a lifecycle approach and a scientific evidence base, the communiqué said. Several environmental, safety, technical and functional aspects will be considered, the communiqué further said.

According to the JRC, Continuous wide consultation is foreseen with stakeholders such as manufacturers, supply chain industry, consumer organisations, NGOs and procurers, amongst others. The idea is to engage these stakeholders to discuss the topic and develop a consensus, the communiqué said. Two types of criteria will be proposed: core criteria and comprehensive criteria, where core criteria are those suitable for any contracting authority across the Member States and address the key environmental impacts, while comprehensive criteria are developed for those who wish to purchase the best environmental products available on the market, the communiqué further said.

The communiqué said that stakeholder involvement is a crucial part of the process.

And anyone who wishes to be involved in the consultation process, can register as a stakeholder through the EU JRC website: https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en.

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AMCA International launches AMCA Spec Check mobile app App designed to meet customer needs and exemplifies organisation’s commitment to transparency, says representative

By Hannah Jo Uy | Features Writer

ir Movement and Control Association (AMCA) International has recently launched its AMCA Spec Check mobile app. Robb Clawson, Associate Director, Marketing and Communications, AMCA International, said the app was developed to heed the call of members, as well as customers, including specifying engineers, architects, contractors and other stakeholders, for quick and complete access Robb Clawson to relevant documents pertaining to the Certified Ratings Program (CRP). Clawson added that this new initiative underpins the organisation’s commitment to transparency. “We always try to be transparent with members and the industry,” he said. "This is a whole other tool to do so, and it’s something people are asking for.”

The AMCA Spec Check mobile app allows users to match product types to certification types; identify seals, CRP publications, and test standards for each certification type; send guide-specification language and document references via email or text message; search the AMCA CRP database; search for AMCA members and download AMCA CRP white papers, as well as provides accurate information on the guide-specification language relevant to each certification being offered through the CRP. Some of the quickest and most ardent adopters of the app, Clawson said, have been in the Middle East and Asia. Users in the region, he said, have also been eager to provide feedback.

“We are getting revisions cues and suggestions from users, members and customers,” he said, stressing that that flexibility of the digital platform allows AMCA International to implement regular updates that address specific suggestions, the first wave of which is set to take place in the next few weeks.

The free app, Clawson said, is available for iPhone from the Apple App Store and Android devices from Google Play, with automatic updates.

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GEA Blu low-charge ammonia chillers now available in the United States Modular design accommodates “substitution of HFC chillers,” company official says

By CCME Content Team

üsseldorf, Germany-based OEM GEA has announced that its GEA Blu lowcharge ammonia chillers, which were previously only sold in Europe, are now available in the United States, through a Press communiqué.

Lawrence Bradley, Director of Solution Sales – refrigeration, GEA North America, said, GEA has sold “nearly 300 units of the modular Blu-Astrum chiller in Europe (primarily with glycol) since its launch in 2012.” He further said its modular design accommodates “substitution of HFC chillers.” He added this chiller uses a screw compressor, offers capacities from 156 to 492 TR and an ammonia charge range from 110 to 242 lbs, while the Blu-Genium chiller uses a reciprocating compressor and delivers capacities from 85 to 341 TR. According to GEA, the Blu line has a temperature range from five degrees F (-15 degrees C) to 60 degrees F (15.55 degrees C) and both chillers have high ESEER efficiency, as well as compact dimensions and low noise levels.

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June 2018

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Kanika Saxena

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Co-Founder and Commercial Director T: +971 4 375 6833 M: +971 50 714 7204 F: +971 4 434 1906 E: fred@cpi-industry.com

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In Saudi Arabia, contact:

Numair Sami Alamdar Our representative in Saudi Arabia T: +966 566 565 965 • E: numair@cpi-industry.com

June 2018

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Regional Office: LG Electronics Gulf FZE, P.O Box 61445, Dubai. Tel: +971 4 279 9222, UAE, Mr. Dharmesh Sawant, Tel: +971 50 559 9361, email: dharmesh.sawant@lge.com; Fortune International Trading LLC, Mr. Wail Halbouni, Tel: +971 50 481 3570, email: fortintl@emirates.net.ae; Ghantoot Trading, Mr. Nour Haboush, Tel: +971 50 109 4109, email: nour.h@ghantootgroup.ae; District Cooling Company, Mr. Ahmed Henedi, Tel: +971 50 658 4832, email: ahmed@districtcoolingcompany.com; Al Yousuf Electronics, Mr. Moitra, Tel: +971 50 457 6170, email: pmoitra@alyousuf.com; Bahrain, AJM Kooheji and Sons, Mr. Jayachandran, Tel: +973 36888801, email: v.jayachandran@ajmkooheji.com: Kuwait, Al Babtain Air Conditioning & Refrigeration Co., Mr. Naji Kataya, Tel: +965 5 051 5771, email: nkataya@albabtaingroup.com kw; British Link Kuwait, Mr. Imad Rhayel, Tel: +965 5 157 1229, email: irhayel@blk.com.kw; Oman, Oman Gulf Enterprise, Mr. Narender Kumar, Tel: +968 9 747 4505, email: narenderk@otegroup.com; Aspire Projects and Service, Mr. Vivek Wagh, Tel: +968 99357694, email: vivekwagh@aspireoman.com; Qatar, Video Home Electronics Centre, Mr. Adharsh N Kumar, Tel: +974 5 019 0206, email: adharsh@jumboqatar.com; Mohammad Hayil Group, Mr. Yousif Rustom, Tel: +974 7 001 7067, email: yousif.rustom@alsarh-holding.com; Azerbaijan, NBC LLC., Mr. Elkhan Sadikhov, Tel: +994 50 216 3363, email: elkhan.sadikhov@nbc.com; Al-Con Maxiwell Group, Mr. Vagif Alexperov, Tel: + 994 50 216 2092, email: maxiwellbaku@inbox.ru; Armenia/Georgia, ARAY Gulf, Mr. Vilson Melikjanyan, Tel: +374 9 307 7755, email: vilson@aray.am; Yemen, Modern House Exhibition, Mr. Khaled Jabr, Tel: +967 71 172 0202, email: mail@mhe-yemen.com; Pakistan, Iceberg Industries (Lucky Goldstar), Mr. Imran Jamil Khan, Tel: +923 21 277 6100, email: ceo@icebergindustries.net