CCME - Sept. 2020

Climate Control Middle East covers the regional and global HVACR industry with a firm commitment to providing in-depth news and analyses on policy, business and technology.

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FEATURE: COVID-19 AND 'BUILDING TRACING'

September 2020

Taking the fight to

POST-EVENT REPORTS

DISINFECTION 360 Pumping Systems

climate crisis District cooling seen as key to meeting HFC phase-down requirements in the GCC region INTERVIEWS ‘Can’t underestimate the potential of HVAC systems and air filters’ Dr Iyad Al Attar, independent air filtration consultant

PERSPECTIVES ‘Humankind needs a jolt to wake up to things’ Vineet Kashyap, Carrier

CRITICAL PIECE OF THE PUZZLE

COVID-19 and smart building management

CONNECTED AND SINGING IN HARMONY Amalgamation of DCPs

PUBLICATION LICENSED BY IMPZ

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September 2020

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DISTRICT 28 COOLING SEEN AS KEY TO MEETING HFC PHASE-DOWN REQUIREMENTS IN THE GCC REGION In view of the looming HFC phase-down and phase-out deadlines set by the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, GCC region countries are being urged to move away from traditional cooling solutions.

The bane of supersizing of HVAC pumps

08

Is there scope for improving the energy efficiency of pumps through better design or operation approaches?

How have changing occupancy profiles in a COVID-19ravaged world affected building operations?

Have you checked the wheels and ducts?

32

A close look at how incorporating disinfection strategies and giving specialised attention to coils, ducts, filters, heat-recovery wheels and other building essentials can positively contribute to the fight against the spread of COVID-19.

Poor IAQ, low humidity catalysts of COVID-19 spikes FEATURES

on the cover

POST-EVENT REPORTS

VOL. 15 NO. 09  SEPTEMBER 2020

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US-based consultant suggests incorporating a 'Building Tracing' programme to counter the expected increase in infections with the onset of winter in the country

IoT, AI can wade in to address GCC region’s water scarcity issues

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‘Can’t underestimate the potential of HVAC systems and air filters’

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They are vital cogs in the wheel in combatting COVID-19, in light of increasing evidence that SARS-CoV-2 may be transmitted by aerosols, says Dr Iyad Al-Attar, independent air filtration consultant

‘Humankind needs a jolt to wake up to things’

Like a large subterranean snake

16

PERSPECTIVES

INTERVIEWS

Innovative technologies and smart systems have strong potential for reframing existing systems and addressing key challenges associated with water use, especially in the Middle East, where scarcity is an issue

Alluding to the chastening effect the pandemic has had on the human psyche, Vineet Kashyap of Carrier Corporation says that society is decidedly moving towards healthy buildings and that occupants want to put a value to their wellness

06 eDItor'S note

REGULARS

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Inflection point September 2020

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Below the surface of Singapore lies the future of keeping cool, says Masato Hinouchi of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd

Connected and singing in harmony

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The amalgamation of DCPs is perhaps the answer to greater penetration of district cooling in Dubai, says Nimal Amukotuwa, independent consultant

Critical piece of the puzzle

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Smart building management is the secret to the safe reopening of commercial buildings in a world still being ravaged

by COVID-19, says Sanjeevv Bhatia of Netix Global

42 Regional News 48 Global News

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Presents Have you checked Virtual HVACR Series:

the wheels and ducts?

STRATEGIES & SOLUTIONS 4th edition of ‘The Air We Breathe’

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OVERVIEW With the world grappling with COVID-19 and its implications, in terms of health and the economy, indoor air quality is in sharp focus like never before.

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EDITOR’S NOTE

Inflection point

T

he fifth edition of CPI Industry’s World IEQ Forum, in October 2015, in Dubai, was quite an event, brightened by the forthrightness of quite a few participants in calling for an end to the rather stepmotherly treatment being given to all matters IEQ (indoor environmental quality) in relation to efforts aimed at improving energy efficiency.

Things moved at a glacial pace, with the occasional nod to IEQ in the months and years that followed. And here we are thick in the pandemic, and the world has changed considerably. Global market research firm, Technavio, in a May 2020 report, stated that the global IAQ (indoor air quality) market is expected to grow by USD 9.54 billion between 2020 and 2024, “progressing at a CAGR of over six per cent during the forecast period”. The belief is that the pandemic has put the fear in the global population, or at least a deep concern for personal health. What else could explain the palpable increase in sales of air purifiers and UV equipment, or a spurt in demand for High-Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters to fortify residential buildings as much as commercial buildings.

While the importance to IAQ is welcome, this magazine has always campaigned for a balanced approach. The threat of climate change, or a climate crisis, has not dissipated, and so we must continue with our efforts at substantially lowering indirect and direct emissions. At the same time, the virus has sent a cash crunch to visit upon most of us, as tenants, homeowners and landlords of commercial real estate, and now more than ever, we are seeking lower electricity bills from a total cost of ownership perspective. Perhaps most important, we need all the energy efficiency solutions and strategies at our disposal to work for us to make our homes safer and to protect us from the virus.

It is perhaps simple logic to state that we may not be able to allow more fresh air changes without a substantial increase in cooling load and the resultant increase in consumption of electricity. Yes, we have energy-recovery wheels, their installation mandated by many building codes the world over, and yes, we have cutting-edge means – BMS, IoT and artificial intelligence – to eke out that much more energy savings in our buildings. But the disconnected way in which we are specifying, installing and operating our buildings is putting paid to all wellmeaning efforts. In a webinar CPI Industry conducted on pumping systems in August, Hassan Younes, Director & Partner, GRFN Consultants; and President, ASHRAE Falcon Chapter, spoke of how maintenance teams of chilled water systems get complaints of insufficient cooling in the farthest units of the network, owing to improper balancing of hydronic systems. In response to the complaints, Younes said, “The BMS guy increases the pumping, because he doesn’t know where the flow is needed,” leading to higher power consumption (see report on page 08).

Younes added that system integrators are not really good at mechanical aspects and that while they know how to build the control philosophy, given the right algorithm, they don’t know the mechanical part.

The ignorance or partial ignorance among operators and system integrators is just the tip of the iceberg, though. As Kandasamy Anbalagan, Managing Partner, Proleed Engineering Consultants, said in the same report, pump and control valve selections and index circuit calculations are no longer accurate. Consultants do not pay enough attention to these, as “most of the deficiencies are corrected by VFDs”.

Don’t miss to read the entire report; quite interesting, worrying.

Surendar Balakrishnan Editor @BSurendar_HVACR FEATURE: COVID-19 AND 'BUILDING TRACING'

September 2020

Taking the fight to

POST-EVENT REPORTS

DISINFECTION 360 Pumping Systems

Get the next issue of Climate Control Middle East early!

climate crisis District cooling seen as key to meeting HFC phase-down requirements in the GCC region INTERVIEWS ‘Can’t underestimate the potential of HVAC systems and air filters’ Dr Iyad Al Attar, independent air filtration consultant

PERSPECTIVES ‘Humankind needs a jolt to wake up to things’ Vineet Kashyap, Carrier

CRITICAL PIECE OF THE PUZZLE

COVID-19 and smart building management

CONNECTED AND SINGING IN HARMONY Amalgamation of DCPs

PUBLICATION LICENSED BY IMPZ

US$15

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September 2020

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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.

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Post-event Report

M

Pumps Webinar

The bane of

ohamed R Zackariah, Chief Consultant, Suhaimi Design – Protecooling, is convinced that pumps and their components and impellers have quite reached their zenith in terms of design. His focus, hence, is on improving their operation. “If we analyse many of the projects that are currently operational, the pumps are not operating in the best efficiency point or within the preferable operating rate,” he said, adding that building owners are extracting very low operation from pumps, owing to a mismatch between pumping performance and system performance.

