CCME - June 2010

Danway makes a case for adsorption

Danfoss in food focus

key perspectives on the region’s hvacr industry

Empower begins Phase 3 in Business Bay

June 2010

Plus Marketplace, comings and goings

Atkins milestone in Bahrain DC project Palm in water initiative

‘Yas, it’s doable’

Challenges are aplenty, but there are ways and means for the district cooling industry to see the downturn through, said participants at the recently concluded DC Dialogue 2010.

PUBLICATION LICENSED BY IMPZ

US$10

this month

Vol. 5 No. 06 | June 2010 04 editorial EB, at last!

happenings 06 The region 37 Comings and goings 38 At large 42 MARKETPLACE 46 perspective Energy saving opportunities in variable flow systems

Combined use of differential pressure controllers and variable speed pumps delivers high energy savings

48 end point

Trane of thought

21

Nigel Hawley, General Manager, Trane (Middle East, India and Africa), speaks of the challenges faced by the HVACR industry today, and his commitment to achieving green building goals, even as he gives us glimpses of his life.

CHILL SUPPLEMENT

Challenges are aplenty, but there are ways and means for the district cooling industry to see the downturn through, said participants at the recently concluded DC Dialogue 2010.

spotlight 21 ‘Yas, it’s doable’

Challenges are aplenty, but there are ways and means for the district cooling industry to see the downturn through, said participants at the recently concluded DC Dialogue 2010.

40 bahrain Turning district cooling

06

10

18

48 June 2010

into a good shade of green

Mary Coons speaks to industry experts about the long and shortterm implications of adopting district cooling in the Middle East. She concludes that despite several ramifications, it deserves to be considered seriously as it offers sustainable solutions.

CLIMATE CONTROL MIDDLE EAST

3

editorial

Publisher Dominic De Sousa Managing Director & Associate Publisher Frédéric Paillé | fred@cpi-industry.com

EB, at last!

T

wo events have marked June as a special month for us at Climate Control Middle East. The first was DC Dialogue 2010, on June 2, which unexpectedly, drew quite a large number of people. I say unexpectedly, because we never intended to have an audience, considering that DC Dialogue has a roundtable format, and so in the strictest sense, is a series of closed-door sessions, each involving, say, 10 participants and a moderator. As it turned out, we had close to 70 people in attendance, and they participated as much as those at the table.

For me, a highlight of the event was a clear evidence of an increase in mindshare for existing buildings. Even a year ago, at conferences in the UAE, the focus was steadfastly new construction – about hunting for projects that had somehow managed to proceed, despite everything, and about how smaller modular units could do the trick.

At Yas, though, substantial airtime went to EB. With more reasonable load profiles emerging, thanks to the chastening effect that the downturn has had, suddenly there was optimism that there was scope to erect smaller plant rooms in existing neighbourhoods.

Footprint-related issues, it seemed, could be surmounted. Case-in point, the suggestion by Ken Currie of Mott MacDonald that the space at existing roundabouts could be used for the purpose of erecting smaller plant rooms, with the cooling towers positioned atop the chillers.

A key aspect that was not discussed in detail, though, was service corridors. Dubai’s services corridors in existing neighbourhoods are highly congested. Where, then, is the scope to entrench supply and return pipelines? True, a certain portion of Sheikh Zayed Road was able to accommodate a district cooling infrastructure, but Dubai’s arterial road is multilaned and nowhere as congested as Deira or Bur Dubai. It is this facility of space that has suddenly made district cooling a viable proposition for Burj Al Arab.

Have I raised an issue that is worth detailed discussion? I would love to hear your thoughts.

The other event that has created quite a buzz in the newsroom is the launch of a dedicated web site for Climate Control Middle East magazine. We were so keen on a June 2 launch, to coincide with DC Dialogue, that we hurried things a bit and put it on board for you to view (www.climatecontrolme.com). Having said that, any web site is a work in progress, and in the coming days and months, you will see quite a ramp up, in terms of content and in the manner in which we present the words and pictures. Happy visiting!

B Surendar

Editorial Director & Associate Publisher B Surendar | surendar@cpi-industry.com Associate Editor Jose Franco | jose@cpi-industry.com Contributing Editors Anoop K Menon | anoop@cpi-industry.com Pratibha Umashankar prati@cpi-industry.com Business Development Manager Vedran Dedic vedran@cpi-industry.com Events / Marketing Manager Deep Karani | deep@cpi-industry.com Design Rey Delante | rey@cpi-industry.com Webmaster Troy Maagma | troy@cpidubai.com Database/ Subscriptions Manager Purwanti Srirejeki purwanti@cpi-industry.com ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES Frédéric Paillé: +971 50 7147204 fred@cpi-industry.com Vedran Dedic: +971 50 5574019 vedran@cpi-industry.com USA and Canada Kanika Saxena Director (North America) 25 Kingsbridge Garden Cir Suite 919 Mississauga, ON, Canada L5R 4B1 kanika@cpi-industry.com Tel/fax: +1 905 890 5031 China Sean Xiao Hui China Business Media Group Room 403, Block 17, Wuyimingzhu, No 6 Jinshan Road, Fuzhou, Fujian, 350008, China Tel: +86 591 8386 3000 Published by

Head Office PO Box 13700 Dubai, UAE Tel: +971 4 375 68 30 Fax: +971 4 43 419 06 Web: www.cpi-industry.com Printed by: Excel Printing Press, Sharjah, UAE © Copyright 2010 CPI. All rights reserved.

While the publishers have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of all information in this magazine, they will not be held responsible for any errors therein.

Get the next issue of Climate Control Middle East early!

4

CLIMATE CONTROL MIDDLE EAST

Did you know that Climate Control Middle East is also available electronically? Get a digitised copy of the magazine every month, before the issue goes for print!

As a bonus, the digital version includes such features as a keyword search, annotation, highlight, notemaking and hot links. For more details, please access www.cpi-industry.com/digital (Zinio is a digital publishing firm based in the USA.) June 2010

happenings

the region

Qatar Cool to host first IDEA conference in Qatar An honour to partner with IDEA, says Fayad Khatib, GM of Qatar Cool

Q

atar Cool, the pioneers of district cooling in Qatar, have cemented their partnership with the International District Energy Association (IDEA) to hold the 5th IDEA International District Cooling Conference in Doha, in November.

The IDEA conference, a major international event, will bring together regional and international district energy professionals and industry leaders to Doha.

The theme of the 2010 conference is ‘District Cooling: Greener Buildings, Smarter Grid’, emphasising the advantages of district cooling systems in improving end-use energy efficiency in customer buildings and reducing the economic and environmental strain on the regional power grid. This is consistent with the leadership and corporate commitment of Qatar Cool, a private sector joint venture company, and other district cooling suppliers to energy efficiency and environmental performance.

This is also in line with Qatar’s 2030 National Vision and its

Fayad Khatib 6

CLIMATE CONTROL MIDDLE EAST

Environmental Development programme, aimed at finding harmony between economic growth, social development and environmental protection.

In this context, Fayad Khatib, GM of Qatar Cool, said: “We are honoured to partner with IDEA for their first conference in Doha and their 5th in the Middle East. This partnership marks an historic step for Qatar Cool and the region, in modernising district cooling services and proving to our stakeholders that district cooling is the way forward for all future cooling needs.”

Added Rob Thornton, President of IDEA: “We are thrilled that Qatar Cool has chosen to partner with IDEA for this important and prestigious conference – a first in Qatar, and hopefully setting a precedent for future IDEA conferences.

We owe it to each other to continue our efforts to garner meaningful consideration for district energy in new climate regulations. We see Qatar Cool as playing an important role in the Middle East with regards to this.

Global investment in cleaner energy solutions continues to accelerate. As an industry, it is important that we understand and contribute to adoption of energy and climate policies that recognise the importance of and potential for district energy solutions as a nearterm climate strategy.”

Continuing on the same theme, Thornton elaborated: “With over 100 years of continuous operation, IDEA is considered a global authority in the field of district cooling.

Each year, at their Annual June 2010

Rob Thornton

Conference and Trade Show, IDEA recognises industry growth and leadership. Last year, at the 100th Annual IDEA Conference held in Washington DC, Qatar Cool beat fierce international competition to walk away with two prestigious awards – The Bronze Award for District Energy Space 2008 Beyond North America for Total Square Footage Committed (Worldwide) and

the Silver Award for District Energy Space 2008 Beyond North America for Most Total Buildings Committed” (Worldwide). And in this year’s recently concluded Conference, in Indianapolis, Qatar Cool took Gold for the most number of buildings (44) committed to district cooling in 2009, and Silver for the total square footage committed (11,060,237) in 2009.

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the region

Tabreed Northshore completes two 87-metre micro-tunnels Atkins announces reaching milestone in Bahrain’s first district cooling project

T

he Tabreed Northshore District Cooling project, for which Atkins is lead consultant and construction supervisor, announced the completion of two 87-metre micro-tunnels underneath the King Faisal Highway.

At a depth of more than 10 metres below ground, the new tunnels, claimed Atkins, were driven below the highway with zero impact on the heavy traffic above, at an average rate of close to six metres per day, using a laser guidance system. The team achieved driving tolerances within ± 20mm in each tunnel.

The parallel 900mm-diameter insulated carbon steel pipes carry district cooling water from the Diplomatic Area chiller plant to Bahrain Financial Harbour, Reef Island and other

Northshore developments, the consultant revealed.

The Diplomatic Area chiller plant, which is nearing completion, has been designed to incorporate capacity for future growth, and will supply chilled water to the Bahrain World Trade Center, among other developments on the south side of King Faisal Highway, it added.

According to Atkins, the project is the first of its kind in Bahrain, and will provide a network of chilled water and cooling to Manama’s densely populated urban areas, significantly reducing the cost of providing air conditioning to offices, residential towers and shopping malls.

Using a Herrenknecht microtunnelling machine Al Husam International and Atkins undertook the project on behalf

of Tabreed District Cooling.

Atkins’ Site Operations Manager, Ian Cordingley, said: “It’s not easy to drill through 86-metres of earth with such little disturbance to the surroundings. The team did a fantastic job in ensuring we deliver a chilled water network that will make the

cooling of developments in Manama more economical and help in reducing Bahrain’s carbon footprint.”

It is anticipated that Tabreed’s Northshore District Cooling project will be completed this summer and will supply 22,800 metric tonnes of chilled water per day.

Perma-Pipe Inc announces a new manufacturing plant in Dammam The facility to be fully operational in 2011

P

erma-Pipe, a subsidiary of MFRI, has announced that its Board of Directors has approved the establishment of an additional insulated pipe manufacturing plant to be located in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, to serve the GCC region and nearby countries. According to Perma-Pipe, the plant will be developed and operated by its subsidiary, Perma-Pipe Middle East (PPME), in tandem with its existing plant in the UAE. A site has been leased in the Dammam industrial area and the detailed plant engineering and design is currently in progress, stated Perma-Pipe. The new manufacturing facility will serve the special requirements of the oil and gas industry as well as district cooling networks in the Kingdom, the company revealed. Perma-Pipe Saudi Arabia, (PPSA), will feature Perma-Pipe’s Xtru-Therm automated

8

CLIMATE CONTROL MIDDLE EAST

June 2010

spray polyurethane insulation and several jacketing systems, including Polyethylene, metal and FRP. PPSA will also be equipped to custom-manufacture pipe spools and a complete range of pre-insulated fittings. The company confirmed that it had received an industrial license and the required commercial registration, and expects the plant to be fully operational in 2011.

“We eagerly anticipate this major strategic initiative, which will address the largest market in the GCC countries,” said Fati Elgendy, President of Perma-Pipe, Inc. “Perma-Pipe Saudi Arabia will serve the KSA district heating and cooling and oil and gas markets in this important and rapidly growing economy. Furthermore, in conjunction with our facility in the United Arab Emirates, the company will be well-positioned to serve customers throughout the region.”

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happenings

the region

Palm Utilities reveals new strategies to cope with UAE’s water challenges UAE to increase water desalination capacity by 76% in six years to offset future water supply issues

P

alm Utilities has announced that it has outlined new strategies to assist in resolving the UAE’s future water challenges. According to the company, the strategies integrate the latest advances in energy utilisation, nano and molecular technologies, as well as innovative water reuse and recycling systems.

This, claimed Palm Utilities, will be crucial, as it seeks to pursue various largescale water desalination and wastewater treatment and reuse projects, helping address the region’s longterm water utility issues.

The company noted that the GCC, which already accounts for more than half of the 11,000 desalination facilities worldwide, expects an eight per cent annual growth of desalination plants as water demand continues to increase sharply among Gulf countries.

Palm Utilities revealed that according to a recent study

by Japanese investment bank, Nomura Securities, the UAE, which is one of the world’s

Yousuf Kazim

largest per capita water consumers, is expected to increase desalination capacity by 76% to 14.1 million cubic metres a day by 2016. This comes as the UAE’s natural water resources are expected to shrink by 16% in the next decade.

In the light of this, Palm Utilities stated that it has consolidated its technical and manpower resources to accommodate the increasing number of projects for

IMEC and Pegler Yorkshire partner to supply valves

I

MEC and Pegler Yorkshire recently announced their partnership alliance for the supply of Pegler Valves to the HVAC market. The valves are made in accordance with both UK and international standards. Pegler Yorkshire, with over 100 years of manufacturing experience in the valve industry, has its factory in Doncaster, UK.

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CLIMATE CONTROL MIDDLE EAST

June 2010

energy-efficient and costeffective desalination facilities in the UAE and the rest of the GCC. Yousuf Kazim, CEO of Palm Utilities, said: “Growing population and increasing industrialisation have strained the fresh water supply levels in the Arab World – a trend that is evident in countries such as, the UAE. This has given rise to the importance of desalination as a key

component in addressing the region’s long-term water challenges, resulting in several billions of dollars being invested in various desalination projects across the UAE, and in several other GCC countries. With the latest technological advances, desalination has become a truly viable long-term solution, as we are now able to produce purified water in a more energy-efficient and affordable manner.”

happenings

the region

Leminar in capital initiative

Company showcases its partners at manufacturer symposium in Abu Dhabi

L

eminar in May conducted a manufacturer symposium in Abu Dhabi, with the aim of showcasing its business partners to key decisionmakers in the capital city.

Among those present were Rheem, IQ Air, Casals and Weicco.

In an introductory presentation, Navin Valrani of Leminar said the company represented a number of HVAC brands and that they were leaders in their respective fields. Most of the brands, Valrani added, counted Leminar as their largest representative in the globe. For instance, Leminar is Rheem’s largest seller outside the United States. Likewise, the company is the largest Kimmco customer in the world, Valrani further added.

During his presentation, Valrani said he was proud to announce that the Abu Dhabi Civil Defence had just that day given its approval to Casals and Twin City smoke and heat fans and to Weicco’s firefighting pipe hangers.

In his presentation, Valrani also revealed Leminar’s growth plans. He said that Oman was in the cards in 2010 for a Leminar presence and that the company was looking to open into one country every year.

Following Valrani’s speech, representatives from each of the partners made a presentation. Going up first, Samer Tulimat of Rheem spoke on global warming and about how CO2 was the main culprit. “Four-fifth of the carbon dioxide is created by burning fossil fuels to generate electricity, through vehicular emissions and from running our industries,” Tulimat said. “In that context, it is important to develop more efficient power plants, focus on alternative energy 12

Navin Valrani makes a point during his opening speech. To his left are the representatives from Casals, Weicco and Rheem.

and, equally important, focus on reducing power consumption.” The last can be achieved through efficient cooling technologies.

Rheem, Tulimat said in his presentation, had started manufacturing high-efficiency units, from 13 SEER to 18 SEER. “And now since R22 is being phased out, we have converted to R407A,” he added.

Rheem, Tulimat further added, was the first manufacturer to introduce 13 SEER with R410A and T3 compressor. This unit, Tulimat said, was highly durable across all temperatures and was able to work at even 52ºC. Tulimat’s colleague, Harish Kapadia spoke after him.

Kapadia, an executive director with Rheem, said that the company had successfully applied Rheem units in highrise buildings in the UAE. To date, Kapadia said, there were over 300,000 units operating in the UAE. Besides dischargecondensing units, the company’s offerings in the

CLIMATE CONTROL MIDDLE EAST

June 2010

UAE included floor-standing AHUs and double-skin AHU, Kapadia said.

Going into specifics, Kapadia said that Rheem had successfully implemented in Sharjah the company’s oil separator technology as a solution for a challenge relating to high-rise structures. Thanks to the technology, Kapadia said, it was possible to separate the oil from the refrigerant that came out of the discharge and to send hot pure refrigerant

back. Owing to this, the compressor life is enhanced, Kapadia said. “Following the success in Sharjah, we want to replicate this in Abu Dhabi,” Kapadia said. “We are in touch with contractors, and we want to install it in Abu Dhabi. We are here to serve them in all kinds of difficult installations in high-rise buildings in an economical manner.”

Following his presentation, Rajeev Mehra of Weicco gave a detailed profile of the company.

the region

innovation. The company’s manufacturing process, he added, included sheet metal laser cutting, moulding, stamping, spot welding, TIC welding, epoxy powder paintwork, final assembly and verification. Every fan, Hernandez said, was tested for operational performance in an in-site laboratory.

During his presentation, Hernandez said that Casals enjoyed a 16% market share in the UAE, with its products installed in Emirates Cement

Plant in Ras Al Khaimah, Rashid hospital and at the Dubai Investments Park, among other sites.

Hernandez’s colleague, Arnau Tinto, also spoke during the symposium, choosing to focus on specific Casals products. Tinto said that Casals had been collaborating with Leminar for four years and that Leminar was responsible for new variations of fans.

“Our company has delivered hundreds of special models

adapted to its customers’ needs,” Tinto said. “The Direct Drive Twin Box is an example.

We designed following a Leminar request in the UAE.” During his presentation, Tinto revealed that Casals had more than 2,000 models for buildings and industrial ventilation. Among them were the company’s jet fans, Tinto said. “The jet fans are in Dubai but not yet popular in Abu Dhabi,” Tinto said.

“Hopefully, we will have it here, as well.”

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Saying that Weicco boasted of the largest range of accessories for mechanical systems in the world, Mehra added that the company has installed its products in over a 1,000 projects in the GCC alone.

Mehra said Weicco was robust, because it had completely internalised the production of the complete chain of products in its factory in northern India. Be it product design, die-making or surface finishing, Weicco was able to accomplish them in-house, Mehra said.

Owing to this approach, the company had total control over quality, he added.

Further to production, Weicco carried out rigorous testing procedures. “We carry out 100% outgoing testing for many products,” Mehra said.

“All products are subjected to hydrostatic pressure testing and X-Ray welding inspection.”

In his presentation, Mehra then listed out various Weicco products, like rubber support inserts, insulation protection saddles, engineered spring supports, vibration isolators and seismic restraints, cased spring mounts, open spring mounts, thrust restraints, spring hangers and inertia base frames. These, he said, incorporated design features, which enhanced the quality of installation.

A key strength of Weicco as a company, Mehra said, was the technical support it provided to its customers, which, he claimed, was beyond industry norms.

Typically, Mehra added, technical support included off-site meetings with customers and interaction with product designers to offer customised solutions.

After Mehra, Santiago Hernandez of Casals made a presentation on behalf of the Spain-headquartered fan manufacturer. Saying that the company had earned ISO 9001: 2008, Hernandez added that Casals stood for systematic work, planning, documentation and

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13

happenings

the region

Refrigeration seminar spotlights food quality, e-e

Installation issues, maintenance and service come up for discussion

D

anfoss in May organised a food quality seminar in Dubai, the aim of which was to introduce its Adap-Kool system as a solution for food retailers.

The seminar attracted clients in the form of supermarket chains in the UAE, who while eager to learn about energy-efficiency solutions, wanted to hear about reliability-related issues of the compressors and other equipment, proper installation procedures and satisfactory after-sales service by qualified and trained technicians.

Javier Lazaro, Sales Director (EMA) at Danfoss, led the presentation, with support from Vikram Singh, Sales Manager (Food Retail), Danfoss.

In his presentation, Lazaro said that anything that Danfoss implemented in terms of refrigeration solutions came at no extra cost to the clients, motivated as it was by a need to fulfill compliance requirements imposed by HACCP. The solutions, he added, aided

in reducing food loss and in realising energy savings, which worked to 35% of actual consumption.

Then, speaking specifically on energy efficiency, Lazaro said that 30% of the energy consumed in supermarkets went for HVAC systems, 21% for lighting and a whopping 41% for refrigeration, with eight per cent for other functions and facilities. (Some members of the audience pointed out, though, that there was a need to factor in the power consumed by the bakery, in the form of ovens, which was quite substantial, and that the HVAC load was slightly higher than 30%.)

Lazaro said the potential for energy savings existed, in the forms of evaporator efficiency; compressor and condenser efficiency; fan, rail heat and defrost efficiency; and heat recovery (HVAC).

Speaking, in particular, about HVAC systems, Lazaro highlighted independent equipment coordination (AHUs, split units), on/ off scheduling (per store zones) and the measuring of the store temperature as

important aspects to realising efficiency.

If you have a drive, it is important to run the electronic expansion valves, Lazaro added. “With an electronic expansive valve, you bring advantage to the controller and bring defrost efficiency,” he said. “You can optimise the defrost function, the number of defrosts you want to have.”

Responding to the presentation, a member of the audience said that energy efficiency was a commendable goal, but no matter how energy-efficient he got as a supermarket, there was no way he could be anything but a top-tier consumer, in the context of DEWA’s slab-rate tariff system. “The Government does not give me any incentive to cut down on power use, though I must add that electricity is cheaper here when compared to Europe. In other words, I don’t get a tier-bonus for consuming less here.”

Further, Lazaro said that it was the endeavour of Danfoss to provide reliable and easy-

The Adap-Kool system

T

he aim of the seminar was to showcase the Adap-Kool system.

Lazaro said during the seminar that Danfoss had installed 50,000 Adap-Kool solutions worldwide and that they had helped realise a savings of five billion kilo-watt hours a year.

The Adap-Kool, Lazaro said, provided the lowest possible running cost, improved food quality and longer system lifetime. Adap-Kool means adaptive suction pressure, adaptive condensing pressure, adaptive defrost and adaptive rail heat, Lazaro added. “The more you reduce the condensing pressure, the more you increase suction pressure, the better is the COP,” he said.

In terms of food quality, Lazaro said, the Adap-Kool is a reliable technology that minimises costly breakdowns. In case of a system failure, all controllers in the system feature an emergency back-up function that prevents a considerable amount of food loss and disruption.

The Adap-Kool, Lazaro said, was designed to be integrated into a complete system but could easily be adapted to work within existing installations, if necessary.

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CLIMATE CONTROL MIDDLE EAST

June 2010

Javier Lazaro

to-use products, tools and data management solutions for automated routines. “We provide tools to facilitate maintenance, to optimise service routines, and to carry out intelligent data analysis and early alert and pro-active protocols,” he said. “We provide service for preventing maintenance.”

Responding to the maintenance and service features highlighted by Lazaro, another member of the audience said that local support was important to her as a client. She said she was keen on associating with a global partner, as long as she got adequate local support.

“However, there is a serious issue that most technicians are not able to use the maintenance equipment,” the member of the audience said. “Though Danfoss provides automatic controls, without proper knowledge, technicians bypass and make it manual.”

Responding to this, Singh said that Danfoss was happy to organise workshops to give hands-on training to technicians from the client’s side.

the region

Palm Utilities wins accolades Bags Best Water Project Award at Arab Investment Summit 2010

P

alm Utilities, provider of integrated sustainable utility solutions, received the Best Water Project Award during the Arab Investment Summit 2010, held recently in Abu Dhabi. Accoding to the company, it was recognised for its use of the Dual Work Exchanger Energy Recovery (DWEER) system for the Palm Jumeirah seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) plants, resulting in up to 19% power savings and a significant reduction in carbon footprint.

The DWEER system, stated Palm Utilities, has been in operation for the past 18 months and for the period January 2009 to January 2010, the system has helped save over 3.3 million kilowatt-hour in energy consumption through the reuse of reject energy, thus helping conserve the ecosystem and sustain its precious resources.

Commenting on the occasion, Yousuf Kazim, CEO of Palm Utilities, said: “Environmental responsibility is a corporate culture that is cherished within

the entire organisation. In this regard, Palm Utilities has made significant investments to constantly improve our technology and maintain a highly skilled and experienced team of specialists. The

latest distinction we have received at the Arab Investment Summit validates our sincere desire to contribute positively in the sustainable development of our society.”

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happenings

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ABB announces Emarati engineering students scholarships in Sweden

Programme to help aspiring electrical engineers gain skills to enter workforce

T

he power and automation technology company, ABB, has joined forces with the Swedish Trade Council to offer talented Emirati graduates scholarships to cater to the growing demand for Emirati engineers in the UAE. As part of the new programme, ABB announced that it will sponsor every year two promising UAE national students pursuing a degree in engineering, to complete a master’s degree in electrical engineering at the Royal Institute of Technology in

Stockholm.

This is the second time that the Swedish Trade Council is working with ABB on a scholarship programme in the Middle East, aimed at promoting local engineering talent.

According to ABB, the first batch of students will commence the graduate programme in September 2011. The scholarship will cover all expenses, including accommodation, transport, medical insurance and books.

Students will also receive hands-on training at ABB’s

facilities in Sweden.

“This scholarship programme will give aspiring UAE engineers a unique opportunity to develop their engineering skills and industry knowledge in a completely new environment,” said Jana Vasickova, Human Resources Manager for ABB in the UAE. “In the UAE, there is a huge demand for qualified Emirati engineers in all industry sectors, and this programme will help ensure promising students have the skills and experience needed to

succeed in the industry and contribute to the country’s growth in the long run.”

“We are delighted to cooperate with ABB, as part of their corporate social responsibility programme in the region,” said Mats Paulson, Head of Swedish Trade Council, Middle East.

“We hope that this scholarship programme will evolve and spread to key countries in the Middle East, as it will help talented young nationals across the region grow into tomorrow’s leaders in engineering.”

Over 200 companies congregate at ACW 2010 Event serves as platform to display green building solutions from across the region

H

is Excellency Khalfan Saeed Juma Al Kaabi, the first Vice Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce and Industry, inaugurated the Arabian Construction Week (ACW) 2010, on May 24.

Touted to be Abu Dhabi’s only dedicated construction exhibition and regional summit for sustainable and innovative construction, it brought together over 200 exhibitors.

The three-day event, covering an over 8,000 squaremetre area at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC), featured four exhibitions, including the Green Building Middle East, Future-Build Middle East, Building Machinery Middle East and Civil Engineering Middle East. In addition, two regional summits – Arabian World Construction Summit (AWCS) and the Green Building Middle East Summit and Expo were also held.

The Green Building Middle East showcased sustainable construction products, while Future-Build Middle East was a platform for new technology and innovative construction projects. Civil Engineering Middle East, meanwhile, was meant for exchanging solutions for major infrastructure and transport projects, and at

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CLIMATE CONTROL MIDDLE EAST

June 2010

Building Machinery Middle East, industry brands and dealers displayed cranes, excavators, heavy vehicles, machine tools, concrete, as well as waste and recycling equipment. The AWCS and Green Building Middle East Summit witnessed international spokespersons analysing issues faced by the region’s construction industry.

According to the organisers, MECOM Forums/Clarion Events, ACW served as a platform for companies to display a range of green building solutions, as well as innovative engineering products and services to buyers from across the Middle East and the neighbouring regions.

In addition to the conference programme, ACW acted as a pre-tender sourcing forum for the region’s existing and potential construction and infrastructure projects, the organisers stated.

Christopher Hudson, Managing Director of Mecom Forums, dubbed ACW as a first-of-its-kind event in the region, which brought together industry leaders and policy makers.

ACW was supported by MEED. Shell Lubricants and the Abu Dhabi Department of Municipal Affairs were the headline sponsors.

the region

Empower begins phase 3 of DC network in Business Bay

CEO says Bay Square cooling district network is on schedule

A

s part of its move to provide integrated district cooling services for the entire Business Bay project, Emirates Central Cooling Systems Corporation (Empower) recently announced that it has begun the third phase of the 70,000 TR district cooling network for the Bay Square within Business Bay. The company had earlier announced the completion of two phases of the project, which include the Executive Towers, and the Towers Area that overlooks Sheikh Zayed Road, from Emirates Airlines Building extending to the rear of the Executive Towers, with 50,000 TR. According to Empower,

it has implemented the project within the set budget and timeline.

Elaborating on this, Ahmed Bin Shafar, CEO of Empower, said: “We divided the implementation of district cooling network of Business Bay, which is one of the busiest and dynamic business spots, not only of Dubai, but also of the Middle East, into three phases, as per demand and supply. We worked according to the timeline by constructing temporary and semi-permanent work stations. As always, bestof-breed technologies were used in constructing this world-class network to ensure highest performance and quality.”

Maico gets Eurovent certification

Bin Shafar added: “This project plays a crucial role in saving natural resources by saving electricity and water consumption in all the residential and business units.

The start of phase three of the third phase of the district cooling network reflects the high calibre of our staff, who have been working on similar challenging jobs since the inception of Empower in 2003.”

Apart from providing energy-efficient district cooling services to Business Bay, Empower’s other projects include real estate developments, such as Dubai International Financial Center, Dubai Healthcare

City, Jumeirah Beach Residence and City of Arabia.

Noting that district cooling is gaining wider recognition in the region, and District cooling systems (DCS) achieve economies of scale by using centralised plants instead of individual cooling units in each building, Bin Shafar said that the centralised system results in reduced capital and operating costs, thus reducing air conditioning set-up and energy costs per building.

“This new network saves energy by 40%,” he said. “We are satisfied with Empower’s role in disseminating the district cooling technology in the UAE via this world-class network.”

Selection software was exclusively developed for their AHUs

M

aico Gulf, announced that it has acquired the Eurovent Certification for its entire Dynair range of air handling units, which are manufactured in the UAE. The company claimed that it is among the few manufactures in the GCC having this certification, which stands for product quality and performance.

According to Maico Gulf, the complete design of the units was done by an expert team of technical engineers from their offices in Germany and Italy, employing user-friendly, interactive selection software for their air handling units.

Maico Gulf further claimed that the software was exclusively developed by its engineering/IT team, headed by Ravi Sharma.