Agreeing with this, Hassan Younes, Director & Partner, GRFN Consultants; and President, ASHRAE Falcon Chapter, said that modern impeller designs and availability of IE5 motors have helped reduce power consumption of pumps. Speaking from his experience, he said that most of the problems associated with Delta T can be attributed to the improper balancing of the systems. “Normally, Mohamed R Zackariah units closer to pumps have more flow, and the ones that are is calculated on running in parallel in not close – maybe those in the top floors – index, so overall district cooling schemes. are not getting anything,” he said. “They get operations and “The operator should complaints, and the BMS guy increases the Delta T control is understand hydraulics and pumping, because he doesn’t know where very important, but in know where the index point is the flow is needed.” Such practice, he said, Hassan Younes a district cooling plant, in the network,” he said, adding is quite common and leads to higher power hardly three per cent of that it is essential to identify, select consumption. energy is contributed to the pump.” and keep the pump running based on the Younes said the situation underlines Wading into the discussion, Nimal index point to meet the demand of chilled the importance of assessing demand from Amukotuwa, independent consultant, raised water for all the clients, with minimum power both a cooling and a hydraulic perspective the issue of design considerations and consumption on the motor. The index point, and balancing the requirements while the vexingly high number of instances of he added, is also integral to controlling the looking at the best efficiency point and oversizing of pumps, which he said, affects speed. “How can we identify which one is adjusting the pumps and VFD speed to the overall performance of pumps. “This index point?” he said, rhetorically speaking. attain the best efficiency. He added that [oversizing] is a no-no not only because of “For me, it is the farthest point in the network ASHRAE encourages having a higher Delta energy [considerations] – the life of the or the highest point or the highest capacity T, even going beyond the nine degrees C pump is also reduced," he said. in the network. The operator can select this typically recommended for district cooling Picking up the thread, V Sekhar Reddy, as an index point to lead the pump to run purposes, to 10-11 degrees C, in an effort to Managing Director, Lexzander, said that optimally and efficiently.” reduce the amount of water required to be despite the best intentions of consultants Agreeing, Prabhakar Naik, Managing transported. and designers, a number of challenges Director, Base VASTU and, ENGG Services On cue, Sleiman Dahabra, Senior invariably crop up when the project takes off.

FZE, said: “The pump is not decided in the Operation Manager, Tabreed, highlighted “The contractor’s responsibility is to ensure first index, or second FCU. It is two-third of the importance of identifying the best that all elements are well-integrated and the index length, basically. The pump head efficiency point, especially with pumps

8

HVAC

September 2020

supersizing of

He explained that while its impact on the energy consumption varies from project to project, which means it may not have a significant impact on the running cost, it still has significant implications on the overall performance of the system. “Definitely, the contractor has a huge role to play in terms of ensuring the selected system does its job, and yes, it's always good to keep it at a right point, but it’s not always practically possible,” he said.

pumps Is there scope for improving the energy efficiency of pumps through better design or operation approaches? How have changing occupancy profiles in a COVID-19-ravaged world affected building operations? And how can intelligent systems help? Insights from a plenary discussion during “Heart of the Matter: A Webinar on pumping systems”, presented as part of CPI Industry’s HVACR Virtual Conference series, on August 10…

By Hannah Jo Uy | Assistant Editor

well-coordinated,” he said.

“There will definitely be issues if you go for a copy-andpaste approach.

Normally, the consultant or designer gives a lot of safety factors for the system, keeping in mind capital cost and also keeping Sleiman Dahabra budgets in mind to ensure the best in the interest of the project, but then it becomes the responsibility of the contractor to ensure that it is properly engineered, sized and then matched to the requirement.”

Reddy said that some contractors tend to cut corners when it comes to the

capacity of the motor. “They tend to match the pump to the motor and deliver very little leverage in terms of any changes to system requirement,” he said. “That’s where it affects the performance of the system.”

Reddy said that many of the buildings are unable to keep performance levels up due to shortcomings in the pumping system and that this phenomenon has been amplified by a rapidly ageing building stock.

Prabhakar Naik

THE COVID-19 EFFECT

A shift in occupancy profiles, following COVID-19, has also had a hand at aggravating inefficient operation of pumps. Kandasamy Anbalagan, Managing Partner, Proleed Engineering Consultants, said that a peculiar scenario he has recently observed is that occupancy of residential buildings is now at 80-90%.

Pre-COVID, he pointed out, people tended to travel during summer months but that restrictions have forced most residents to stay put and indoors, and this has resulted in an increase in the number of tenant complaints about building performance.

Anbalagan said a lot of the performance pain points are consequences of improper design. He pointed out that a decade or so ago, constant-speed systems were the norm, and pump selection was a critical scenario.

“You needed to have the right calculations,” he said. “Those days, engineers had the time and mind to do proper calculations and come up with index circuit calculation.

Valves selection used to be of paramount importance, and we used to spend a lot of time going into it and selecting the right pump and applying the diversity for larger circuits.” Of late, however, Anabalagan said he has seen depreciation in the design and selection process of control valves. “The risk is becoming a bit less in terms of the selection process, and engineers do not pay enough attention to going in the right direction, because most of the deficiencies are corrected by VFDs,” he said.

For Anantharaman Kanagaraman, Discipline Lead - MEP, SSH, the ability of pumping systems to cater to such unforeseen circumstances, such as changing occupancy profiles, following COVID-19, has proven to be tricky. “Usually, pumps are all sized based on peak loads, and there are a lot of safety factors,” he said. However,

www.climatecontrolme.com

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Post-event Report

Pumps Webinar

The great debate Industry stakeholders share their thoughts on the pros and cons of opting for single-sourced pumping systems

By Hannah Jo Uy | Assistant Editor

O

ver the years, there has been a debate on the wisdom of opting for single-sourced systems, with many claiming that if pumps, control sensors and VFDs are sourced from a single manufacturer, there would be greater reliability, efficiency and scope for overcoming Low Delta T problems.

Nimal Amukotuwa, independent consultant, is one such stakeholder. “I find that having the pump, the speed control, the VFD and the pump control panel from the same manufacturer is very advantageous,” he said. “Especially with some of the pump manufacturers integrating part of the pump into the VFDs – they know how the pump works and, that way, get energy-efficient operations.”

Anantharaman Kanagaraman, Discipline Lead - MEP, SSH, took a more conservative stance. He said that as a consultant, he believes going for single-source systems would be tricky, because clients require open-source systems so that contractors can get the best price. “This is where we are stuck,” he said. “However, we know pump manufacturers know the pump better, and they know where to operate the pump much better than the controls.” Such an approach, he said, could be viable in small projects. “In the case of smaller buildings with simple air-cooled chillers with primary variable pumps – yes, definitely it could be single-sourced, and the pump manufacturer can integrate all the controllers.” he said. However, Nimal Amukotuwa Kanagaraman, said that for bigger projects, pump manufacturers need to be more transparent. He said that as pump manufacturers are digitising their systems, the onus is also on them to provide transparent information to the BMS, so it would be easier to integrate the system as a whole. “If pump manufacturers can make graphs, provide more performance points, more open protocols and just be more transparent and then educate the BMS specialist – it will be simple,” he said.

For V Sekhar Reddy, Managing Director, Lexzander, the priority is on ensuring flexibility in the hydraulics and controls. “I think the guy handling the hydraulic side and who understands the system should take the lead, and the controls has to follow that,” he said. “Because what happens is that the person on field understands the system better than the guy who does controls, because his understanding of the system is limited – he is just participating in one of the elements. [It’s about] how they interact with respective pumping systems and what they are trying to control. I believe that it need not be from the same source – definitely not. I’ve Ibrahim Hesham done many projects with flexibility in terms of both pricing and functionality.”

Hassanien Reddy added that the person who understands hydraulics should ensure pumping systems operate optimally and is supported by the person overseeing controls.

For Ibrahim Hesham Hassanien, Mechanical Engineer, Allied Consultants, UAE, the key lies in integration. “It doesn’t have to be the same manufacturer, but the system itself has to be integrated together and selected properly, so it works together,” he pointed out. To this end, Hassanien said that it would be helpful to ensure the involvement of the control specialist from the initial design and material selection stage, so they can have a better understanding of the material requirements of the process engineer. Speaking from the perspective of a designer, Hassanien added that he believes the involvement of manufacturers in the initial stages is also crucial and should be reflected in the design. Then, at the construction stage, the contractor and his team would have to work closely with the supervision consultant to verify each selected equipment, including the data, capacity and loads to ensure selected systems are optimised, he said. Hassanien pointed out that such collaboration throughout the project would ensure that the execution would be seamless and homogenous.