Maico Gulf highlighted the following aspects that it said, helped the company acquire

the certification: • A team of CAD engineers, which provides solutions, engineering analysis services, finite element modelling, product model and CFD analysis • Specialised services such as customised design of air handling units using reverse engineering • Focus on R&D and investing in upgrading manufacturing technologies and capabilities • Constant upgrading of product designs • The ISO systems and equipment, supported by advanced software packages, including those for system design, heat exchange and selection • Focus on adaptability of local climate and innovating for product performance • Dynair DAH series of AHUs based on the modular concept of assemblies June 2010

CLIMATE CONTROL MIDDLE EAST

17

happenings

the region

DSI announces posting profit for Q1 2010 Reports maintaining operating margins despite current market challenges

D

rake & Scull International (DSI) reported Dh42 million in net profits for the first quarter of 2010, ending March 31, and revenues of Dh386 million for the same period.

Elaborating on this, Osama Hamdan, CFO, DSI said: “Q1 2009 net operating profit of Dh48 million before amortisation and interest income compares to Dh37 million net operating profit in Q1 2010, before amortisation.

These results reflect a year-on-

year 23% drop in operating profit. It is worth mentioning that in spite of the current market challenges, we have maintained our operating margins.”

“Our revenue was affected by the extension of project completion dates and the pre-construction activities of our new projects, in addition to the development of our operations in new territories, like Egypt, Oman and Saudi Arabia,” stated DSI CEO, Khaldoun Tabari. “We have

seen a positive start to the year with over Dh1 billion worth of projects being added to our backlog, currently standing at Dh4 billion as of April 1. This will have a positive effect on our future revenue, which is expected to materialise in the second half of the year,” he added.

According to DSI, in another development, its board of directors also approved the start of the company’s operations in Syria, which is expected to

come into effect by the end of the year.

“The companies we acquired in 2009 and early 2010, Passavant – Roediger, Drake & Scull Qatar and Drake & Scull Kuwait, are being integrated with our corporate operations, and will start generating revenue by the second half of the year.

Our planned growth strategy will deliver the results expected in accordance with our overall 2010 financial targets,” said Tabari.

Weatherite makes a case for adsorption chillers UK-based company presents key features of the technology at Danway seminar

D

anway in May conducted a technical seminar in Dubai, during which its UK-headquartered partner, Weatherite made a presentation on adsorption chillers.

Speaking at the seminar, Gerald Weston, Sustainable Solutions Executive at Weatherite Manufacturing Limited, explained the principles and the start-up procedure of an adsorption chiller, and its advantages.

The chiller has a simple and short start-up, Weston said.

It is capable of producing chilled water temperature as low as 3ºC, and boasts of a stable operation and a stable chilled water output, he added.

The adsorption chiller uses trigen, solar and waste heat, Weston said. “It can be applied in the Northern Emirates, where there is an issue with the availability of power,” Weston said. “You can link it to a gen set and use it for cooling. You don’t have to generate that much electricity, because cooling is coming from waste heat.”

To date, Weatherite has not done anything on solar, Weston admitted, but added that adsorption technology works very well with solar. “There are several installations in California, where they use solar,” Weston said.

When asked how the Gerald Weston chiller works in ambient

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CLIMATE CONTROL MIDDLE EAST

June 2010

L-R: Alaa Eldin Mahmoud, Gerald Weston, Jim Gale and Sam Taleb

conditions of 45ºC, Weston said that when the condensing water temperature rises, the performance does drop, but still the adsorption chiller was better than an absorption chiller with regards to performance.

Expressing optimism that there certainly was a market for adsorption chillers in the UAE, Weston added that his confidence stemmed from the fact that there were a number of production facilities all over the UAE. “These facilities do give out waste heat,” Weston said, “so you can look at localised cooling.”

Earlier, Sam Taleb, the MD of Danway, opened the seminar by expressing confidence in the partnership with the UK-headquartered company. Through signing up with Weatherite, Taleb said, Danway has clearly signalled its intention that it is not just about switchgears but that it also wants to provide a one-stop-shop solution to the market.

Also present at the seminar were Jim Gale, the MD of Weatherite and Alaa Eldin Mahmoud, Division Manager (Pumps) at Danway.

the region

‘Ground reality to drive growth in ME construction sector’

Forming strategic alliances is key to success in region, say experts at third AWC Summit

A

fter a particularly challenging 2009, the regional construction industry is poised for renewed and sustained growth that will essentially be based on servicing the real needs of a progressive Middle East, rather than speculation.

This was the observation made by the panelists at the opening session of the third Arabian World Construction Summit (AWCS) that took place in Abu Dhabi, as part of the Arabian Construction Week, from May 24 to 26.

‘Growing in a Challenging Market’, was the central theme of the Summit.

According to the organisers, the Summit was designed to look at strategies to win new work and beat the slowdown in current projects.

The opening session featured two panel discussions that saw government and public sector officials, regional CEOs, as well as executives from the private sector discussing the trajectory the regional construction industry was taking in the aftermath of the global economic crisis.

Panelists included Her Excellency Fatima Obaid Al Jaber, COO of Al Jaber Group; Mustafa Sani Sener, President and CEO, TAV; Tahir Sharif, President of buildingSMART ME; Johan Beerlandt, CEO, Besix Group, Dr Faysal Alaquil, Director of Business Development and Administration Affairs, Construction Products Holding Company; Riad Kamal, Chairman of Arabtec; Samer Khoury, EVP Operations of CCC, and Dr Ali Al Zahrani, Director, Corporate Planning,

General Authority of Civil Aviation, Saudi Arabia.

During the course of the discussion, Her Excellency Fatima Obaid Al Jaber said: “The impact of the real estate downturn was felt most by Dubai, but far less by Abu Dhabi and other countries in the region. 2010 is seeing the markets return to cautious optimism.”

Pointing out that one of the foremost challenges for the sector is to achieve diversity in the contracted projects undertaken, she said: “We need to think not just real estate, but also infrastructure, utilities, energy, healthcare and education. We need to expand our geographies of operation, as well. A lot of local companies can go regional and benefit mutually from common synergies.”

While Saudi Arabia was identified as the country where a bulk of the contractual opportunities were being made available, other countries such as Kuwait, Qatar, the UAE, Iraq, Algeria and Libya, too, were noted as having immense market potential due to significant governmental expenditure on various infrastructure projects.

Dr Alaquil, commenting on the Kingdom’s healthy trend, said: “Saudi Arabia is representative of the forward momentum and the opportunities that exist in the region. Not only is it the largest GCC country by population, but also, close to 50% of the Saudis are below the age of 30. The national government is committed to meeting the needs of the people and considerable

investment is being made in projects in the energy, utilities, transport, healthcare and education sectors.”

Said Khoury, “In the oil and gas sphere, Iraq is expected to become a hotbed for contracting activity within the next decade. Algeria and Libya too show huge potential.”

Johan Beerlandt, COO of Besix Group, which joined hands with Arabtec in the building of the the Burj Khalifa, said: “It is vital today for construction companies to form strategic alliances with corporate peers, as this is the realistic way forward to

June 2010

ensure long-term growth.”

David Barwell, CEO, AECOM Middle East, who was part of the panel discussion on the first day of the conference, said: “This was an ideal opportunity to discuss a wide range of issues, including how you ensure that your business remains strong in the face of the downturn, and how we have responded to increased competition, whilst still effectively managing costs and investing for growth.”

Examining the challenges that remain in the region, the panelists concurred that the biggest concern was the ability of the financial sector to fund construction projects.

The Al Jaber Group, CPC, Unibeton/Al Fara’a Group, TEKLA, Aconex, Dynamic Staffing Services, TAV Construction, Volvo Construction Equipment and Zurich Global Energy were the key sponsors of AWCS 2010. The event was supported by MEED.

CLIMATE CONTROL MIDDLE EAST

19

happenings

the region

Emerson Process Management launches new office facility in Abu Dhabi The investment of $4 million made as part of the company’s regional expansion plan for 2010

E

merson Process Management, a wholly owned Emerson company, recently announced the launch of its new office in Abu Dhabi, with an investment of $4 million.

The new 22,000-square-foot office is located in Musaffah Industrial Area.

Speaking at the launch, Dave Tredinnick, President of Emerson Process Management, Middle East and Africa, said: “Emerson Process Management is continuing to invest across the Middle East

and Africa, in terms of people, facilities and leadership. We have experienced tremendous growth across all of our businesses. One of our key growth initiatives is to continue to move our operations closer to our customers, in terms of manufacturing, service and support. This year, we will be opening three new facilities, in close promximity to our installed base, Abu Dhabi, Jubail, Saudi Arabia and Ras Laffan, Qatar.”

Cor Corbeek, General Manager, Emerson Process

Management, added that the importance of Abu Dhabi as a key growth market, increasing competitiveness within the sector and the need to offer comprehensive sales and aftersales services, had led to the launch of the facility.

In this context, Ahmad Nabulsi, Managing Director of Trizac Abu Dhabi, Emerson Process Management’s local business partner, said that the new facility would help explore new business opportunities, to further stimulate the company’s growth.

According to Emerson Process Management, the new facility currently has 40 employees. The number is expected to more than quadruple within the next five years, as the office would serve as a sales hub and flow service centre, providing systems staging and integration for process systems and solutions, as well as power and water solutions, Rosemount Quick Ship and Repairs, project engineering and services, training and project management solutions.

New strategies to survive construction slowdow

Public-private partnerships to lead the way in infrastructure projects, say organisers of CityBuild

T

he financing of major multi-billion dollar infrastructure projects such as roads, railways, electricity, water and universities in the Middle East are likely to be driven in future by increased use of public-private partnerships, according to industry observers. This was the observation made during CityBuild Abu Dhabi, a tradeshow for the region’s building and construction industry, held from 18-21 April at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre. The event brought together industry suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, architects, engineers, importers and procurement decision-makers, and was staged alongside Cityscape Abu Dhabi. As part of the construction summit, speakers addressed the challenge of developing strategies for surviving the construction downturn, as well as for maximising competitiveness and utilising alternative funding models.

“The fact is that international investors are finding it tough to secure traditional infrastructure project funding in today’s new world economic climate,” said Graham Wood, Group Director, CityBuild Abu Dhabi. “The construction boom may have slowed down within the Arabian Gulf, now, with a more considered approach to development, but there are still about $114-billion worth of construction and infrastructure projects due to be awarded over the next 12 months.”

Wood observed that the market was being driven by

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June 2010

projects in Abu Dhabi. Presently, the UAE capital accounts for more than half of the top 10 infrastructure projects by value, in the Gulf.

“Abu Dhabi is already leading the way in private financing to pay for infrastructure. It is using public-private partnership (PPP) funding methods with the new campus at Al-Ain University and the new Paris-Sorbonne and Zayed Universities in the capital,” he elaborated.

“The PPP approach is also being used on a highway through Abu Dhabi to the UAE’s border with Saudi Arabia, and other Gulf countries, such as, Qatar and Bahrain are looking at using the system,” he added.

Saying that a whole range of new trends were emerging in the region’s construction sectors, as businesses assessed the impact reduced client finances are having on budgets, tenders and supplier criteria, he concluded that margins are under pressure with contractors and consultants being squeezed, to achieve better value, and that there was tighter due diligence than before, as organisations attempted to reduce risk.

Industry advisers also urged a back-to-basics riskmanagement approach. when it came to project financing.

“The inherent risks faced by construction firms in the Gulf region over the past three to four years demonstrate how important a risk-management plan is to a contractor,” said Cynthia Corby, Audit Partner for Deloitte in the UAE, in a recent report.

A CLIMATE CONTROL MIDDLE EAST MAGAZINE SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT

TRACKING THE DC INDUSTRY IN THE MIDDLE EAST

summer 2010

‘Yas, it’s doable’ Challenges are aplenty, but there are ways and means for the district cooling industry to see the downturn through, said participants at the recently concluded DC Dialogue 2010.

spotlight

This is the first of a three-part report on the recently concluded DC Dialogue 2010 in Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, which consisted of a series of three roundtables. The report is based on the first roundtable, titled ‘Contracting challenges: exploring new avenues for profitability’. Subsequent reports will focus on the roundtables that looked at arbitration and legal challenges in district cooling, and metering and billing issues in district cooling.

‘Yas, it’s doable’ Challenges are aplenty, but there are ways and means for the district cooling industry to see the downturn through, said participants at the recently concluded DC Dialogue 2010.

T

Story: B Surendar

Photographs: Rey Delante

hree years ago, at the inaugural DC Dialogue, held in Dubai, the mood had been buoyant as 11 industry folk deliberated on the operations and maintenance aspects of district cooling. The discussions, held amidst a real estate boom, had been high

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on intensity, focusing as they did on critical issues like the low delta T syndrome and the need for properly maintaining cooling towers from an energy efficiency point of view and a health perspective.

In the second edition of DC Dialogue, held on June 2 at Yas Island, in Abu Dhabi, a different

Roundtable ONE

Topic: Contracting challenges: exploring new avenues for profitability Moderator: Masood Raza, PAL Technology Participants: Mohammad Abusaa, ADC Energy Systems Tawfiq Abu Soud, Drake & Scull Ken Currie, Mott MacDonald Prabhakar Naik, John Buck International S G Thiyagarajan, TransGulf Electromechanical Abdullah Zeneeh, Rio ELectromechanical

kind of intensity was on display.

This time around, the number of people present swelled. While 2007 had drawn 11 people and no audience, Yas Island drew not only a larger participation but also a large audience, all eagerly converging to hear what could be done to resuscitate an industry in distress.

C

Post Lehman, the district cooling industry began to flounder as it hit road blocks spurred by a precipitous slowing down of real estate construction. During 2006, 2007 and much of 2008, it had transformed into a behemoth that constantly fed on a slew of new projects – in Dubai, in particular – to keep the momentum alive.

The downturn in its wake mauled the momentum, forcing the industry to look for sustenance for survival. Despondency crept in, though George Berbari of DC Pro Engineering, speaking as a member of the audience at Yas, pointed out that the melancholy was the offshoot of an exaggerated fear, considering that other avenues for business never did go away. Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia and Qatar were – and continue to be – robust, he said. UAE’s capital, he added, had such projects as the Khalifa University (20,000 TR), Saadiyat Island first phase (42,000 TR) and Abu Dhabi

M

Y

CM

MY

CY CMY

Airport (300,000 TR), over the next 15 years. In Saudi Arabia, he pointed out, Makkah and Madinah also had several projects, and in Qatar, Lusail alone had 400,000 TR in the pipeline.

Berbari’s comments notwithstanding, DC Dialogue at Yas Island essentially became an exercise in collectively identifying challenges, agreeing that they, indeed, were legitimate challenges, and proposing solutions.

A key challenge that the downturn immediately threw up was the lack of availability of sufficient projects in the market, compared to two years ago.

While projects do exist to this day, as Berbari said, they are not sufficient, considering the large number of contractors vying for a share of a considerably smaller pie. By way of offering solutions, the participants agreed that there was a need to think broadly. Abdullah Zeneeh of Rio Electromechanical said that he saw an opportunity for growth and sustenance by focusing on

Masood Raza

Summer 2010 | CHILL

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K

spotlight

Abdullah Zeneeh

Thiyagarajan

existing buildings. Building owners, he said, were now being careful in sizing their plant rooms, in contrast to the profligacy of the past. The new mindset, he said, meant that it was possible to build smaller plant rooms in congested neighbourhoods and, thus, overcome the constraint of a smaller footprint.

Ken Currie of Mott MacDonald, and a long-time proponent of a modular approach, said that distributed cooling was, indeed, the answer. A smaller plant room, he said, meant a smaller piping network, which could be accommodated even in congested utility corridors.

Some of the participants said that while building a smaller modular plant room was, indeed, a solution for Dubai, the proposal was not attractive enough to many building owners, and also end-users, because they lacked a

true awareness and education about district cooling and because they had developed several misconceptions about the costs involved. Said Mohammad Abusaa, of ADC Energy Systems: “Some people are walking away, because they have seen only the large plant rooms and, thus, feel that district cooling will be expensive.” Added Zeneeh: “Also, the existing plants have never showed what they have achieved. A plant room is not what it was designed for. So the contractor has to prove (the effectiveness of district cooling) by using, say, BMS. Developers and investors want to see results. It has not been proved so far, and strongly. The figure of savings has not been achieved so far.”

The ramifications of poor PR for district cooling, some of the participants said, simply could not be ignored.

While on one side, some major existing developments, like the Burj Al Arab and the Emirates Towers were in the process of migrating to district cooling, a reverse phenomenon was being seen in Jumeirah Lake Towers, where some owners were looking to move to standalone systems. Zeneeh pointed out to the example of a new development where the owner had already installed air-cooled chillers in the first phase and was, in fact, pressing ahead with the same for the second phase. This, Zeneeh said, was a worrying phenomenon.

Suggesting that he was not surprised

The downturn in its wake mauled the momentum, forcing the industry to look for sustenance for survival.

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Prabhakar Naik

Building owners were now being careful in sizing their plant rooms, in contrast to the profligacy of the past. The new mindset meant that it was possible to build smaller plant rooms in congested neighbourhoods.

by Zeneeh’s words, Abusaa said that the industry ought to take note of the fact that the air-cooled market was not sitting still and was, in fact, building better efficiencies. “So we are facing this challenge as district cooling providers,” Abusaa added.

The participants said that in addition

Listening keenly to the discussions, and also participating...

Summer 2010 | CHILL

25

spotlight

Ken Currie

to educating building owners and end-users on the numerous benefits of district cooling, there was an urgent need to introduce government regulation to ensure that district cooling plants were energy efficient.

Tawfiq Abu Soud of Drake & Scull went a step further when he said that regulation, as such, was insufficient, and that the government should issue mandatory rules. “(The use of) treated sewage effluent is mandatory for us, so why not make district cooling plants a mandatory issue?” he asked. This prompted Prabhakar Naik of John Buck International to say that mandatory rules would work but only if the benefit

The industry ought to take note of the fact that the air-cooled market was not sitting still and was, in fact, building better efficiencies.

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Tawfiq Abu Soud of the savings through district cooling was passed on to the end-user. “For it to be mandatory, the government should subsidise the rate (of district cooling),” he said. By way of substantiating Naik’s words, Currie narrated an interaction he had had with the main developer of a project, who told Currie that district cooling would not be attractive for him till there was a move to reduce the rate. Thiyagarajan of TransGulf Electromechanical agreed with the viewpoint of Naik and Currie. Referring to Zeneeh’s earlier comment about the need to pursue the possibility of installing a district cooling scheme in an existing development, Thiyagarajan said that owners of existing buildings would be willing to migrate to district cooling only if they were offered better costs.

Almost all the participants agreed that it was in the best interests of GCC governments to offer a preferential treatment to district cooling. Earlier in the session, Berbari had quoted the Minister of Oil and Gas in Saudi Arabia as saying that Saudi Arabia was currently consuming 3.5 million barrels a day for producing power and that it would be consuming seven million barrels out of 12 million barrels a day it would be producing in 15 years’ time. In that context, district cooling was crucial, in that it reduced power consumption, Berbari had said. Currie referred to Berbari’s words when he expressed the collective sentiment that the region’s governments ought to treat

Mohammad Abusaa

(The use of) treated sewage effluent is mandatory for us, so why not make district cooling plants a mandatory issue? the industry better in a bid to conserve power.

Another legitimate challenge, the participants agreed, was the financing of district cooling projects in the midst of the downturn. He said that Drake & Scull had adopted a novel approach in situations where funding was not forthcoming. Citing a project in Sudan, Abu Soud said that Drake & Scull adopted the DBFO model. “The client owns the assets, and we finance it,” he said.

Saying that it was not easy to attract finance, Abu Soud added that those developers going ahead with projects did have the funds, but they were trying to protect the money. “They are keeping it aside for a rainy day,” he said. Zeneeh said the developers were

Summer 2010 | CHILL

27

spotlight

adopting a cautious approach, because district cooling involved a long payback period. “They would want to invest their money in something else,” Zeneeh added.

A key challenge when it came to financing district cooling projects involved the extensive piping networks.

Masood Raza of PAL Technology wanted to know if there was any way the district cooling industry could let someone else do the piping. Abu Soud said in response that piping was, indeed, a vexing issue, as it was a dead asset for two to three years, till the network started distributing chilled water. And with 15-20% of the total cost of a district cooling scheme going to piping infrastructure, that was, indeed, a lot of money. Abu Soud added that Drake & Scull had succeeded in getting the client to agree to finance the piping in the Durrat Al Bahrain project, though. “It improved the financial

Those developers going ahead with projects did have the funds, but they were trying to protect the money. They are keeping it aside for a rainy day.

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model and reduced the fee for the enduser,” he said. By way of offering an alternative approach, which could be equally successful, Naik said that the infrastructure cost could be recovered as a first-cost from the investor. Currie said that distributed cooling could be a strong answer to piping-related financial challenges. “It’s easy for Dubai Municipality to take ownership and put individual plants to ramp up cooling,” he said. “For me, distributed cooling is the way forward, because the piping will be small.”

Abusaa, while supporting distributed cooling for Dubai, said that it would perhaps not be prudent to advocate a modular approach for the whole of the GCC. A country like Saudi Arabia, with its large domestic population, has different needs, he said. “In Saudi Arabia, they don’t have the problem,” he said. “Our problem (in Dubai) is the expatriate population. So here, it is a challenge, but there it is not; they may need a large load.”

An equally formidable challenge, the participants agreed, was the very survival of district cooling companies as business entities in the near term, despite what Berbari had said about there being sufficient projects and despite there being hope in the form of possible schemes involving existing buildings. The participants agreed and acknowledged that the market had changed and that companies were diversifying and expanding as a natural way of adapting to survive. For instance, some of the companies are offering a raft of solutions that include MEP, power and water. Said Abu Soud: “You cannot sustain only on district cooling. That’s why we have Drake &

If you look at the background of the companies, most were general contractors that became specialists in district cooling.

Scull Water and Power, which includes all the infrastructure-related aspects: wastewater treatment, water treatment, power generation, sub-stations, district cooling and the networks you see underground. All these services are integrated.”

The feeling in the industry, the participants said, was that the large district cooling contracting companies were up to the task of offering a wide range of services. Said Thiyagarajan: “If you look at the background of the companies, most were general contractors that became specialists in district cooling. So there is an opportunity for people to migrate, definitely into sub-stations.” The big question, though, was, “Will a client accept a district cooling engineers who says, ‘We will do everything’?” The answer, Currie said, was a resounding “yes”. “I will accept,” he said, “because the capability is known. I think there is (room for) migration to infrastructure projects.”

Summer 2010 | CHILL

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Spotlight: Bahrain

Turning district cooling

green into a good shade of

Mary Coons speaks to industry experts about the long and short-term implications of adopting district cooling in the Middle East. She concludes that despite several ramifications, it deserves to be considered seriously as it offers sustainable solutions.

S

mart sustainable energy is crucial for district cooling.

And district cooling is vital in the Middle East’s harsh desert climate. Air conditioning in the Middle East is an essential service, with obvious life safety implications.

Therefore, even greater attention needs to be directed to enhancing efficiency, maintaining reliability, and ensuring safety and security of supply.

“The district energy industry – both heating and cooling – is a proven, reliable and scalable energy technology that can contribute immediately to greater energy efficiency and mitigate carbon emissions on a highly effective scale,” Rita Chahoud, Executive Director 30

CHILL | Summer 2010

of the International District Energy Association’s United Arab Emirates chapter, states. “Proof comes from the US industry standing the test of time. Businesses have been operating efficiently for more than a century with district energy.”

BUILDING ENVIRONMENTALLY ‘GREEN’ With today’s emphasis on building ‘green’ to protect the environment, there’s already a frontrunner for cooling buildings. District cooling has always been environmentally friendly, with outstanding reliability and compelling efficiency.

Going ‘green’ – and what shade of green – means different things within a variety of industries. District energy, which consists

of heating and/or cooling water to heat and air condition buildings, is already ‘green’ in the sense that it uses so much less electricity than the alternatives, thus, reducing carbon footprints.

Bernt Andersson, CEO of Tabreed Bahrain, a utility company selling chilled water for building operators to use for air conditioning, believes that the only way to meet the demand for cooling buildings in a sustainable manner is to be sustainable. “And to be sustainable, one must utilise higher efficiency from district cooling plants as a local solution,” he says. “This green environmental thinking needs to take precedence in this part of the world, by making entire systems more

efficient. We simply cannot burn fuels inefficiently to produce electricity.”

District cooling’s sustainable development provides essential environmental benefits, such as reducing air pollution, global warming, and ozone depletion. Its superior energy efficiency reduces electricity consumption – probably its greatest environmental impact – says Mark Spurr, President, FVB Energy Inc. FVB, a US consulting firm specialising in district energy systems, has a Middle East presence, with an office in Bahrain.

Elaborating on the environmental impact, Spurr explains, “This positive reduction in electricity consumption can be translated into any number of parameters. The most prominent one is carbon dioxide. We calculate that for every tonne of connected cooling load, we’ll save annually about 1.3 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide.

That’s a huge environmental benefit.”

On the flip side, he acknowledges, “The potential negative with district cooling, environmentally, is water.

Potable (sweet) water is a precious commodity, and electricity reduction requires water. The days of using sweet water for a cooling tower makeup are rapidly ending. Water access, and making sure that water can be procured in an environmentally acceptable way, is key.”

The good news, though, according to Spurr, is the available options to this environmental challenge.

“We can do many things, including using relatively low-quality water,” Spurr says. “The option of treated sewage effluent (TSE) for cooling tower makeup is another potential synergy of district cooling, with new developments.”

Major real estate developments create demand for all utilities, including wastewater treatment and cooling. “At FVB, we are focused on integrated infrastructure design, such as using the output of wastewater treatment – TSE – for optimising and reducing the environmental impact of district cooling,” Spurr says.

Says Andersson: “In Bahrain, where we use seawater for cooling, if the water is not distributed properly when let out, local sea life can be harmed. Therefore, you always try to distribute the water over longer lengths, so as to not impact the local change of temperature too much.”

Speaking on the pluses of district cooling, Andersson says: “Less natural

gas or fuel oil is required to produce electrical power, with the main reduction being greenhouse gases.

Often overlooked is the heat emitted from rooftop chillers. Substantial amounts of energy are released into the atmosphere. Chillers on the rooftops of buildings can contribute to the ambient temperature increasing in an urban

GRAB YOUR COPY!

CALL: +971 4 3756830 www.cpi-industry.com Summer 2010 | CHILL

31

Spotlight: Bahrain agree that energy efficiency is the biggest benefit of district cooling, globally, not just in the Middle East.

area. That goes away if you use seawater for cooling. Another benefit of centralised plants is lower refrigerant emissions. From that perspective alone comes many benefits.”

In the near future, further restrictions related to which refrigerants will be allowed for use will also help the district cooling business, as well as the environment, say industry experts.

Thermal energy storage technology can further increase district cooling efficiency by shifting production to 32

CHILL | Summer 2010

nighttime, when chiller efficiency is higher. In addition, by allowing chillers to operate at night, during the offpeak period, thermal energy storage reduces the peak demand on the electrical system. This can be viewed as either freeing up existing generation capacity for users who cannot shift their demand, or reducing the need for new generation capacity to meet the growing power demand of new customers.

All of the major Middle East players, including Bahrain’s Ministry of Works,

END-USER BENEFITS In the current economic climate, cost is more important than ever. Reduced capital costs is the number one benefit for district cooling customers, with the reduction in peak power demand being an integral component for reducing these costs.

“Building developers save not only the cost of buying and installing cooling equipment but also on the connection fees that they might otherwise have to pay the government to obtain power, and eliminate the operation and maintenance costs of running cooling equipment,” explains Spurr.

Comfort is an obvious added benefit.

Since district cooling provides a much higher quality and a more controllable comfort level in buildings, end users find this benefit extremely important.

Living in the Middle East with high temperature and humidity levels takes an obvious toll on one’s body.

Working and conducting business in a comfortably cooled environment can make all the difference to employees and customers.

Maintaining cooling equipment in the Middle East is a major challenge due to its harsh environment. So, from a building management perspective, the convenience associated with district cooling services is considerable.

According to industry advocates, that’s something customers don’t appreciate until they’ve experienced it.

Khalil Issa, CEO of Energy Central, a multi-utility services company in Bahrain, calls it “a one-stop shop for multiple utilities and integrated solutions.” He should know, as the company works with the Gulf’s industrial clients more so than real estate clients, and also with developers within a design, bid, finance and operation model.

“In general, district cooling is an energy-intensive utility,” he maintains. “It is a utility that is integrated to leverage multiple utilities, which, in turn, yields a more efficient supply of energy.

Combining industrial process loads with building air conditioning loads reduces costs by increasing the number of hours chiller equipment is operated

fully loaded. This occurs because the industrial customer requires process cooling even during periods of low air conditioning demand. The process load is tied to industrial production rather than outdoor temperature.”

Andersson, on the other hand, cites reduced requirements for new power stations, transmission and distribution stations for electricity as additional energy-efficient benefits. “With the conventional approach, there would have to be so many power plants with their distribution network so large that it’s almost non-feasible.”

TECHNICAL CHALLENGES Though there are significant benefits that district energy brings with it, it is not without its share of technical challenges, when district cooling facilities have to be designed in the Middle East.

“Because the combination of high temperature and humidity here is enormous, condenser cooling is our biggest technical challenge,” says Todd Sivertsson, General Manager, FVB Energy, Bahrain.

In simple terms, chillers have a cold and

Bernt Andersson

Khalil Issa

warm side, similar to a refrigerator. The condenser, located on the backside of the refrigerator, needs to be cooled down. “If you try to use air to cool the condenser for large chillers,” explains Sivertsson, “this would require vast heat transfer areas, and there’s not the space. So, instead, we use water to cool it down, which is also much more energy efficient.”

Since the Ministry of Works does not permit using municipality water for cooling – and rightly so – sea water is used. Herein lies a challenge: “Sea water is very corrosive,” Sivertsson continues, “so you need good materials or you must produce fresh water from the sea water.

Regardless, your plant must be located near the sea. It’s cost-prohibitive to have long intake and outfall pipes to the sea.”

A second challenge is Bahrain’s high groundwater table with its corrosive, brackish water. Underground pipe connections, therefore, must be one hundred percent watertight.