10

September 2020

tion helor of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering, mbatore Institute of Technology (Affiliated to athiyar University), Tamil Nadu, India, 1996

must be increased further.”

He emphasised that if there is proper understanding and intersection between of Experience control engineers and process engineers, there will be greater and more significant improvement in the overall Anantharaman Kanagaraman operations.

Younes, agreeing, said that digitalisation and IoT are both integral to ASHRAE’s global agenda. Currently, he said, there are guidelines published for central Kandasamy Anbalagan plants that provide recommendations on the type of sensors that need to be o 2015 Pace, Kuwait 2000 to 2001 Associated Engineering Partnership, installed. However, he said, ASHRAE is also he pointed out that considering that Senior Mechanical Engineer Kuwait working on a set of guidelines for sequence VFDs are widely used, data is going HVAC Engineer and operation. “Currently, there is Guideline to be the key that will allow operators •toNew Hospital, Kuwait 36, which is mainly on the air-side,” he have Jahara a better understanding on at •what Kuwait University, Shadadiyah 1998 to 2000 Haden McLellan -said.

Ford, “TheIndia purpose of this guideline is that point they should run the system, •especially Avenues Mall, Phase III and IV, Kuwait Mechanical Engineer - FM instead of having every consultant write in developments where the •index Central of Kuwait Head Quarters these requirements in terms of sequence couldBank be changing.

“Having multiple and operation the specs, they can go gathered Museum from the network is •information Kuwait National 1996 to 1998 SERVALL Engineering Works,in India to this guideline and select what kind of important, even with COVID,ofwhere •very Court Complex, Ministry Justice, Mechanical Engineer, Projects V Sekhar Reddy system applies to their own system. The operators Kuwait can see that part load can suppliers can then use that. Everyone can onInternational some sectors ofTennis the clusters but •happen Kuwait Complex use it, instead of reinventing the wheel.” not on other segments,” he said. “This type efficiency, many projects suffer, because Younes said that ASHRAE is also working of information is key, and data is essential, there is often a disconnect between the o 2004 KEO International Consultants, Kuwaitcontrols group and the mechanical group. on a new guideline focusing on smoother because the number of index points cannot HVAC integration of smart systems in chilled be just Engineer one – it probably keeps varying.”

“That disconnect is causing a lot of lost water plants. “What I normally face is that opportunities, because sometimes, the •THE Al Ain - Diwan Office Building, UAE system integrators are not really good at investment in the control system is heavy GAPS IN SMART •SYSTEMS Rakkan Tower, Kuwait mechanical aspects,” he said. “They know and there are a lot of intelligent components how to control stuff or to build the control implemented on site, but at the end of the pump efficiency •Improving Al Jon Centre, Kuwaitby utilising philosophy, if you give them the right day, the required functionality of controls, data extracted from control systems is an • Nofa Residential Complex, Kuwait algorithm. They know how to program, but pumping and any other systems are not approach that Dahabra said Tabreed is • Emirates Palace Hotel, UAE they don’t know the mechanical part. If we properly delivered,” he said. adopting. He said that the district cooling have such standards and guidelines, which is Zackariah also observed that when utility has implemented smart control what ASHRAE is trying to do now, it is much control teams implement the project on site, systems to prevent the pump from running more helpful for the industry.” often the technicians are not familiar with very fast, and to maintain the stability the old system to the fullest extent. “They of the operation and proper flow for the are not able to deliver those features and entire network. Dahabra said that Tabreed functionality at site,” he said. “These kind of is also in the middle of discussions to run shortcomings need to be addressed. When plants through unmanned operations and we are talking about artificially intelligent, that it is implementing a number of smart HAVE YOUR SAY! machine-learning-enabled type of control innovations to collect all historical data We welcome your views on the article. systems – the level of skill and understanding for evaluation and analysis. “We have a Write to editor@cpi-industry.com among the control implementation team specialist team for analysis and to give advice to the operator on the ground,” he said, “The philosophy is that you can gain some savings in power or in dollar.”

Dahabra said that Tabreed is also utilising systems that will allow it to monitor 20 plants to help operators educate stakeholders on how to efficiently run their systems.

Zackariah was quick to point out that while smart systems are, undoubtedly, vital for improving

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11

covid

19

Dr Iyad Al-Attar

‘Can’t underestimate the potential of HVAC systems and air filters’ They are vital cogs in the wheel in combatting COVID-19, in light of increasing evidence that SARSCoV-2 may be transmitted by aerosols, says Dr Iyad Al-Attar, in this free-wheeling interview he gave to Surendar Balakrishnan.

Excerpts…

Dr Iyad Al-Attar

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September 2020

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OU HAVE OFTEN PREFACED DISCUSSIONS AT WEBINARS WITH THE LINE, ‘HOW DID WE END UP HERE?’ SO, HOW DID WE?

Scientists believe that urbanisation and global warming could have positioned our atmosphere to be a hospitable sink for viruses and bacteria. Coronaviruses are possibly zoonotic, which suggests that they can transmit from animals to people and from person to person. Humans are encountering wildlife populations that we have previously never been in contact with, and those populations have new kinds of bacteria and viruses that we may not be ready to confront.

Scientists believe that human choices are driving us to witness more outbreaks, owing to the manner in which we are interacting with our planet. We continue to hang our polluted hats on the environment rather than establishing an intrinsic understanding of our human behaviour that seems to be driving our current challenges.

WHY ARE WE LOCKED UP IN OUR HOMES, GIVEN ALL THE TOOLS AND TECHNOLOGIES AVAILABLE AT OUR FINGERTIPS? COVID-19 has revealed some real weaknesses in the global health supply chains. If we were perfectly prepared for COVID-19, we could have identified the virus earlier and responded faster to better control its spread.

The world’s responses to previous outbreaks have been exceedingly slow and, at times, extraordinarily antiquated – to the extent that unrest has broken out over facemasks and food. With all the advanced technologies available at our fingertips, we are still exposed, and now locked up.

We simply had assumed that the past 60 years of progress in diagnostics, vaccines and supercomputing, and in analytical tools, such as genomics, bioinformatics and scanning electron microscopy would render our preparedness intact. To our surprise, COVID-19 has demonstrated how vulnerable we are, particularly among the immune-compromised patients, new-born, the elderly and the less equipped.

Further, open-ended wars that have left millions of refugees displaced contributed to the soaring cost of health infrastructure and induced difficulties to access populations that are less equipped or ill-prepared, or both. While regulatory frameworks of well-developed countries require refinement to fit emerging realities of recent pandemics, we need to extend a helping hand to countries who are yet to create ones.

HOW CAN WE REGAIN TRUST IN VARIOUS APPLICATIONS AND INDOOR SPACES, SUCH AS AIRPORTS, SHOPPING MALLS AND SCHOOLS? Attention to the role of air filtration in enhancing air quality has been on the wane for the past few decades. HVAC systems have been on a high filtration diet and our respiratory systems have become sick and tired of such air quality. If there are neither marks for enhancing IAQ nor penalties for not doing so, then it is no surprise that no one has spent a penny on improving air quality. Today, we cannot underestimate the potentials of HVAC systems and air filters in combatting COVID-19 in light of increasing evidence that SARS-CoV-2 may be transmitted by aerosols.

Exposure to airborne particulate matter (PM) in urban areas has been a major public health concern. Physical and chemical characterisation of airport-related emissions on air quality is essential in understanding the type of pollutants, their concentration and size distribution and their impact on climate and human health. Considerable attention has been paid recently to the indoor air quality, as a function of airportrelated emissions, among other combustion sources of PM in urban areas. Gradually reopening airports and ensuring that the HVAC and filtration systems are capable of capturing and disinfecting the air is a critical topic to the health of passengers, staff and crew members.

We need to redo the math on various aspects of our lifestyles, from personal hygiene to HVAC systems and especially on the kind of air filtration systems we bring to bear to defend our respiratory systems. Long queues in the airport have been a pressing issue for decades but were not tackled. If social distancing is planned to be practised for years to come, it will substantially reduce human occupancy and cause revenue losses.

Keep in mind that when budgets were available to provide the latest and greatest HVAC equipment and best air filtration technologies, such tools were not utilised.