With constrained power supplies, more

Mark Spurr

Todd Sivertsson

district cooling plants need to construct electrical substations into their facility, which adds a level of complexity. Factor in the limited, but valuable, Bahrain real estate, and you now have stakeholders interested in integrating district cooling into building projects, such as with Bahrain Financial Harbour.

District cooling development is totally intertwined with the pace of real estate development. Says Spurr: “To the extent that you have major real estate developments occurring in hot climates, there is going to be a very good correlation with the growth of district cooling.”

ECONOMIC CHALLENGES The district cooling industry, in general, requires extensive capital at the outset.

A payback timeframe is easily 10 or more years, making it difficult to entice investors. Investors want a quick return on their investment, and that is not possible with district cooling.

The economic challenge, then, is

Dominic McPolin

to build cost-effective facilities in the context of a rapidly changing and uncertain infrastructure. But how do you lay a pipe across a road when the road hasn’t been built yet, or it is planned for future expansion?

Issa – as do others – feels the industry is currently undergoing reassessment.

“The next few years will see a more careful consideration focusing on modularity and scalability,” he says.

“Gone are the mega plants concept – a web of plants interconnected and closely associated with loads, impacting infrastructure costs.”

A Gulf-specific challenge Summer 2010 | CHILL

33

Spotlight: Bahrain is that with the government subsidising energy – thus making it very inexpensive – building owners and investors are opting for inefficient cooling solutions using 100% electricity.

In the long term, district cooling saves money, while utilising only half of the electricity, and from completion on, provides greater comfort, more environmental benefits, less maintenance, and a host of other enduser advantages.

“When clients demand district cooling, the government, in turn, will save energy,” says Sivertsson. “The government’s benefit would be, not needing to produce so much electricity and building out all of this capacity.

Water usage regulations will also come into play, making district cooling more favoured.”

“The bottom line is that, district cooling systems, particularly in the Middle East, are creating scale for more robust power and water conservation technologies, while mitigating peak demand on the power grid, enhancing sustainable solutions, and generating space and capital savings for end users,” reports Rob Thornton, president of District Energy and the International District Energy Association (IDEA). “Part of IDEA’s challenge is to educate and inform, not only policymakers, but also the wider population, as to the merits and tools involved in developing robust district energy infrastructure.”

A FINANCIAL FIRST In late January, the first Middle Eastern non-recourse Islamic project financing deal was funded for a district cooling project. Eastern District Cooling Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Zamil Industrial Investment Company (Zamil Industrial), signed with The National Commercial Bank (NCB) for the non-recourse financing project.

Mansoor Durrani, Head of Project, Finance, NCB, stated at the signing: “We anticipate that there will be a number of similar district cooling projects to be financed with similar structures in the GCC, and are pleased that Zamil is the first Saudi entity to close such a transaction.”

Zamil Industrial signed in November 2007 a 22-year Energy Performance contract with Saudi Basic Industries Corporation for the complete 34

CHILL | Summer 2010

Todd Serious

Al Jimi cooling towers

outsourcing of process and comfort cooling, including the construction of a central cooling plant to supply 20,000 tonnes of refrigeration within the premises of Saudi Iron & Steel Company (Hadeed) in Jubail Industrial City, Saudi Arabia. The project is being developed

by Energy Central Company of Bahrain, and advised by Gulf International Bank with FVB Energy serving as technical consultant. The total project size is valued at approximately SR300 million, and is expected to go on stream during 2010.

GOVERNMENT ROLES AND CHALLENGES Governments play a critical role in enabling district cooling infrastructure.

Bahrain’s Ministry of Works (MoW), the construction arm of the government, is challenged with providing infrastructure for district cooling development, not only electricity, but

also water and roads. This is all in accordance with the legal frameworks set out in the National Strategic Master Plan for Bahrain, Vision 2030.

MoW is responsible for reviewing and permitting facilities to be constructed in the streets, sighting the plants, and issuing wayleaves (permission to use public land). In addition, the Ministry is tasked with addressing environmental issues in relation to sewerage, and works closely with the country’s private district cooling providers in TSE developments.

The Ministry’s Central Planning Organisation coordinates the planning and implementation of all public infrastructure projects across the public sector, as well as major industries.

Dominic McPolin, Chief Planning Officer for the Ministry of Works, agrees that district cooling is, indeed, one of the most important industries in the Middle East, and recognises it as “the biggest quick-win in the supply side of power. It is also potentially the biggest early-win on the reduction of carbon emissions. As such, it is too important to be left to the marketing department of any district cooling company.”

The challenge, McPolin contends, is meeting district cooling demand as quickly as possible. Nevertheless, he believes there is a lack of procedure and a lack of regulations associated with district cooling, which is hindering its quick growth.

The private companies involved in district cooling projects in the Kingdom generally agree that the government utility requirements are strict; some believe they are too stringent. However, it is important to note that this is Bahrain’s first foray into district cooling (its first facility is under construction in the Diplomatic area), and thus, a learning experience. Obviously, the Ministry of Works wants to ensure that everything is correct.

“It (district cooling) has been run as a business model: integrating for technical and spatial solutions; guiding and helping companies as a team of experts; providing effective and secure customer delivery,” explains McPolin.

“But the business model must change to a regulation model. Although we are all in this together, regulation is a government issue.

“This is too important to the government to be left to the success or failure of a district cooling company. We need to regulate this business because of the public/private relationships. We need transparency, customers need protection, and motorists need ease and efficiency driving through construction of public roads while pipes are being laid beneath them.”

Until procedures and regulations are determined and in place, the Ministry of Works has placed a moratorium on all new district cooling projects in the Kingdom.

Furthering his stance, McPolin believes the market now craves regulation, thereby providing security for banks lending huge amounts of money.

“There now exists a change in mindset in this industry. We realise there needs to be benefits for businesses, district cooling companies, and the government,” he explains, and goes on to say, “This is possibly the most important new infrastructure in this region. The industry has an opportunity to get into this equation. It’s a challenge to get it rolled out and be widespread.

We want to work as partners, but we must do it through a transparent process. It cannot be any other way.

Energy efficiency is the major criterion we seek in a transparent process.”

Why is district cooling so important to Bahrain’s government? According to McPolin, there is the financial incentive

Zamil Industrial signing ceremony

for those who pay the government for energy in terms of oil and natural gas conservation, the enormous impact of reducing the carbon footprint, spatial issues (with reduced power demand comes a reduction in substations), and a host of others.

Here, the stakeholders have many faces: the utility developer/operator, lenders, end users, and contractors and consultants. There are challenges to spreading the risks to those best suited to deal with them. “This is a challenge the government is interested in, however,” McPolin says. “We recognise the need to get the price to end users down.”

“Regulation is vital for the realisation of Government objectives and for the stability and growth in the district cooling industry. This is a complex issue, which, like all regulatory practice, requires a delicate balance in its approach in order to maximise the potential of the industry within a transparent and open market for the service. The Government wants to intervene with balance and fairness, despite building models crashing as we speak.”

Although Issa believes the government must play a greater role now than it has in the past, he does have questions: Does the government have an obligation to step in? Should they be custodians of revenue lines?

“I don’t think you can bundle everything under one party in order to provide the most cost-effective product,” Issa explains. “The government can pass

on electrical transmission cost with reduced risk if there is a public/private partnership with the government, for example.”

So, what is holding back and/or impacting the growth of district cooling in the Gulf – not just in Bahrain?

According to Issa, although district cooling companies are helping both the government and the energy sector, it has been very challenging to obtain the necessary supplies of electricity and water, and obtain permit approvals, thereby negatively impacting growth.

Adds Sivertsson: “One of the challenges we face in Bahrain is that the Ministry of Works wants to introduce district cooling regulations.

This is holding the industry back, as the Ministry has halted all further development of district cooling through public roads until there are regulations in place.”

Spurr interjects: “What this means in lay terms is that the Ministry would like to regulate district cooling as a regulated public utility. It is a very politically sensitive and tangled topic.

A regulated public utility guarantees a rate of return with the government determining what rates to charge.

District cooling worldwide has very, very few systems regulated, and such regulation is almost unheard of in the United States.”

Andersson advocates adjusting the electrical tariff system to give a correct reflection of electricity production costs. “If you do that, the whole thing will go to where it should go and where Summer 2010 | CHILL

35

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Spotlight

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36

CHILL | Summer 2010

Paths for potential utility integration (Courtesy of IDEA District Cooling Best Practices Guide”)

Bahrain’s government wants it to go. This makes it a better use of district cooling, in my opinion,” he says.

McPolin explains that the Ministry of Works is in the very initial stages of regulation discussion with the district cooling companies in Bahrain. “The time is right,” he emphasises.

“The industry is ready and the government is ready to start this journey.”

Establishing a licensing system for providers is on the board. For example, a Class C license requirement would be in place prior to development, rather than retrofitting later to district cooling. A Class E license issued to a designated area would make it compulsory to all developments to connect to the district cooling system.

When asked if developers will be approved for the entire system or piecemeal in urban areas – street by street or block by block – McPolin characterises his answer to this strategic question by replying, “We can make it happen anyway a developer wants, once we know it’s the right thing for Bahrain.”

As part of His Majesty King Hamad’s 2030 Vision, the Ministry of Works has set 2014 as a targeted goal by which to reduce CO2 emissions by 60%

per capita – from 31 tonnes to 10 tonnes. Optimistic shortterm goals, admits McPolin, include introducing thermal storage and retrofitting existing urban areas, such as the highly dense Juffair, from current mini-split units to district cooling.

“It is important for district cooling companies to help governments to really understand the economics of the electrical benefits of district cooling,” believes Spurr, “because in some cases, district cooling is being constrained, while in other situations, the most optimal district cooling solution is being repressed. This occurs when a government is not providing the correct economic signals. For example, if there were truly cost-based power tariffs, you would see abundant thermal energy storage. So, the big issue and greater need, in my opinion, is to help governments understand how district cooling saves them capital and operating costs in the power sector.

“The bottom line is that, district cooling provides a good value proposition when you take into account all of the capital and operating costs,” Spurr says, “and it’s a good shade of environmental ‘green’.”

the region

Güntner AG & Co KG A free recruitment advertising service from Climate Control Middle East

The Güntner Group, with its headquarters in Fürstenfeldbruck, Germany, is a global leader for the production of refrigeration and air conditioning components.

Operators include, among others, the international automotive, food, pharmaceutical and computer industries as well as a large number of public facilities. Founded in Germany in 1931, the Güntner Group is present for its customers and partners today with nine production sites as well as 40 sales offices and subsidiaries, worldwide.

To support our Güntner Middle East Team, we are looking for an experienced and qualified SALES MANAGER, reporting directly to the Managing Director Middle East

Buro Happold announces new Middle East-based partner

Kevin Mitchell, UAE Country Director, to take on an additional responsibility.

B

uro Happold, international multi-disciplinary engineering consultancy, has appointed its UAE Country Director, Kevin Mitchell as a new partner, in a move that sees its existing partnership expand to 50.

Mitchell, who is based in Dubai, is a building services

engineer, with over 20 years’ experience, and brings his multidisciplinary knowledge gained internationally on a number of high-profile projects, particularly within the healthcare sector.

His area of focus is the development of innovative building services solutions and their integration within

Please send your application to Svenja Konken s.konken@guentner.de and visit our website <www.guentner.de> for more information.

multidisciplinary design. In addition, Mitchell also brings to the table his understanding of the leisure, transport and retail sectors, with major projects, including Toronto Medical Discovery Tower; Bristol Royal Hospital for Sick Children; Heathrow Airport Redevelopment; Kings College, Dubai and Saadiyat Island Public Realm.

In the context of being made Partner, Mitchell said: “For over 30 years, Buro Happold has been recognised as one of the leading consultancies in the Middle East. It’s fantastic to be given the opportunity to build on that reputation, and I look forward to expanding the business across

Bassam Elassaad joins GEA Consulting Brings to the table his experience in the HVAC industry.

G

• 2 - 3 years experience in refrigeration • Familiarity with the Middle East market, and based in Dubai • Regular travels required • Fluency in English is a must • Knowledge of spoken Arabic will be an advantage • UAE driving license required • Joining date: as soon as possible

EA Consulting, which provides engineering and management expertise to the HVAC and manufacturing industries, recently announced that Bassam Elassaad has joined its team as Director, Business Development for the Middle East.

Elassaad brings with him his expertise in strategic marketing and communications in the HVAC and environmental industries, as also his background in sales and general management. He has covered markets and customers in Europe, Middle East and North America, which gives him an extra breadth in approaching and advising strategic partners.

“Bassam will expand our reach into new markets, as well as add strategic communications expertise to the portfolio of our marketing team,” said Larry Butz, President, GEA Consulting. “HVAC business effectiveness is a growing part of our global services, and enhancing our resources in the fields of marketing and business globalisation has been part of GEA’s vision.”

Bassam brings in over 35 years experience in the industry, most of which were at Trane, but he also covered industrial fans and blowers, during his stint at Chicago Blower. He is a Professional Engineer from Ontario, Canada and is based in Brussels, Belgium.

the region, looking at new markets and sectors to increase both our client base and areas of expertise.”

The consultancy’s Chairman, Rod Macdonald, who relocated to Riyadh a year ago, added: “Kevin’s appointment both to the Partnership and as Country Director for the UAE, will further consolidate Buro Happold’s position as a world leader in the delivery of innovative, sustainable buildings.”

Current projects involving Buro Happold in the Middle East include, the Louvre in Abu Dhabi, King Abdulaziz Centre for World Culture, King Abdullah Financial District and Abu Dhabi Media Zone.

ADC Energy Systems moves to a new location Relocation signals expansion

A

DC Energy Systems, which provides EPC solutions for industrial and commercial cooling, heating and refrigeration, has announced that its Dubai Head Office, located in Al Quoz and its Engineering/Design Office, located in Dubai Investments Park have relocated to new office premises at Jumeirah Lake Towers.

According to ADC, the move is to meet the needs of the company’s growth as it expands into new areas in the district energy market.

The new office is located in the 30th floor of Tiffany Towers, in the Jumeirah Lake Towers development.

The company’s web site (www. adcenergysystems.com) and e-mail address (info@ adcenergysystems.com) remain unchanged.

June 2010

CLIMATE CONTROL MIDDLE EAST

37

happenings

at large

Building automation – answer to energy issues? eu.bac, providers of intelligent building technology in Europe, look optimistically to the future

I

n the light of the fact that buildings consume 40% of Europe’s primary energy, European Building Automation and Controls Association (eu. bac), announced its guiding principles, which illustrate the significance of intelligent technology in energy-efficient buildings. The announcement was made at a working meeting in Paris in May. According to the announcement, intelligent building services engineering is not only cost-effective, but is also a

guarantee of compliance with the political directives for climate protection.

Thus, from eu.bac’s point of view, intelligent networking, consumption regulation, controlling and contracting are new products and services that form a basis for new jobs and growth across Europe.

Technical building systems, therefore, translate into an investment that will be sought after in future, believes eu.bac.

Reflecting this, Peter Hug, Managing Director, eu.bac,

said: “We provide the shortest payback periods for saving energy in buildings. This brings a new impetus for innovation, competitiveness and job creation.”

The association also stated that it promoted the comprehensive equipping of buildings and houses with modern control technology, thus reducing both costs and greenhouse gas emissions.

The latest generation of automation products, it claimed, lastingly improves the energy efficiency of

buildings by up to 14%, compared to the standard products, according to calculations by eu.bac. To ensure this, the association revealed that it has created an independent quality assurance system. Over 100 controllers already bear the eu.bacCert mark, it added.

This is also in keeping with the avowed goal of the association, which is the standardisation, testing and certifying of products, which are key to the energy-efficient control of building services installations.

Emerson acquires Vilter Manufacturing Acquisition to strengthen its capabilities in the industrial refrigeration markets

E

merson Climate Technologies, a business of Emerson, recently announced that it has acquired Vilter Manufacturing, a privately held compressor manufacturer based in Cudahy, Wisconsin. Vilter, whose compressors are used in an array of industrial refrigeration systems, will become a part of Emerson Climate Technologies’ Refrigeration Division, which provides commercial refrigeration products and solutions. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“Vilter has a well-respected brand that will enhance our presence in the food processing and cold storage segments of the refrigeration industry,” said Ed Purvis, Executive Vice President and Business Leader of Emerson Climate Technologies. “This acquisition will allow us to expand our existing industry-best product offering and strengthen our position in the refrigeration industry.”

Pratap Chavan, Vice President and Managing Director,

38

CLIMATE CONTROL MIDDLE EAST

June 2010

Middle East and Africa, of Emerson Climate Technologies, said: “There are already many Vilter compressors operating for over a decade in the MEA region. Vilter single screw compressors offer tremendous benefits to customers in the region due to its part-load efficiency, reliability and ease of maintenance.”

Some of the refrigeration markets served by Vilter are: • Meat and poultry • Beverage • Food processing • Dairy • Seafood • Refrigerated storage and warehousing • Ice rinks and arenas Vilter is, reportedly, fully supported in the region via Emerson Climate Technologies’ Dubai office, by providing sales, application and after-sales support.

at large

HONEYWELL, DUPONT JOIN HANDS TO produce NEW AUTOMOTIVE REFRIGERANT Potential alternative is said to meet new European environmental regulations

H

oneywell and DuPont announced last month, a manufacturing joint venture to produce a new refrigerant known as HFO1234yf, with presumably 99.7% lower global warming potential (GWP) than the current refrigerant.

It is intended for use in automotive air conditioning systems.

The venture follows an earlier joint development agreement, under which the two companies developed the product. Under the agreement, DuPont and Honeywell will share financial and technological resources with the intent to jointly design, construct and operate a manufacturing facility for the new refrigerant. However, the two companies will market and sell the product separately.

The product, said the

two partners, meets European Union regulatory requirements for lower GWP refrigerants for automobile air conditioning systems. Today’s automotive air conditioners use hydrofluorocarbon HFC134a, which has a GWP of 1430. The European Union’s Mobile Air Conditioning Directive requires that, starting in 2011, all new vehicle models use a refrigerant with a GWP below 150, and by 2017, all new automobiles sold in Europe will be required to use a low-GWP refrigerant.

The new refrigerant, say DuPont and Honeywell, has a GWP of 4.

The joint venture will begin supplying the refrigerant in the fourth quarter of 2011 – prior to construction of the new facility – in time to meet the European Union regulatory requirement.

According to Honeywell and DuPont, they introduced HFO-1234yf to the automotive industry in 2007, and since then, it has undergone extensive testing for safety and efficacy, by independent testing groups, such as, the SAE International Cooperative Research Program, in which leading automakers participate.

The partners claim that SAE testing has found that the product offers environmental performance superior to carbon dioxide, an alternative refrigerant, while having “the lowest risk for use in mobile air conditioning systems in meeting environmental and consumer needs”.

“Through this manufacturing partnership, Honeywell and DuPont will deliver to the automobile industry this environmentally preferable

solution that meets both operational and regulatory requirements,” said Terrence Hahn, Vice President and General Manager for Honeywell’s Fluorine Products business.

“Globally, consumers will benefit from this new technology, which reduces greenhouse gas emissions.

This complements Honeywell’s significant energy efficiency and environmental solutions portfolio.”

Gary W Spitzer, President, DuPont Chemicals & Fluoroproducts, added: “The new refrigerant enables the automotive industry to reduce the environmental footprint of vehicles at significantly lower cost than alternatives. By working together with Honeywell, DuPont is confident we’ll have the winning combination to enable the industry to realise environmental benefits sooner.

According to industry estimates, there are more than 400 million cars with air conditioning systems globally, with each system using between one half and one kilogramme of refrigerant.

Health-check your chiller

Trane uses imaging technology to aid diagnosis and recovery

T

aking a page from powerful imaging technologies, such as, X-ray, MRI, CAT scan and ultrasound that are available to medical professionals to aid diagnosis, Trane, a member of Ingersoll Rand, announced that it now employs similar techniques.

One of the tools it employs to get a better insight into the condition

of a chiller is, Eddy Current Tube Analysis. According to Trane, this helps it see inside a chiller and ascertain its state of health. This knowledge, it claims, can lead to: • Reduced operating and energy costs • Extended equipment life • Reduced risks of costly breakdowns • Improved reliability

• Reduced downtime • More predictable service costs (no surprises) Comparing the tubes within a chiller to veins and arteries in the human body, Trane believes that ensuring that they are clean, clear and strong is critical to a chiller’s efficiency and effectiveness.

June 2010

CLIMATE CONTROL MIDDLE EAST

39

happenings

at large

Chillventa 2010 looks forward to a big response

Another hall added to meet the expected increase in demand for space

C

hillventa, the international trade fair for refrigeration, air conditioning, ventilation and heat pumps, will take place for the second time at the Exhibition Centre in Nürnberg. The event will be held from October 13 to 15.

The key parameters of the exhibition have, reportedly, grown appreciably, according to NürnbergMesse, the event organisers.

Based on the initial forecast, Gabriele Hannwacker, Exhibition Director of Chillventa, NürnbergMesse, said: “I’m really pleased to say, I have only good news to report.

The experts gave Chillventa a great reception. The premiere was a resounding success, and the response is still impressive today. I have never experienced anything like it on this scale, in my truly long career as exhibition organiser. This is particularly reflected by the present level of registrations.”

She revealed that the organisers had already received binding bookings for over 90% of the 2008 exhibition space, and around 700 exhibiting companies had been obtained so far.

“This clearly shows that the companies from all the event’s product segments unanimously support the Chillventa concept. Chillventa is expanding in all product segments – in refrigeration, and moderately in the air conditioning and heat pump segments too,” she added.

According to NürnbergMesse, the positive response has encouraged them to add another hall to meet the expected increase in demand 40

for space, taking the number of exhibition halls to seven.

This, said the organisers, gives them more planning flexibility and offers more possibilities for exhibitors.

Former Exhibition Director, and the present Member of the Management Board, NürnbergMesse, Richard Krowoza, who took over responsibility for Chillventa at the beginning of this year, speaking about the event said: “Chillventa is unique and convincing, with its clear arrangement of product segments for exhibitors –

in the Industrial Heat Pump Village, and a new special theme of cleanroom technology, would be the highlights of the event, Krowoza revealed.

“The Industrial Heat Pump Village was a real success in 2008, and is presented in hall 1 again this year. This time, it teams up with the newly created Cleanroom Village, which celebrates its premiere in October,” he elaborated. “Cleanroom technology is a substantial application in refrigeration and air conditioning. It was,

refrigeration, insulation, air conditioning, ventilation, heat pumps, C&I/automation, services for the refrigeration and air conditioning sector, forums and symposia.”

Though the target group of visitors is contractors from the refrigeration, air conditioning and ventilation, plumbing, heating and cooling, and electrical segments, Krowoza said that there would also be visitors from facility management, the supply trade, plant operators from industry, commerce and buildings, building services planners and architects.

A concentrated presentation of heat pumps

therefore, obvious for us to respond to the wish for a separate dedicated platform for this theme at Chillventa.

A wide range of aspects of cleanrooms and ultracleanrooms are combined here in a top format.”

Krowoza explained that the Cleanroom Village offered manufacturers the opportunity to present the latest technologies for planning, construction and operation. He said that in addition, forums would be organised for the Industrial Heat Pump Village and Cleanroom Village, as also, two separate forums for refrigeration and air conditioning.

CLIMATE CONTROL MIDDLE EAST

June 2010

Commenting that the successful European Heat Pump Summit held in Nürnberg in September 2009 was actually an offshoot of the Industrial Heat Pump Village, he added that a Supermarket Symposium would be taking place in Nürnberg this month, inspired by Chillventa. “As you can see, a world of refrigeration, air conditioning, ventilation and heat pumps exists in Nürnberg,” he said. “I will even go a step further, as we are adapting the successful Chillventa concept in Russia, as a market of the future –Chillventa Rossija celebrates its premiere in Moscow from March 1 to 3, 2011.”

Answering the question, why in Russia, Krowoza said: “We are already active in the Russian refrigeration market. So, it’s not new for us. After organising two successful CholodExpo Rossija events in Moscow, we are now responding to the wishes of many companies, and offering a comprehensive business platform for refrigeration, air conditioning and heat pumps in Russia. Another step in this direction was the successful CholodSummit Rossija 2010.

The future Chillventa Rossija will focus on air conditioning and heat pumps, in addition to refrigeration. This combination is not yet available in the Russian market, and we have the expertise and decades of experience to contribute.”

More information from the industry platform is available at ask-Chillventa.de, with 2,900 products and over 800 exhibitors online.

at large

BSRIA predicts healthier sales figures

World refrigeration and air conditioning market to grow noticeably again in 2010

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ccording to information from BSRIA, the British market research group, the worldwide sales of refrigeration and air conditioning equipment will grow by about five per cent – about $66 billion in 2010, as against $63.2 billion in 2009.

This comes as good news after a difficult year for the sector in 2009.

BSRIA expects appreciable growth for VRF air conditioning systems, split air conditioners and rooftop air conditioners, but the British researchers forecast another drop for window air

conditioners and portable air conditioners.

The BSRIA analysis shows that sales in the worldwide market for refrigeration and air conditioning dropped by 10% in 2009, from $70 billion in 2008 to around $63.2 billion. Only VRF air conditioning systems managed to increase sales, whereas all the other segments had to accept considerable losses in some cases. This affected fan coils, chillers, mini split units and central air conditioning equipment.

The BSRIA study – ‘Global air conditioning feels the world recession in 2009’

(www.bsria.co.uk) – was published in April this year, and contains sales figures for the following products and product groups: Air conditioners (portable air conditioners, split, multisplit and VRF air conditioners)

Mini split air conditioners: Chillers: VRF systems: Central air conditioners: Window air conditioners: Rooftop air conditioners: Fancoils:

• Rooftops • Chillers • Air handling units • Fan coils BSRIA reports the following sales figures for these segments in 2009 (the figures in brackets show the changes over 2008): The BSRIA study also includes the product groups of US ducted split units ($3.6 billion = -44 %), indoorpackaged units ($1.1 billion = -38 %) and portable air conditioners ($459 million = -7 %).

$32.9 billion (- 7 %) $6.7 billion (- 7 %) $6.1 billion (+12 %) $4.7 billion (- 6 %) $3.1 billion (-16 %) $3.0 billion (- 3 %) $1.5 billion (-10 %)

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marketplace

This section contains regional and international products information

Emerson Climate Technologies

Vilter brand industrial refrigeration compressors

S

aying that it is the only screw compressor unit with a fiveyear compressor and 15-year bearing warranty, Emerson Climate Technologies, a business of Emerson, has recently launched its Vilter brand industrial refrigeration compressors in the Middle East and Africa markets.

According to Emerson, the single screw compressor technology with patented parallex slide system, elicits the following advantages: • Part-load energy efficiency • Balanced forces (radial and axial) for long life and low maintenance • Quiet, vibration-free compressor • All bearings are at suction pressure for reliability • Widest operating range: 1.2-7.0 Vi Emerson claims that the

introductory seminars and training sessions it conducted have received positive response from interested contractors and end users, thanks to the cost-saving advantages of the single screw technology.

The company also offers Vilter’s 450XL series reciprocating compressors, with applications in the carbonated beverage and ice-making segments. Its features and applications include: • Ideal for variable loads • Instant unloading capabilities • Superior part-load performance • Inherent variable volume ratio • Cold starting capabilities with low head pressures <2:1 • Can operate at 100% unloading for extended periods • Enhanced part-load performance

Danfoss

DPCs

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tating that it is primarily for use in district cooling applications, Danfoss has announced its full range of self- acting differential pressure controllers (DPCs. The basic function of a DPC, say Danfoss, is to maintain a constant and stable differential pressure across Motorised Control Valve (MCV), from 100% to 0% flow conditions. As a result, the valve authority of the control valves is improved.

The manufacturers state the following salient features of the DPCs: • Tailored/adapted setting range, which fit to almost all requirements.

• Because of pressure relieved valves, the DPCs are able to close off against high pump 42

pressure – 10-20 bar.

• The VFG valves come with a soft sealing option – EPDM rubber – in case of low leakage requirements.

• Self Acting Actuators (AFP) are fitted with a pressure-limiting valve in the rubber diaphragm in order to protect it against excess pressure.

The DPCs have the following specifications: • Size : DN 15 to 250 • PN 16,25 & 40 • Mounting : Flow or return The manufacturers specify that the two impulse tubes (copper tubes), which transmit chilled water upstream and downstream pressure, should be installed before and after the MCV.

CLIMATE CONTROL MIDDLE EAST

June 2010

Roof Care, Henkel Polybit

Ceresit Wall Insulation System and Combo Roof System

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he Waterproofing and Heat Insulation Division of Henkel Polybit, manufacturer of water proofing products and allied construction chemicals in the UAE, has announced two types of waterproofing systems: Ceresit Wall Insulation System and Combo Roof System. The thermal insulation and moisture protection systems for buildings have Dubai Municipality’s approval.

Roof Care claimed that the products come with the manufacture’s performance guarantee of 25 years, as against other conventional systems available

in the market, which are guaranteed only by the applicators, generally for a period of 10 years.

It further claimed that it takes responsibility to protect the health and safety of its employees and the employees of the subcontractors engaged by it, as also the responsibility of protecting the environment, while its activities are going on.

Established in the year 2002, Roof Care, the fully owned Application Division of Henkel Polybit, said that its machineries and technicians can move to work sites and also cater to the requirements of individual customers in the region.

Victaulic

INSTALLATION-READY TECHNOLOGY Up to 10 times faster to install than other joining methods.

PUSH

Cliplight Manufacturing

Super Seal Total

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ndetectable to the eye and by conventional leak detection methods, leaks of up to 300 microns bleed money through energy wastage, as compressors work harder to maintain temperatures with decreased refrigerant charges. Companies are wasting increasing amounts of money on energy costs, even as global warming puts heavier loads on cooling systems. In the light of this, dubbing it an alternative to continuous servicing and searching for leaks – or the even more expensive total replacement of refrigeration/ air conditioning systems – Cliplight Manufacturing offers its latest product, Super Seal Total.

Formulated to conserve cash in challenging economic times, the product, claims Cliplight, consists of three major components targeting specific leakage issues: The original Super Seal sealant formulation can be used in applications ranging from factories to food processing plants and from shops to offices.

Refrigerant containing Super Seal reacts with moisture in the atmosphere, as it escapes through leaks, forming a permanent lowtensile crystalline structure, which seals the hole from the inside out.