Today, the excuse could be that economic losses do not allow any sort of improvement and extra spending, and corner-cutting approaches will be the name of the game. We have to be serious about air quality and the underlying parameters of our indoor comfort.

We ought to consider the entire physics of the building of interest to ensure that all elements are performing in harmony. These parameters range from air filters selection to HVAC equipment, insulation material, façade, and how green the building is. A similar analogy can be applied for shopping malls and educational facilities, where the facility managers will have to demonstrate to the occupants that yesterday’s choices that got us thus far are no longer an option today.

HIGH-RISES HAVE LONG BEEN SEEN AS THE ANSWER TO SUSTAINABLE URBANISATION. GREEN BUILDING MANUALS ADVOCATE DENSELY PACKED COMMUNITIES TO AVOID LONGDISTANCE COMMUTES TO THE WORKPLACES. IS COVID19, AND THE MANDATORY SOCIAL DISTANCING IT HAS ENGENDERED, FORCING US TO EXAMINE THAT WISDOM OF DENSELY PACKED COMMUNITIES AND CITIES? As a building increases in height, the air temperature outside the building decreases and the wind speed increases, which can affect the ambient temperatures in the indoor spaces as well as operation of outdoor equipment. The most prominent challenge in high-rises for HVAC systems, I presume, would be achieving better control on indoor air quality and reducing airborne spread of bioaerosols. High-rises come with their own package of challenges, including but not limited to stack-effect-induced indoor airflow, higher infiltration rates at elevated areas through facades and openings, and mechanically induced airflows due

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13

covid

19

Dr Iyad Al-Attar

to vertical transportation movements within high vertical shafts.

Following the same wisdom, looking at high-rises from a pandemic point of view and the social distancing requirements should trigger innovative and out-of-the-box approaches to comply with social distance requirements while limiting additional urban development expansion. These approaches might include rethinking space planning and furnishing design techniques to fit the same number of people within the same space while keeping social distancing, or revisiting or exploring more flexible or remote work schedules that allow fewer people to be physically present while delivering the work tasks – for example, a mix of telecommuting and staggered work schedules. Challenges should trigger innovation rather than limit our options.

High-rises, on their own, are not a solution for long-distance commuting, if they are not part of an overall strategy for sustainable community, incorporating reduced parking capacity, and for developing residential

neighbourhoods that are walking-distance from workplaces. Further, cities will function better if we provide low- or no-emission alternative transport modes by making more streets car-free to promote geographical equity, since not all people have or use cars all the time. Bear in mind that at present, we grant virtually 100% of our streets to cars.

WHAT UNIQUE CHALLENGES DO HIGH-RISES POSE IN THE TIME OF COVID-19 AND IN THE EVENT OF MORE SUCH DEBILITATING PANDEMICS? WHAT SHOULD WE DO DIFFERENTLY IN DESIGNING AND INSTALLING MEP FEATURES IN HIGH-RISES? MEP systems design and air treatment and air filtration configurations need to take those high-rise-related factors into account while designing those buildings. More accurate modelling techniques should be adopted to predict airflow patterns before deciding on locations and capacities of air treatment equipment.

Moreover, MEP designs and operations in high-rises and other buildings need to plan and adopt an effective strategy for conducting complete building fresh air flush-out operations on a frequent basis, especially before building reopening following any lockdown events. These flush-out operations might require different approaches and retrofits to ventilation systems to ensure effectiveness of these flushes.

One last thought is related to the crucial role of real-time monitoring of air quality – in lieu of one-time air quality tests – inside high-rises in safeguarding building users of any potential risks and building operators of any challenges and operational issues that will require prompt intervention. However, it is important to consider that human occupants can contribute to the spread of the virus when entering or occupying the building through inhaling or exhaling, which can be considered indoor pollution.

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September 2020

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HOW ARE CLIMATE CHANGE, AIR QUALITY AND AIR POLLUTION INTERRELATED? The evidence of climate change, owing to human activity, is overwhelming. The signs are all around us: Rising temperatures, melting ice, rising sea levels, more droughts, fires, floods and severe storms. If we do not change our course of action swiftly and sharply, the consequences are going to be terrible. Air pollution and sandstorms add to the complexity of filter performance prediction. Research has proven that polluted air and sandstorms expose the installed filters to high particle concentration, causing premature filter clogging.

FROM A FOSSIL FUEL COMBUSTION PERSPECTIVE, WHAT CAN WE CHANGE TO REDUCE EMISSIONS? I am not saying never combust fossil fuel, but I am suggesting we should do so responsibly and grant renewables the chance to take a greater share of our energy mix. The energy

sector stands as the main contributor to air pollution, where around 6.5 million deaths are attributed to poor air quality; the premature death rate due to this amounts to three million human deaths per year. In fact, poor indoor air quality is considered the world’s fourth-largest threat to human health, with high blood pressure, dietary risks and smoking occupying the top three ranks.

AIR QUALITY HAD TAKEN A BACKSEAT FOR DECADES WITHOUT BEING GRANTED THE DUE ATTENTION IT DESERVES. CAN WE SOLELY RELY ON AIR FILTRATION METHODOLOGIES TO CONFRONT ALL CONTAMINANTS? Before we embark on enhancing air quality, let’s define what “air quality” is. We ought to regard air filter as an essential element of the HVAC system and not just an accessory.

It constitutes the sole line of defence for our respiratory system, and its selection should be delegated to filtration experts.

Manufacturers have their own fair share of contribution to do in terms of continuous research and development, which could be a collaborative approach among universities, research centres and government entities. We also need to make maintenance teams part of the air quality equation. This could be established through programmes that would involve qualification, training, appropriate examinations and, eventually, enticement through certification and recognition. If we are serious about making a difference in enhancing air quality, we ought to assess air filter performance by efficiency, not filter surface area; by particle-size, not weight, and by real and not ideal loading conditions. (to be continued)

HAVE YOUR SAY! We welcome your views on the Q&A. Write to editor@cpi-industry.com

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15

Vineet Kashyap, Carrier Corporation

‘Hum a nkind needs a jolt wake up

A

BOUT CARRIER’S HEALTHY BUILDINGS PROGRAM, HOW IS THE COMPANY CONVINCING BUILDING OWNERS AND ASSET MANAGERS OF LARGE COMMERCIAL FACILITIES TO ADOPT HEALTHY BUILDING MEASURES? WHERE IS THE BUDGET COMING FROM FOR INDOOR AIR QUALITY-RELATED EXPENSES? WHAT METRICS AND ROI IS CARRIER ABLE TO OFFER THAT WOULD PERSUADE BUILDING OWNERS TO INVEST IN IAQ-RELATED DESIGN MEASURES AND EQUIPMENT? THE CONTEXT OF MY QUESTION IS THE COGFX STUDY BY DR JOE ALLEN OF THE T H CHAN SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH AT HARVARD, IN WHICH HE HAS ATTEMPTED TO QUANTIFY THE BENEFITS OF IAQ.

When we talk about our Healthy Buildings Program, let’s first understand what constitutes the cost of a building. It is the cost of construction and the cost of running and maintaining it and the energy requirement. The real cost of a building, though, is of the occupants and for them to be able to perform what they want to in that building.

There are various types of buildings. And you have residences that occupants either own or are paying the rent for. In residences, that equation becomes easier. I can put a value to my wellbeing. If I want to invest in a filter, I would, because it impacts me. In a commercial establishment, if a company owns the building that becomes easier.

You refer to Dr Joe Allen. According to the study, in healthy buildings, the spending is USD 14 - USD 40 per user, whereas the

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September 2020

Alluding to the chastening effect the pandemic has had on the human psyche, Vineet Kashyap, Managing Director, Middle East and Global HVAC Applied Business Head, Carrier Corporation, in this interview to Surendar Balakrishnan, says that society is decidedly moving towards healthy buildings and that occupants want to put a value to their wellness. Excerpts… benefit per person is USD 65,000. So, it is non-comparative, if you are putting USD 40 per person and getting USD 65,000 in benefits per person.

If the owner is separate, and the tenant is a different party, the owner typically is not concerned about the welfare of the tenant, but that view is changing. When you have a higher supply in the market, that equation changes rather rapidly. If you are the owner of a healthy building and if you can demonstrate that through LEED certification or the WELL rating, you can command a premium and tell tenants that when the market is going up. It is a good story even if the market is coming down. Would I go to a building that is healthier or unhealthier even when prices are crashing?

WHILE IN THE MIDST OF THE PANDEMIC, THERE IS HEIGHTENED AWARENESS OF INDOOR AIR QUALITY. WOULD WE BE ABLE TO SUSTAIN THE MOMENTUM ONCE THE DANGER OF CONTRACTING THE VIRUS DISSIPATES? I can answer that in three ways. First, let’s benchmark what’s been happening in countries where IAQ became an issue a decade or two ago. if you historically look at things as they were a few decades ago, IAQ was a problem in cities like London, which had outdoor air quality issues. They worked on that, and now, it has become part of life for them. In China, even till 5-6 years ago,

As Carrier, we offer IAQ assessment.

Before you start off your building, our team will conduct air-side balancing, water-side balancing and a ventilation check for mould and VOCs. And they do re-commissioning and provide filters to keep buildings safe. If you want continuous assessment, there is a whole bunch of technologies available. History has shown that energy-efficient equipment has become cheaper. The gap between LEED Platinum and other buildings was 25%; now, that gaps has reduced significantly. We have EcoEnergy Insights, which is a fantastic company within the Carrier system.

What EcoEnergy does is they are experts in machine learning and artificial intelligence in buildings. These guys are not engineers but data scientists. They plot data from buildings and form predictive patterns. And based on past trends, they can tell what is going to happen in the future. So, with minimal investment, they can do remote monitoring of buildings and air-side assessment. So, owners of different types of buildings can get used to IAQ and the solutions on offer.

TO to things’ there was a problem, but if you think how people have coped with it and how they moved away from boilers to heat pumps, which is more expensive, you have your answer. In China, people have an app for air quality, and technologies around air filters and air purifiers are dominant; and Carrier has been proactive in the Chinese market. So, history teaches us that humankind needs a kind of jolt to wake up to things, and in some cases that jolt happened in terms of outdoor air quality, and it impacted IAQ. In countries where you get nice fresh filtered water, you take it for granted, and it has become a part of your life, and that is the same with IAQ. And so, even after the pandemic, people will take IAQ seriously.

The technologies are there, and you don’t need to reinvent them. And so, we have various MERV filters, HEPA filters for particulate matter and electrostatic filters for airborne pathogens. We have Carrier’s OptiClean Negative Air Machine, which cleans contaminated air and creates negative pressure to prevent air from spreading to different sections of a building. If negative pressure is not required, the machine can be used as an air “scrubber” to pull air in, remove contaminants and discharge cleaner air back into the room. We have sold 1,000s of units of the OptiClean to schools in the United States in the past few months.

Parents are thinking, ‘Are my kids going to be safe?’ Parents – and people, in general – are becoming conscious.

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Vineet Kashyap

17

Vineet Kashyap, Carrier Corporation

COULD WE HAVE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE IMPORTANCE OF CONTINUOUS COMMISSIONING AND ASHRAE’S GUIDELINE ZERO? HOW BEST CAN A MANUFACTURER OF HVAC EQUIPMENT PARTICIPATE IN A MULTI-STAKEHOLDER COLLABORATION IN NEW CONSTRUCTION AND IN EXISTING BUILDING RETROFIT PROJECTS TO ENSURE ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND IAQ ARE PROPERLY INCORPORATED, WITH A VIEW TO SERVING THE BUILDING WELL THROUGHOUT ITS LIFECYCLE? I will take it in two parts. There is the whole construction of a building and how building solutions get involved, and then there is the part of running the building. In the first part, we are seeing change in how building owners are doing design charade, and how building owners are involving

the building is being managed? And so, architectural and MEP consultants. And in that’s where we do remote monitoring, some cases, MEP consultants are involving and the Building Solutions Group is technological solutions, and they are good at that. With existing sensors, you saying, ‘This building is going to come up can get data and do predictions 24x7. in three years, and what technology do They are adding value – EcoEnergy you have coming?’ The Building Solutions and the Building Solutions Group. If Group in Carrier is a key entity. We you have two chillers in a building typically have HVAC, fire safety, security and the operator is running one at full and building automation in buildings, and load and the other at 25% load, our the Building Solutions Group works across experts in command center review this all these. Somebody might be an expert in as an inefficient operation and, based hotels or data centres, and they work on on the historical data analytics on active design components of buildings that similar configurations around the globe can impact the performance of buildings, with the help of AI machine learning and you can modify them even at a later process, the system either automatically stage. configures the plant to run the chillers When it comes to operating the at the most optimised efficiency point buildings, we go about it in two ways. At Key Perspectives on or releases an actionable strategy the time of commissioning an equipment, for operator implementation. As an we work with operators, and that training example, in this case, it may be more lasts for a fairly long time. Typically, when efficient to run both chillers at 62.5% an alarm goes off, you don’t press the load, and you save money. And it’s such manual override button – you try to sort ideas that come out, and the software it out. If the operators change and new does all these. It compares with what people come in, how do you make sure

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September 2020

the building was supposed to do and tries to achieve that in the building. It can monitor CO2 level and PM concentration in the building and advice to change the filter or alert the operator as and when the fresh air inlet is not working properly.

WHAT SOLUTIONS DOES CARRIER HAVE IN MIND FOR NEW CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS WITH THE AIM OF SAFEGUARDING OCCUPANTS FROM FUTURE PANDEMICS, IF AND WHEN THEY OCCUR? WHAT IS THE COMPANY’S R&D DOING IN THIS REGARD? WHAT PERCENTAGE OF ITS ANNUAL REVENUE DOES IT ALLOCATE FOR R&D? I can say that the R&D budget is a very good number in terms of the percentage of revenue. Our CEO, while speaking to investors at the end of Q2 this year, said we are performing better than expected in terms of profitability and all the savings we are getting. We had a roadmap of negotiating

with suppliers on rent and material costs, and we got some savings. We had some target for these savings. And considering how things deteriorated in March and April, we are doing better than the targets we set then. Our CEO said we were aiming for USD 225 million in savings. We eventually achieved USD 250 million in savings. Of the estimated 225 million, we had decided to set aside USD 75 million for R&D. As it turned out, we managed to set aside USD 100 million. That shows that the company is very committed to investing in the future.

In terms of what we are doing for the longer term, there are multiple streams of thought on the buildings of the future. The different solutions I spoke of earlier are focused on what the future will hold and the trends. Secondly, working with Harvard, you get insights into where the market is evolving and where the stakeholders are going. What it boils down to is that we have a current set of technologies, like UVC or ionisation that can reduce 99% of the organisms; and if you use advanced filters, you can take that figure

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to 99.99%. So, the question is, ‘How do you develop the next set of technologies that can take it to 100%.’ Another question is, ‘How can you give more fresh air changes without affecting energy use.’ So, energy efficiency, IAQ and the materials we use should be sustainable.

HAVE YOUR SAY! We welcome your views on the Q&A. Write to editor@cpi-industry.com

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19

FEATURE

covid

19

Jeremy McDonald, Guth DeConzo Consulting Engineers

Poor IAQ, low humidity catalysts of COVID-19 spikes

A

ir quality engineers warn that COVID-19 cases may spike again in the Northeast this winter due to modern HVAC systems.

“COVID-19 is a respiratory illness, and we need to get serious about indoor air quality (IAQ) to stop its spread," says Jeremy McDonald, a professional engineer with New York-based Guth DeConzo Consulting Engineers. "The challenge with getting people to pay more attention to indoor air quality is that you can't see the problem – it's invisible, so I think people have a hard time understanding it. And that's dangerous, especially in a pandemic fueled by airborne droplets."

Unless we take incredible steps toward herd immunity or a mass vaccination, it is inevitable that the virus will propagate again, once the heating season starts in the Northeast, McDonald says, because we will

20

September 2020

The United States must make significant improvements to Indoor Air Quality practices, and incorporate a ‘Building Tracing’ program; without change, infections in the north-eastern part of the country will soar again this winter in low relative humidity, low air circulation environments, says expert

be in the same indoor air conditions that existed last February through April, when the virus ravaged New York and New Jersey.