Cliplight’s new DRY R formulation is developed to

address the issue of moisture/ acid and the formation of sludge. It chemically removes water from the system and improves drier efficiency.

An ultra-violet tracer dye marks any leaks that are too large for Super Seal to seal, making them simple to detect with standard UV fluorescing lights.

In addition, Cliplight also supplies Super Seal formulations for mobile refrigeration plants.

“Increasingly Super Seal Total is being used, not only as a cure, but also as a three-in-one preventative incorporated into maintenance programmes to safeguard against energy cost and pollution penalties, and also, ultimately, against the cost of replacing entire systems,” says International Sales Manager and HVAC/R specialist, Gary Oborne of Cliplight Manufacturing.

He elaborates: “Downtime involved in this process can be crippling to the owner’s business, particularly in the hospitality, product processing and retail areas.

Equipment owners are faced with not only the loss of trade, but also potentially massive costs associated with the temporary ‘housing’ of their products.”

Oborne cites the cases of foodstuffs, pharmaceuticals and perishable goods as examples.

JOIN

TIgHTeN

www.victaulic.com P.O. Box 17683 Jebel Ali Free Zone Dubai (United Arab Emirates) tel. +971 48 838 870 fax +971 48 838 860

· UNITED KINGDOM · EUROPE · LATIN AMERICA · ASIA PACIFIC

NORTH AMERICA MIDDLE EAST

June 2010

CLIMATE CONTROL MIDDLE EAST

43

marketplace Aldes

The Twisted 850

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uildings in the UAE should have high mixing rates of space air diffusion, whose ideal level is for someone to feel neither hot nor cold.

This, according to Francois Biguenet, product manager at Aldes Group. “The comfort in air diffusion is when there is nothing to feel, nothing to hear and nothing to see,” he said, referring to the new Aldes air diffusers, which do not create noise and can be installed in ceilings as part of their design.

Speaking before the Air Diffusion Seminar, held recently in Dubai, Biguenet said the diffusion by air mixing, which accounts for 70% of the HVAC systems in Western Europe, is best for the UEA due to its hot temperature.

The diffusion by active chilled beams, which is 20% of the HVAC systems in Western Europe, is good for green buildings in that region. “We’re not promoting this in the

Aldes’ Swirl Diffuser Twisted 850

Middle East,” he said.

Aldes, which manufactures the whole range of grilles and diffusers for the HVAC industry, introduced its new Swirl Diffuser Twisted 850 to the Middle East market during the seminar.

Dedicated to air conditioning, the product is equipped with a patented system of swirl diffusion, providing added mixing capacity on a wide range of airflow. It achieves the “Coandă effect”, or when a low pressure area causes the moving air mass to cling to and flow close to the ceiling surface.

In space air diffusion, a good air distribution design is one that makes use of room surfaces to keep supply air away from the occupied area.

A component of an HVAC system for commercial buildings, a chilled beam is located in the room itself and uses water to remove heat from a room. This system relies on air handling units to remove heat from the room air and transfer it to the water. The chilled water is, then, blown into occupied spaces through ducts.

No wonder Biguenet pointed out that commercial buildings, schools, universities, dry labs and hospitals must “optimise energy consumption through good ductworks”.

He said that design, energy efficiency and comfort in HVAC products and design are what the current market needs.

“The ease of using the product, its good design and its easy installation and commissioning,” he said, “are what consumers are looking for.”

Trane

RTAC XE

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dding the RTAC XE (EXtra Efficiency) to its RTAC range of air-cooled helicalrotary chilled water systems, Trane says that the newly launched product is particularly suitable for applications requiring reliability and safety.

This includes industrial, hotel and office buildings, hospitals and clean rooms. The new RTAC XE 430-1520KW-chilled water system is Eurovent Class A certified, with an average Energy Efficiency Ratio (EER) of 3.15.

According to Trane, energy saving is achieved with the patented falling film evaporator technology,

44

minimising the expense of operating a chilled water system, which can amount to over 90% of the total lifetime cost of an HVAC system.

Manufacturers enumerate the following features of the new product: • The RTAC XE is equipped with a compressor with variable unloading, which is able to closely match a building’s cooling load or an industrial process load.

• The RTAC XE’s helicalrotary compressor has few moving parts to maximise operational reliability.

• To ensure quick and

CLIMATE CONTROL MIDDLE EAST

June 2010

seamless installation, RTAC XE units are tested, and refrigerant and oil charged in the factory.

• The compact system requires minimal clearance space around the unit to ensure it fits into small spaces.

“Maximum energy efficiency and reliability are equally important factors

in minimising the lifetime costs of operating an HVAC system,” says Pierre Cazal, Vice President, Product Management and Equipment Solutions for Trane Europe, Middle East, India and Africa.

“The RTAC XE delivers both.

With the RTAC XE, customers get safety and robustness, as well as built-in energy efficient technology.”

perspective

Energy saving opportunities in variable flow systems

Combined use of differential pressure controllers and variable speed pumps delivers high energy savings

By Jean-Christophe Carette (M. Sc. Eng., PhD, ASHRAE member)

W

ith 40% of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s energy being used in buildings and 60% of this being used in HVAC, our industry carries a heavy responsibility for delivering energy-efficient installations.

Chillers used in cooling and boilers/heat pumps used in heating situations are the devices which use the highest amount of energy in installations. On the waterborne side, pumping energy consumption comes a close second, especially in cooling, where it represents between 15 and 20% of the annual energy consumption.

It is, therefore, necessary to undertake any effort to maximise the energy savings allowed by modern chillers, boilers and pumps, while making it possible to deliver the required comfortable indoor climate in buildings.

The chilled water return temperature issue Chiller efficiency is usually indicated by its coefficient of performance1 (COP). In order to keep the COP of a chiller as high as possible at partial load, the difference between the chilled water supply temperature (Ts) and the chilled water return temperature (Tr) should be kept as high as possible. In these conditions, the mean

temperature difference between chilled water and the refrigerant is kept high, enhancing the heat transfer in the evaporator and, thus, the chiller COP. With a constant chilled water supply temperature Ts as generally considered in cooling, keeping a high delta T means that the chilled water return temperature should be kept as high as possible at partial load.

When proportional control is used for variable flow circuits, the temperature monotonically increases when the flow is reduced through the terminal unit (figure 1). Hence, keeping a stable and accurate control of the cooling output of a terminal unit will benefit the chiller COP. On the contrary, if proportional control deteriorates to an uncontrollable on-off level of behaviour, energy consumption and uncomfortable room temperature levels will become unavoidable.

Stable and accurate control To ensure room temperature is controlled as accurately as possible, the global control characteristic of the circuit, relating the cooling output of the terminal unit to the control signal, must be as linear as possible. All other characteristic shapes lead to

high gain in some parts of the control range, leading to uncontrolled room temperature oscillations. The global control characteristic of a circuit results from the combination of the characteristics of the different circuit components (figure 2).

For typical cooling conditions, the characteristic of a terminal unit is nonlinear. At small and medium loads, small variations of flow lead to rapid changes of the emission of the terminal unit, making control difficult. Choosing a control valve with an equalpercentage Kv characteristic that compensates for the non-linearity of the terminal unit is essential to solve this problem. Unfortunately, in variable flow systems, when the flow in the system is reduced, pressure drops are reduced through terminal units, pipes and accessories.

This results in higher applied differential pressure across control valves, which distorts the relation between the flow and the control valve Kv. With a linear actuator characteristic and an equal-percentage control valve, the degree of nonlinearity of the global circuit characteristic depends mainly on the importance of the Dp variation effects (figure 2).

It is, therefore, essential to focus on avoiding differential

1 Ratio between the cooling output delivered at the evaporator and the electrical power required for running the compressor.

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CLIMATE CONTROL MIDDLE EAST

June 2010

pressure variations on control valves. This is best performed by locally stabilising the differential pressure with differential pressure controllers, either stand-alone or integrated into control valve bodies (pressure-independent control valves). In this later case, care must be taken that the basic control valve Kv characteristic is indeed of the equalpercentage type.

Compensating an improper control valve characteristic or Dp variation with actuator signal reprogramming is not a viable solution, as this leads to position control valves at low lifts and, thus, near or within its range limit, where it will deliver unstable on-off behaviour.

Variable speed pumps and differential pressure controllers When a system is equipped with a variable speed pump (VSP), one could wonder if the use of differential pressure controllers is really needed as both devices seem to work according to the same basic principle: controlling the differential pressure at one point in the system. Variable speed pumps are meant to maximise pumping energy savings at varying load in a variable flow system. They do act where they are installed, on the total flow going through them, based on the differential pressure sensed at one location

branch/zone or on each unit by using pressureindependent control valves2.

2. Install the VSP Dp sensor on the index, Dp controlled, branch or circuit.

3. Adjust the set-point of the VSP to the largest required differential pressure amongst all Dp controlled branches/circuits.

This last step ensures that all Dp-stabilised areas will receive enough primary differential pressure at low load. In order to implement this process, it is warmly recommended to perform a complete differential pressure calculation of the system.

Figure 1: Return water temperature evolution in function of the flow through a terminal unit for a design temperature regime: Ts/Tr/Troom = 7/12/24°C.

Conclusion Ensuring a good controllability to hydronic circuits is crucial for avoiding instability leading to chilled water delta T degradation and, thus, higher energy consumption by chillers.

Variable speed pumps are essential tools for minimising pumping energy use; however, variable speed pumps cannot ensure good controllability to all circuits at all loads, because they are â&#x20AC;&#x153;globalâ&#x20AC;? devices. Local differential pressure controllers are required for this task. When differential pressure control is applied consistently in a plant, the sensor of VSP can be placed on the index branch or zone, thereby leading to enhanced pumping energy savings while providing an excellent controllability to the system.

Figure 2: The global control characteristic of a circuit results from the combination of the characteristics of the circuit components.

by their Dp sensor. Even if multiple sensors are used, at any one moment in time, a VSP can only adapt its speed according to the signal of one of the sensors.

Thus VSPs cannot guarantee by themselves a stable and accurate control to all circuits distributed all over the system. This is true whatever the control mode and Dp sensor location that is selected. Differential pressure controllers are required to protect local control valves from large differential

pressure variations experienced at varying load in variable flow systems.

Minimising pumping energy use When differential pressure controllers are used consistently over a variable flow system, enhanced pumping energy savings can be obtained by using a remote Dp sensor for the VSP. This is made possible, because differential pressure controllers are self-acting balancing devices adapting

their opening according to the variations in the system.

Without differential pressure control, the use of a remote Dp sensor in the middle or the end of the system always lead to having some circuits unable to deliver their design cooling output under average part-load conditions.

The process to obtain optimum energy savings together with good controllability of all circuits works in three steps: 1. Perform dynamic balancing with Dp controllers on each

2 For cost-efficiency and depending on the hydronic structure of a plant, one approach can be used for some parts of the system while the other approach will be used for the other parts.

June 2010

The author is the Head of the Hydronic College, the knowledge development unit of Tour and Andersson, an Indoor Climate business of IMI plc. He may be reached at <jc.carette@ tahcollege.com>

CLIMATE CONTROL MIDDLE EAST

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endpoint

nigel hawley

Trane of thought

Nigel Hawley, General Manager, Trane (Middle East, India and Africa), speaks of the challenges faced by the HVACR industry today, and his commitment to achieving green building goals, even as he gives us glimpses of his life.

The beginning I was born in a lovely, yet small town, called Bromsgrove, in Worcestershire, England, at the end of 1966, five months after Booby Moore lifted the Football World Cup for England – something that is very much on my mind at the moment!

Bromsgrove is a small market town in one of the so-called “shire” counties of central England, and was focused on farming and agriculture. I vividly remember going to the local market each week with my mother to buy local produce in the auction, and even growing and selling plants and vegetables.

I am the only son of my parents, and the third born, almost 10 years younger than my two elder sisters. Though a Christian and a Protestant, all of my schooling was at Roman Catholic schools, due to the proximity of the primary school to my home.

After enjoying this school so much, it was decided I would attend the Roman 48

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Catholic Middle and High School in the neighbouring town, which involved me taking a one-hour bus ride each day on the school bus, not dissimilar to many children today in Dubai.

Outside of school hours, I loved to play soccer. This, we – my friends and I – did all evening-long, and every day of our summer holidays in the patches of a ground close to our homes. Whilst playing in various amateur teams most of my life, sadly, that is where it ends!

At school, my aptitude in Mathematics led me to undertaking my diploma in Business Studies and Finance from my local North Worcestershire College, which I completed in 1985.

After college, I decided to take a break from studying, and took up a position as a Management Trainee at the National Health Service in the UK. Whilst this was very enjoyable, I realised that to progress with my career ambitions, I needed to complete my university education. I, therefore, joined the Hull University in 1986,

wherein I undertook my Honours degree in Finance. I graduated with flying colours, topping my batch and won several awards during the three years of university education. I forged some of the closest friendships during this time.

Getting initiated into the HVACR industry Fresh after graduating from university, I joined KPMG, an international network of member firms, offering audit, tax and advisory services globally. I spent 13 very enjoyable years in, what I still consider to be, one of the very best professional services firms in the world. Most of what I use and apply every day is based on what I learnt during those 13 years.

My career with KPMG started in Audit and ended up in the consulting side of the business, focusing on risk management and corporate governance.

It took me across the UK and Europe on many customer engagements, and involved various overseas assignments,

including several years in the US, when I lived in New York City, which was a very special time in my life.

I finally left KPMG at the end of 2002, to explore new horizons and opportunities, as by then, I had met Valerie, (another advantage of working for KPMG), who was working as an Automotive Consultant for the Paris office, after completing her Optics Engineering degree, and we had decided we needed to live in a neutral country outside of France or England.

Also, I decided it was a good time for a new experience away from KPMG. I took the opportunity to join the EMEIA HQ of American Standard, the then holding company of Trane (along with Ideal Standard and Wabco), in Brussels, as the head of Audit for EMEIA, for all three businesses, including Trane. My previous experience at KPMG came in very useful here, enabling me to successfully manage this role.

Never did I imagine that few years later, I would relocate to the Middle East.

After four and a half years, I moved to an operational role in Trane, based in Dubai as the Finance Director for the Middle East, India and Africa regions.

This was in October 2006, at what turned out in hindsight, to be the twilight years of the district cooling boom!

In March 2009, I was promoted to General Manager for Middle East, India and Africa.

The road oft-taken …

I think, as far as my career is concerned, I took what is a fairly established path for a finance graduate from the UK/western Europe. We are meant to live our stories. It’s when you let go of trying to control the path, and simply live the story ahead of you – win, lose or draw – that you ensure your own success. My life so far has been a calculated one. My move to relocate or switch jobs was an obvious choice to furthering my

Nigel Hawley, General Manager, Trane (Middle East, India and Africa) June 2010

CLIMATE CONTROL MIDDLE EAST

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endpoint Maintenance, particularly in the emerging markets, is something people seem to believe is not necessary, if they are covered by a manufacturer’s warranty.

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career. What lies in store for me next has not yet been decided, but I am very confident that, with the many opportunities Ingersoll Rand has to offer around the world, challenges and experiences lie ahead.