Right now, wearing masks, maintaining social distance and disinfecting surfaces are the most prominent tools in the fight against coronavirus. But McDonald believes it will be crucial this winter that our virus-halting strategies focus on indoor relative humidity and quality air circulation.

"What the South is experiencing right now with soaring case numbers, the Northeast will experience this winter,” McDonald says.

“As soon as the windows are buttoned up and the heating systems turn back on, we'll be right back in trouble.”

When we turn on our heating systems, McDonald explains, relative humidity within our building drops significantly, typically below 10%. Like most viruses, the SARSCoV-2 coronavirus that causes COVID-19 needs very low or high relative humidity to propagate.

that is where the vast majority of cases propagate."

QUARANTINE FATIGUE AND MAKING GOOD DECISIONS

Conditions for COVID-19 to The problem, he says, compounds in winter, because we also limit the amount of fresh air entering buildings by shutting our windows. This reduces our outdoor dilution air, which allows the virus to propagate in a stale air environment.

Lastly, we spend more time in these indoor conditions during the winter, because it’s cold outside.

In high occupancy buildings, like nursing homes, prisons and multi-family complexes, the virus will explode under conditions that are optimal for virus transmission, he says.

Seasonal weather factors into the COVID-19 crisis, when it forces people inside, but it is the indoor climate that effects the virus, McDonald says. In the South, people spend their summers inside to avoid the oppressive heat, whereas Northerners keep indoors to avoid the winter cold. Regardless of region or season, most indoor HVAC systems are creating conditions in which COVID-19 spreads, especially when there are more people sharing the space, he says.

“Wearing masks and social distancing are immediate steps you can take during a health crisis, and they have an immediate result, but they are not longterm solutions,” McDonald says. “We have to recognize the major role that indoor air environments play in this crisis and do everything we can to make our indoor spaces as safe as possible, because

McDonald notes that masks and social distancing only work as long as people are willing to take those steps.

“A big fear of mine is quarantine fatigue, when people say: ‘I’m done with masks, I’m done with social distancing. I can’t do this anymore’," McDonald says. “If we have a better understanding of humidity and air flow, then people can make better decisions about when it’s okay to relax a little on mask wearing and social distancing, and when to be more vigilant – when it’s safer and when it's Propagate riskier.”

STRATEGIES TO MITIGATE COVID-19 In a white paper published online in August, titled "Mitigating COVID-19: A Better Path Forward; Addressing Indoor Air Quality Issues to Reduce the Impact of the Pandemic", McDonald calls attention to widespread HVAC problems and introduces strategies to address them.

per hour, so that fresh air from outside purges the indoor air every 30 minutes, maximum, he says. The more fresh air purges per hour the better from an infection control perspective, since this will reduce the concentration of the virus, he adds.

The problem, McDonald notes, is that a lot of buildings suffer from a lack of routine maintenance or aged equipment and don’t achieve the recommended air exchanges. This, he says, can lead to little to no air dilution, which may allow the virus to propagate.

McDonald is concerned that many of our buildings are not even maintaining the minimal airflows, which were included in the design of the building by building code.

Without proper management of IAQ, he says, the actual air flow to a building may be far less than it’s designed to have, which allows the virus to increase in concentration.

“I often wonder when I read about large COVID-19 outbreaks in particular buildings or restaurants, is anyone looking at the amount of fresh air truly provided to the space?” McDonald says. “Without very good maintenance, you may be getting little to no fresh air. It's like a cesspool.”

AIR CIRCULATION CONTROL Low air circulation is a problem indoors in many modern buildings. Like a stagnant pond, a room with no airflow will allow pathogens and toxins to build up, ultimately creating a toxic environment for its inhabitants. Good air circulation, on the other hand, will whisk away toxins from a room like a running stream of water.

"Opening windows is the simplest way to improve air circulation, but it's not always an option, depending on the weather outside or the design of the building, and obviously comfort and heating costs have to be factored in," McDonald says. "You can't even open a window in most modern buildings, because they were designed to be tight for energy conservation.

Although, that’s not meant as an argument for loose building envelopes."

Most office buildings are ventilated to have up to two air changes

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Jeremy McDonald

21

FEATURE

covid

19

Outside, on the other hand, there may be 10,000 air changes or more per hour on a mildy breezy day. McDonald believes this is a critical reason why the preponderance of COVID-19 cases have been indoors, and further believes that this is the type of information the public needs to make informed decisions.

THE ROLE OF RELATIVE HUMIDITY Scientists long ago established that viruses, bacteria and other toxins propagate either with low or high relative humidity. Viruses typically struggle to propagate when relative humidity is moderate, between 40% and 60% relative humidity.

As relative humidity is lowered in buildings, people's noses, throat, and lungs become drier. In addition to being an irritant, this drying effect of our bronchial system – which McDonald calls "the human HVAC system” – results in less resistance to viruses and bacteria.

As air is warmed, its ability to retain water is increased – lowering the relative humidity of the air. This is why viruses are their most deadly over the long winter months in the Northeast, as we spend more time in the warm and dry confines of our homes and buildings, he says.

"The ideal humidity for human health is between 40% and 60%," McDonald says. "For an office building, it's really hard to get to 40% humidity on a bone dry, 5 degree winter day. But even getting to 30% humidity would help a lot in reducing the intensity of the virus.”

EMPOWERING CONSUMERS In the future, as awareness of these issues increases, McDonald thinks the public

Jeremy McDonald, Guth DeConzo Consulting Engineers

will demand better indoor air quality. In particular, he sees a growing need for better information and education, so that people know what the relative humidity and CO2 levels are in a room before they spend an extended amount of time there.

We may even see a rise in personal tools for measuring indoor air quality, he says.

"Since we can’t ‘see’ air, it is really hard to know if you are in a good IAQ environment or not," McDonald says. "If people have a way of telling that an indoor space has good airflow and moderate relative humidity, then they would probably be more comfortable spending time in that place."

Increasingly, businesses are investing money in upgrading their IAQ, which McDonald sees as a positive step. “As businesses demonstrate improved IAQ, my hunch is they will want to market that and inform their clients of their efforts,” he says.

“As awareness of air quality increases, the demand for good IAQ will increase with it.”

BUILDING TRACING As the COVID-19 crisis unfolds, data shows that the virus has been most contagious in dense urban areas, with a particular concentration in high density spaces, such as nursing homes, multi-family buildings, prisons, bars and restaurants. However, at least anecdotally, there are some buildings which had a large number of cases, and others who had little to none. McDonald speculates that in addition to communal spread, the IAQ of particular buildings may be a large contributing factor. If true, this presents an opportunity to reduce spread in the future by evaluating and reviewing the HVAC of individual buildings. In addition to contact tracing, McDonald wants to see

a "building tracing" program, to identify specific buildings that suffer from low IAQ. “Everyone wants to see this problem solved.

If IAQ is a large part of the problem, then we need to know where the problem is before we can fix it.”

PUBLIC RELATIONS MORE PERSUASIVE THAN CODES All communities have building codes that address air quality and HVAC systems, McDonald notes, but the issue needs more public awareness and education before we can expect enforcement.

"It's kind of like the 1970s Clean Water Act, when industries were allowed to dump the most toxic chemicals into the water," McDonald says of today's indoor air quality problems. "It's not like virus-laden air is sooty and black. But that's the level of PR campaign we need to get the greater public, especially decision makers, to act on addressing this problem."

Just as hard-to-see fleas were later discovered to have spread the bubonic plague of medieval times, McDonald thinks modern HVAC systems that were "hiding in plain sight" will be recognized as the "super spreader" of the COVID-19 plague.

“Air conditioning, HVAC systems,” he says, “may be to COVID-19 crisis what fleas were to the bubonic plague.”

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

Write to editor@cpi-industry.com

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September 2020

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23

FEATURE

Harry Istepanian

IoT, AI CAN WADE IN TO ADDRESS GCC REGION’S WATER SCARCITY ISSUES

I

nnovative technologies and smart systems will provide an answer to addressing water demand in the GCC region countries, says Harry Istepanian, an Independent Power and Water Consultant based in Washington DC, United States,.

Istepanian highlights the great potential for such innovations, adding that the applications will greatly vary to include more effective use of rainwater harvesting and management of stormwater retention, as well as using GIS-based tools to help municipalities monitor the water reticulation system, to conserve and reuse water by reclaiming and reusing wastewater from public hospitals, schools and universities in steam and chiller plants, thereby reducing costs.

Such IoT and AI applications are vitally important to the concept of a ‘smart city’, Istepanian says. They are becoming more of

24

September 2020

Innovative technologies and smart systems have strong potential for reframing existing systems and addressing key challenges associated with water use, especially in the Middle East, where scarcity is an issue

By Hannah Jo Uy | Assistant Editor

a reality in view of the rapid development of 5G networks, he adds. “Applications, such as ‘smart water system’ for monitoring the condition of pipelines, water quantity and quality, and smart water meter reading are among many IoT applications,” he says. “The water quality in the water distribution system is a serious factor that affects public health, and smart water system provides a userfriendly interface to monitor the water quality in houses and take remedial measurements, if necessary.”

Providing an example, Istepanian discusses how Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company, Ericsson and SwedishFinnish multinational telephone company, Telia are collaborating with the City of Stockholm on developing real-time water quality monitoring, using a system of IoT sensors

Typical SWRO Operation Cost Breakdown (Source: Advisian)

located throughout Stockholm’s entire water system. “The network is monitoring basic water quality parameters, such as conductivity, pH, temperature, dissolved oxygen and oxidation-reduction potential,” he says. “In addition, big data analytics will be used together with development of water modelling algorithms that will be able to filter through the sensor data and give bigger picture information about water quality changes.” Istepanian explains that such changes could alert the city and the water utility to events such as an algal bloom or a discharge of contaminated industrial wastewater, while giving them information about where and when it occurred.

Istepanian says that wastewater monitoring and treatment is another upcoming application in IoT that can treat the wastewater and use it for gardening, thereby saving the amount of water to a great extent. “Smart gardening uses a set of IoT sensors to detect the temperature, light, water, soil moisture and a mobile application to remind the need and amount of water and nutrients for Harry Istepanian the plants,” he says. “Smart Irrigation, using IoT-based mobile applications, have already been developed in farming to control the amount of water for crops based on the surrounding temperature.” Such applications, he says,

also manage the whole irrigation system by smartly monitoring the soil and growth of the crops, and the irrigation sprinkler will get activated whenever necessary, thereby reducing the water wastage and workload.

Most of the applications have been developed in the last few years, which clearly depicts the speedy growth of IoT, especially in water applications, Istepanian says. “As IoT is growing every day with new technologies involved, new challenges arise,” he says. “One of the main challenges in smart water system is managing the cost, energy and efficiency required for water distribution system.” In some areas, especially in the context of the Middle East, Istepanian points out, more work needs to be done that is adaptable to the specific requirements of the region in terms of improving drinking water usage and quality.

Speaking on smart systems in terms of enhancing operations of water desalination, Istepanian says that one of the most critical objectives of IWPPs is maintaining low product cost while achieving high plant availability. “To this end, smart automation and Artificial Intelligence could have a meaningful impact on a desalination plant’s financial performance, in an attempt to simplify plant operation and optimise its performance, while maintaining its safety,” he says. “Specifically now, IWPPs are looking for means to minimise the cost of the freshwater production through

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FEATURE

Harry Istepanian

RO plant unit production cost versus project capacity [Source: Robert Huehmer, Juan Gomez, Jason Curl, Ken Moore. “Cost Modeling of Desalination Systems.” Desalination Global Technology Leader, CH2M HILL, USA.]

Unit production cost of water for desalination technologies [Source: GWI Desal Data & IDA (Int. Desal. Association)]

cost reduction of the energy and chemicals consumed by the plant.” This is important, he says, considering thermal desalination and SWRO processes consume considerable amounts of energy and chemicals for feedwater pre-treatment and product (distillate) post-treatment.

Istepanian adds that water use can be optimised through the use of advanced control strategies that can stabilise the operation of the plant at high-efficiency operating points while handling efficiently the different constraints on the process variables. “Big Data could be used for analysing the plant’s historical operating

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September 2020

data, which can be mined for information useful for improving plant performance and safety,” he says. He adds that if examined and correlated carefully to show trends of the significant performance parameters, such as production rate, quality of product, energy and chemical consumption and fouling, as a function of the process variables, they could teach the operators a lot about the influences of process variables that perhaps could not have been predicted by intuition or even modelling.

This could potentially have a huge impact on mitigating operating cost, in view of the numbers Istepanian shares. “The cost of

seawater desalination,” he says, “is ranging between US$ 0.76 and 1.07 per cubic metres, and the GCC states are currently producing more than 6,000 million cubic metres per year of desalinated water, costing between USD 5,000 million and USD 7,000 million per annum,” he says. “A reduction in the operation cost by five per cent with plant optimisation would save the region USD 250 million - USD 350 million annually.”

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Post-event Report

A

4th edition of Refrigerants Review

District seen as key phase-down in the GCC

lthough much of the global community remains largely in a state of flux, owing to the upheaval caused

by COVID-19, Yaqoub Almatouq, Kuwait National Ozone Officer, emphasised that countries must not take their foot off the pedal when it comes to lowering global emissions. “We have safety issues as humans, but that cannot stop us from doing our job and giving our best,” Almatouq, who is also Head, Ozone Section, Environmental Public Authority, Kuwait, said. “In Montreal Protocol, we spent almost 33 years dealing with the environmental issues and the effects of these refrigerants and technologies, finding answers, pathways and solutions, whenever we could.”

Almatouq, who served as Chair of the event, said, the issue of refrigerants is even more critical for countries in the Middle East, owing to the region’s heavy dependence on cooling, which is a necessity rather than a luxury for most countries in the region.

“When we talk about refrigerants, we talk about air conditioning, food preservation, vaccine and medicine,” he said. “Even transportation is connected to cooling systems and refrigerants, so when we talk about

refrigerants, we talk about our standard of living.” As such, Almatouq pointed out, the GCC region should pursue a more proactive and collaborative approach to better understand and solve challenges on the road to lowering HFCs.

REGULATORY TRENDS

Yaqoub Almatouq

Didier Coulomb

Dr Moataz T Bakheet

Ibrahim Hesham Hassanien

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September 2020

Almatouq highlighted the importance of the key topics of discussion allocated for the webinar, which touched on how the Middle East region can leapfrog to better cooling technologies, in view of the phase down; safety concerns and flammability of certain refrigerants; and the safety measures and parameters equipment manufacturers using these refrigerants should take into consideration.

For Almatouq, a discussion surrounding refrigerants would be incomplete without first touching on regulation surrounding the performance of alternative refrigerants and associated technologies. “Whenever anyone wants to have an AC or looks at how to design air conditioning in a facility, we have one thing to do,” he said.

“From the very beginning, we talk about the regulation, the energy efficiency and the refrigerant we can use.

If countries don’t have rules and regulation, then we have a big problem for the industry to adopt and achieve things that need to be done.”

Didier Coulomb, Director General, International Institute of Refrigeration, agreeing with this, pointed out that

cooling is to meeting HFC requirements region undoubtedly, there would be more, and stricter regulations and standards surrounding energy consumption, refrigerants as well as all supporting and relevant technologies. When it comes to air conditioning equipment, Coulomb said, there is a significant gap between the most and the least energy-efficient equipment.

“In any case, it is possible to really improve the energy efficiency of the equipment and for labeling the good equipment,” he said.

“There will also be more standards regarding whole systems and standards on buildings.”

There are already examples of systems being implemented, with a number of supermarkets presenting important profiles. “We are currently working with UNIDO to publish a guide on what are important to reduce the energy consumption and use low-GWP refrigerants, especially CO2 and ammonia,” he said.

Regarding refrigerants, Coulomb said that while the Kigali Amendment remains firmly in place, many countries in the world, such as in Europe, are already having discussions on initiating stricter phase-down or phase-out of some applications of high-GWP refrigerants.