‘Traning’ for life After my immediate family, Trane means a lot to me. My role as the head of business in Middle East, India and Africa keeps me on my toes 24/7. Whilst I do work long hours, I still manage a healthy work-life balance. And because I enjoy my job, this is not a problem.

At Trane, our philosophy is, our customer comes first. Our customer is the reason we exist. Our job is to meet his/her needs by using the expertise and knowledge we have in this business.

I believe our employees are our most important resource. They provide the sole source for our ability to meet our customer’s needs.

Our values and brand promise unite us as a company, and express how we operate, how we conduct business and how we differentiate ourselves in the global marketplace. The five core values of our company are: integrity, respect, teamwork, innovation and courage.

The idea of using technology to give people relief from summer heat was a radical and unproven idea when Trane became an air conditioning pioneer in 1931. Trane fundamentally changed the concept of air conditioning large buildings in 1938 – the beginning of a long chain of innovations leading to Trane’s current CenTraVac. It’s the industry standard for large commercial air conditioning systems – the most energy-efficient system available anywhere for large buildings, and it has earned Trane the ‘Best of the Best’ Award from the US Environmental Protection Agency.

When I look around Dubai, I am very proud to see that Trane solutions are cooling many landmark buildings and installations, such as, Palm JumeirahCrescent & Trunk (140,000 TR), Jumeriah Beach Residence (60,000 TR), Mall of the Emirates (13,000 TR), Discovery Gardens (100,000 TR), DIFC (48,000 TR), Dubai Investment Park (50,000 TR), Dubai Healthcare City (30,000 TR), Dubai World Central (100,000 TR), and Dubai Mall – Burj Khalifa (40,000 TR).

Recently, we added one more feather to our cap by qualifying to have, probably, the highest installation in the World. On the 155th & 159th floor of the iconic Burj Khalifa is our CGAN &

CCUN Scroll units. We are proud to be associated with all these projects.

Trane has always had the resources necessary to take calculated risks.

However, with the addition of Trane to the Ingersoll Rand portfolio, we have even more to offer our customers.

We are now a $13 billion globaldiversified industrial company, driven by employees who are proud to offer products and solutions people use every day, to create a positive impact in their world. Driven by a 100-year-old tradition of technological innovation, we enable companies and their customers to create progress.

We provide products, services and solutions to enhance the quality and comfort in homes and buildings, transport and protect food and perishables, secure homes and commercial properties, and enhance industrial productivity and efficiency.

Coping with recession As a company, we probably reacted too slowly to the recession, but we reacted before any of our competitors did. Today, I see what they are going through. We have continued to invest locally, even while in the midst of the recession, be it in our service business or the controls business.

All our product programmes to upgrade the refrigerant R-410A conversion, and investment in centrifugal chillers were accelerated in 2009. If accelerated during a recession, you will have the best product portfolio coming out at the end of the recession.

We have probably increased our staff by four times in Abu Dhabi. We never stopped investing in India. We have continued to hire there and we are adding more people. We are nimble and will redeploy people. So, when the recession hit us, we sent people away to India (or wherever they are from), because they chose to go and work out of India (or wherever they are from).

We have not replaced them in the Dubai office.

Internationally speaking, in the last 10 years, the growth for Trane has come from Europe, Middle East, Africa and India.

I believe that service and maintenance are the keys. We, as a company, here in Dubai, are going to move to a servicecentric business model, just like in Europe. The fact is that you can’t keep selling new equipment. Soon, it will be 60% new equipment and 40% service.

But the service model in the GCC is still

immature. We make centrifugal chillers that will run for 25 years and beyond.

They will run efficiently if they are maintained and upgraded. Here, though, they tend to knock the buildings off, even before the equipment has reached its mid-way stage.

Pitfalls of receivables We have not had a problem with receivables. The issues are related to backlog – projects for which order has been placed. We are aware that lots of projects in Dubai got stopped.

But since we hadn’t started building the equipment, there was no financial exposure. We can build a centrifugal chiller in 24 weeks. So we don’t face the risk of financial exposure.

There were projects where we had already supplied the equipment, but we don’t have any write-offs. We are a services business, not an equipment business. If they don’t pay, who will they go to for the service of all the equipment?

Our policy is that we expect to be treated with respect by our clients, just like we treat them with respect.

I don’t like being taken advantage of.

On our side, we will always honour the delivery date, technical capabilities, and operating efficiencies. In the same way, the clients have a commitment on their side, which is to pay. But fortunately, owing to very clear and open discussions, we have never actually had any difficulties with them. Yes, there are cases of slow payments. If the LOC is opened on us by the contractor, who says that he has not been paid, we will leapfrog him and straight away go to the client for our payments. We have been proactive and have chased our money. We are owed only a negligible amount in the Dubai World contract.

We were owed $2 million, and we chased the money, and today, we only have $50,000 to be received.

I believe in arguing for what I intrinsically believe is right. That way, I find Dubai to be very professional when you make it be.

Greece and the double-dip effect I don’t think the precarious position Greece finds itself in now, is going to cause a major shock for the GCC. I think the risk to the region is from the global economy. In Dubai, it is true that they made a mistake with Dubai World. And since then, they have shown an ability to manage debt. But if the world goes

into a double dip, then it will impact the GCC, including Qatar. This time around, though, I don’t see a dip happening.

Western Europe is going to have a tough time. But let us not forget that the economy in western Europe is well established. With even 0.5% growth, the work will continue. UK, for instance, has an installed industry base and residential communities. It has a population of 59 million people, all packed into a small land area. So, the demand will always be there. Germany is okay, France has its protectionist regime. So, I think the powerhouses are okay.

Challenges facing the industry The current issues, as I see them are: we need to make buildings more efficient.

This can be achieved only by focusing on systems rather than on products. I also believe that ensuring focus is maintained on the long-term strategy and decisions are not made to just protect this year’s bottom line. A balance, of course, needs to be found.

Maintenance and controls is another area that needs to be focused on. Even the best equipment in the world will not perform well, if it is not controlled correctly and maintained correctly.

Maintenance, particularly in the emerging markets, is something people seem to believe is not necessary, if they are covered by a manufacturer’s warranty. This is simply not true. It’s a bit like your new car. It is all well and good if Toyota is offering you a five-year warranty, but this is of little use if you do not get the car regularly serviced. In fact, the warranty will be invalidated!

Getting end-contractors and end-users to understand this is a real challenge.

Ensuring people do not get carried away by headlines, especially with Dubai, Dubai World and district cooling, is also a challenge. Certainly, we are not seeing the projects that we have seen in the past five years, but there are still many projects out there, and they all need efficient centrifugal chillers to operate effectively.

The real challenges today lie with the number of projects that have been stuck at the part-built stage. Changing plans part way through is never easy. Projects that are still on the drawing board are much easier to handle/cancel.

Another worry is, the credit markets are still tight, and until funds start moving freely again, things will not dramatically improve. This is why, the Dubai World debt restructuring

is so important. It sends a very strong message to the market. Whilst mistakes were clearly made back in November 2009, when the initial standstill arrangements were announced, significant progress has been made since then, which will bode well for Dubai and the UAE in years to come.

Solutions Service businesses can actually thrive in the midst of a global economic recession, if they address the challenges facing their customers and embrace sustainable strategies to differentiate themselves. Taking care of customers requires continuous improvement in all elements of the business. We have adapted our Quality Improvement Process to allow our company to respond to the expanding needs of our customers. We provide many and varied capabilities, all focused on the broad spectrum of customer needs. Our goal is to have our equipment; controls and automation; project management and performance contracting; services and parts businesses working together, so that the sum of value provided to our customer, by each part of our business, exceeds the value offered by the whole.

The key is to offer objective advice along with world-class, energy-efficient and reliable solutions, which will be around for the life of the building.

The important thing is to size systems according to actual demand, and not on wistful dreams of population growth.

How long it will take to come out of the economic downturn is a very difficult question to answer. A lot depends on finalising the Dubai World agreements, and then it will be interesting to see what happens with Dubai Holding and the rest of Dubai Inc. Regardless of how long it takes, Dubai will succeed. There have been many false starts in the Gulf in the past, but Dubai has now come too far along the development curve, to not survive and prosper. As to what will it take, courage and credit are the main two ingredients.

The UAE has plenty of both. So, I am not too concerned.

Insider’s insight into Qatar and Saudi Arabia Qatar, to some extent, is like a mini Dubai five years ago – many exciting projects with everybody chasing them all. To be successful, you have to carefully select which project and which developer/contractor you want to work with.

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endpoint We now believe it is of such a size and importance that, by the end of this year, we will be opening an office in Qatar.

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I don’t profess to be an expert on Qatar’s economy, but it is a country we have serviced from Dubai for many years. To be frank, Trane, as a company, neglected Qatar. We still don’t have a representative there. Our technicians fly in and out, and it is frustrating for our customers. They tell us, “We’d rather go to you, but you are not here.”

I find Qatar a very promising market.

We now believe it is of such a size and importance that, by the end of this year, we will be opening an office there – a sales office and a service team. We may increase people working in Qatar in the next 12 months. We will have in place a team of technicians to handle AHUs, FCUs, controls and some of the district cooling equipment. We are going to appoint a new distributor of unitary products for Qatar, because we see the unitary market booming there. VRFs and medium-size rooftops qualify as unitary products for us.

There has been talk about the recent ramp up in the production of shale gas in the US and how this is going to impact Qatar. I don’t think shale gas can have a negative impact on Qatar. It has all the money. But when I think of Qatar, the risk for me is, how many people want to move in and live in Qatar? How much should you build, really? Yes, Qatar has an expat population consisting of people who work in the O&G industries, and their families. But what about those who want to visit Qatar for entertainment, say? So we have to decide how much to build. The UAE is different, because it has a certain lifestyle. And Saudi Arabia has a large domestic population.

So, there is a demand for housing.

And Oman is a beautiful country, with mountains and wadis. In the case of Qatar, that is a risk to me.

The positives about Qatar is that, its economics is very strong, and it is willing to spend. Of course, the question arises: what can they keep spending on?

If this is the case, there is a limitation to all GCC states.

When it comes to Saudi Arabia, the situation is different. It is an incredibly important and a large market for us.

The market for district cooling there is immense. It offers many exciting opportunities, which we are currently working on. There, all of our business is through our long-established distributor – Dallah Trading, a subsidiary of the Dallah Group – one of the top five Trane customers the world over. But we hope to be able to announce some good June 2010

news very soon. Most importantly, we now see government investing more in education and healthcare verticals.

But it is difficult to do business in Saudi Arabia. What is helping us is that more and more contractors, who were in the UAE, are now going there, owing to a shortage of jobs here. This cannot hurt us, because they will recommend Trane to their customers there.

R&D and innovation This is probably the area where we benefited most from joining Ingersoll Rand. Our R&D facilities and investment are amongst the most advanced in the industry now. Our R&D centres from the US, Europe, India and China bring together highly talented and motivated people, who, through their competencies, make the maximum use of the centre’s technology and infrastructure for the benefit of the corporation. They offer support to Ingersoll Rand divisions globally. The mission of these centres is not only to be a hub of excellence for quality and reliability, testing, technology and supporting green solutions development, but also to develop our engineering talent, in whose hands our future success depends.

In 2009, despite the world financial crisis, Trane launched more new products than it had done in the past 20 years, including a complete overhaul of its unitary portfolio to a new environmentally responsible refrigerant, R410a. On April 22, we celebrated Earth Day, and Ingersoll Rand launched our Centre for Energy Efficiency and Sustainability (CEES).

CEES is a dedicated global group of leaders, focused on advocating and bringing to the market, energyefficient innovation and technologies for commercial buildings and transport, homes and select industrial applications. The CEES was created to increase the pace of environmentally sustainable innovation and to create a roadmap for businesses and organisations worldwide, to incorporate energy efficiency and environmentally focused processes into their daily operations.

This philosophy is close to my heart, as I had already introduced a number of small, but important, energy-saving initiatives in our offices around the region. Whilst reliability and energy efficiency runs through the company’s DNA, the flagship product remains

endpoint My hope is that district cooling plants are maintained and operating at the peak efficiency for which they were designed.

our EarthWise Centrifugal chiller, which has picked numerous awards.

Focusing on ‘green’ products Demand for environmentally responsible buildings is growing, as people realise it is not about cost, but a wise investment. Green buildings are designed with energy efficiency, indoor air quality (IAQ) and sustainable materials in mind.

The right HVAC system is critical to green buildings. As a leading global supplier of HVAC systems and services, with more than 650 LEED Accredited Professionals (APs), I think Trane can help clients achieve their green building goals.

Seeing that more and more businesses recognise the importance of building green, Trane actively supports the green building councils around the world, including in the UAE and in the US, and conferences such as Greenbuild and the Green Building Congress. We are advancing building technologies and solutions that accelerate the design and construction of green communities. We are a founding member of the Emirates Green Building Council.

How I wish to contribute to the growth and prosperity of the region Personally, I would like to ensure when I eventually leave Dubai that I can put my hand on my heart and ensure it is a greener and more environmentally responsible place to live in.

I hope that district cooling plants are sized according to actual loads, rather than some fanciful dream, and that they use the most energy-efficient systems – something sadly, that has not always happened in the past. My hope also is that they are maintained and operating at the peak efficiency for which they were designed.

th his family Nigel Hawley wi

The world is my mentor I try to learn from everyone I meet and work with. I am not a great believer in modelling myself on certain successful individuals. I believe we can all learn from everyone around us. Having said this, I must add that I am a great fan of good public orators. And although there are many, I believe Winston Churchill is out there with the best of them. He is one of the great leaders of recent times, and what I like most about him 54

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is his self-confidence and humour. Of his hundreds of wonderful quotes, I particularly like his response when confronted in the House of Commons by a certain lady MP, who was offended by one of his statements, and was prompted to say, “If I was your wife, I would poison your afternoon tea.” To which, Churchill instantly responded, “My good lady, if you were my wife, I would gladly drink it!”

My family I’m English and aged 43. I’m married to Valerie, who hails from Gueret, on the Massif Central in France.

We have three children – ChloeMarie, aged nine, Eliott, aged seven and Charlotte-Alexine, aged five.

Chloe-Marie and Eliott were born in England, and Charlotte in Belgium, where we moved to in 2003, three months after Eliott’s birth.

The children swim, dance, follow football and gymnastic courses.

Valerie has to do most of the driving and organising. I am exhausted just listening to them at the end of the day!

As our children spent most of their early years in Flanders, the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium, they also attend local after-school Dutch classes. This is another challenge for them – being the only non-native Dutch children in the class. Being a stoic Englishman, I tell them this is ‘character building’. But I have to admit, I am very impressed by their resolve.

Life in Dubai Both Valerie and I grew up in the countryside, in France and England, respectively, and therefore, have a great love for the outdoors and Nature.

In Dubai, that draws us to the desert, and to Oman, in particular. It really is a wonderful country. We have just returned from a two-day trip, exploring the peak of Jabal Akhdar. At 2,090 metres, it is wonderfully cool at this time of year!

In the past four years, we have spent many wonderful days racing along next to dolphins, swimming with giant turtles, watching the turtles come ashore and lay their eggs, exploring Whabi Sands and following in Sir Wilfred Thesiger’s footsteps – exploring the Liwa Oasis, the Forgotten Quarter and Salalah.

All these places are a lot different from what we find at home. This has added greatly to the richness of our experiences here in Dubai.

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