“In the long term, there will be almost phaseout of high-GWP refrigerants, and of course, there will also be regulations regarding safety, because most of the technologies we can use to reduce the refrigerant impact,

In view of the looming HFC phase-down and phase-out deadlines set by the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, GCC region countries are being urged to move away from traditional cooling solutions. To this end, stakeholders during the 4th edition of Refrigerants Review, presented as part of CPI Industry’s HVACR Virtual Conference Series, discussed the opportunities District Cooling holds in view of increasingly stringent regulations. Hannah Jo Uy has the story…

which is one-third of the impact of the equipment, are using flammable refrigerant – whether mild or highly flammable,” he said.

“Internationally, there are new standards for hydrocarbon. There will be a place for this refrigerant, even if it’s not used a lot.”

Additionally, Coloumb said, it is likely that in the future, taxes will be used as incentive to promote adoption of better refrigerants.

“We already have some taxes on some refrigerants,” he said. “In some countries, there would be taxes and higher prices, but it would be a driver for reduction of technology for the rest of the world. Perhaps, it’s not good news, more regulations and constraints.

It is more challenging, but it is necessary for engineers to be more involved; in order to propose better design of equipment, you have to think about the whole system.”

DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS With regulations and standards in place, it is now up to developers and designers to deliver the most optimum projects, with stakeholders agreeing there should be a culture of innovation to not only meet existing standards but also to move beyond it. In line with this, Dr Moataz T Bakheet, Director, Madinah Office & Western Region Projects, Zuhair Fayez Partnership, Saudi Arabia, shared his experience with a development in Madinah, which was particularly challenging, being a highdensity project in a small area surrounding the Prophet’s Mosque. “The unique nature of the project has given way to unique consideration at the beginning of the development, more than two years ago, which included concerns related to the

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Post-event Report

air conditioning and refrigerant transition,” he said. Dr Bakheet said there were three main concerns surrounding the project, the first being availability of power, as there were only two power transmission plants. “If we go with traditional systems, we would need approximately four plants,” he said. Another concern was related to the high-density area. “We have 400 hotel towers that accommodate 300,000 people,” he said. “You can imagine how much capacity is needed to have this amount of population in a small area.

In high-rise buildings that have 12-16 floors, you need to take into consideration safety and efficiency.” The third concern, Dr Bakheet said, was related to the architecture of the area. “If you go with conventional system, you will face a kind of visual pollution,” he said. “Formation is very important to us to have a good community surrounding the Prophet’s Mosque.”

To address the concerns, Dr Bakheet said, the team working on the project had to customise regulation in the central area, taking into account international codes for buildings, electricity and fire safety and also taking into account considerations and guidelines from ASHRAE and NFPA, among other relevant bodies. “It [customised regulation) is a way for them to force investors and stakeholders to go for unconventional systems and centralised systems for greater efficiency,” he said.

“And with the Montreal Protocol, at the end of the 1980s, it was good for us to put restrictions to fulfill requirements of the Protocol. It gave us a chance to come up with unconventional systems, like VRF, centralised chilled water system, avoiding conventional DX, split and window type, which is also not good for concerns I mentioned in the beginning.”

Dr Bakheet added that following a study, the team found that district cooling is the most optimum solution for the area, in terms of offering the highest efficiency.

Although there were challenges, he said, such as obtaining permission to excavate roads and developing the infrastructure, they still believe in the benefits of district

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September 2020

4th edition of Refrigerants Review

cooling, in view of its contribution to the urban fabric, by way of appealing architectural facades and high efficiency.

“We tried, and I believe this experience gave us a chance for future development to follow business standards and go with district cooling in new developments, coming in the next five years,” he said.

IS DISTRICT COOLING A KEY TO MEETING PHASE-DOWN REQUIREMENTS? Agreeing with Dr Bakheet, Almatouq highlighted the need for the industry to go beyond conventional systems and to start choosing a wider scope of technologies. Ibrahim Hesham Hassanien, Projects Engineer, Allied Consultants, UAE, also agreed with Dr Bakheet. Hassanien discussed the types of refrigerant and concerns over safety and the environment, in relation to the district cooling sector in the GCC region. He said that there have been huge developments in the GCC region countries. He added that governments, authorities and organisations should be aware that a key benefit through choosing district cooling is that refrigerants are confined to central plants rather than scattered in individual units. This, he said, reduces environmental risk, especially if chillers are designed in accordance with codes and ASHRAE guidelines. “The amount of refrigerant in a DCP is less than if you consider standalone units,” he said. “If we have a development of one million square metres, with 25,000 refrigerated tonnes, this would be almost 20,000 kg of refrigerant inside the DCP. If you go with standalone, you can go up to 34 kg for individual units, owing to the technology and diversity factors.”

Hassanien said that defining refrigerants with low GWP and ODP is essential in designing district cooling plants. “The two major refrigerants utilised in DCPs by chiller manufacturers are R-134a and R-1233zd,” he said. “If we take a close look to compare between them, R-134a is an HFC with GWP of 1,300, ODP of zero and an atmospheric life of almost 14 years, in comparison to

R-1233ZD, which is an HFO with a GWP of 1 and an ODP of almost zero, and almost zero atmospheric life.” He added that an incentive in specifying R-1233zd is the negative pressure. “It’s a negative pressure gas, so leakage from the equipment will not be likely,” he said. “This is why it’s mostly recommended; unfortunately, due to economic reasons, some manufacturers are still working with R-134a, but we are now looking at the R&D towards including the new refrigerants, R-1233ZD or similar, because machines that are able to accommodate R-134a would no longer be available from January 2024.”

Hassanien said that having refrigerant recovery units in the district cooling plant is also an important design consideration for the team. “This is so the maintenance required for the chiller or refrigerant leakage is reduced through the refrigerant detectors,” he said. “The refrigerant can be stored in the unit until required maintenance or repair is completed. The design of the refrigerant recovery unit is usually based on at least one chiller capacity, out of the DCP size.”

Hassanien added that another important consideration from the perspective of DCP and while combining the refrigerant of the whole development in one or several plants, is the high safety measures in design of DCP for emergency cases, including refrigerant relief piping for the outside of the building itself. The refrigerant exhaust fans, he said, helps in ensuring the make-up fresh air for the people working inside is maintained.

“Overall, we encourage that in future developments, the authorities and government take more actions in utilising DCP,” he said.

For Almatouq, district cooling is a “must and a need” in this part of the world and that it could help the GCC region meet the global refrigerant phase-down and phaseout requirements.

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Post-event Report

Disinfection 360

Have you the wheels A close look at how incorporating disinfection strategies and giving specialised attention to coils, ducts, filters, heat-recovery wheels and other building essentials can positively contribute to the fight against the spread of COVID-19.

Insights from the plenary discussion held during the Disinfection 360 webinar, organised by CPI Industry...

By Hannah Jo Uy | Assistant Editor

T

he cost of being complacent in the time of COVID-19 is human life.

This is the grim reality the global community has come to terms with over the past few months – one that has forced stakeholders in the builtenvironment to be even more vigilant when it comes to rolling out measures aimed at ensuring occupant health and wellbeing.

Ahmed Elkiki, Director of Technical Services, RAK Hospitality, Government of Ras Al Khaimah, UAE, is one such building professional. Gleaning from his experience in the hospitality sector, Elkiki underscored the need to double down on preventive measures. “The first thing hotel owners should be doing, whenever they reopen, is disinfecting surfaces,” he said. Although there are several methods available in the market, Elkiki observed that the trend is moving in the direction of utilising disinfection gates and thermal cameras upon entry. “However, if you test someone’s temperature but they are not symptomatic and they enter the building -- you have the virus in your building,” he said. “If someone comes with a mask, spraying his skin with chemicals will not really help you, because the virus is still in his respiratory system, and he will still be inside your building.”

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September 2020

With the wide array of commercial products available in the market, Elkiki added that there is also a need to be judicious when choosing disinfection systems. “A lot of companies introduce municipality-approved chemicals to owners, but they don’t say what they are approved for,” he said. “They are typically approved for B2B purposes, they are not approved to be sprayed on people and they are not approved for certain applications. So, the approval they present, it’s not always showing what application it can be used for.” Elkiki said that that it is the responsibility of the hotel operator to understand usage and operation of chemicals to ensure proper disinfection of spaces.

The need to have a firm grasp on disinfection measures especially rings true for Hanan Ahmed, Head of Engineering & Maintenance Services, Al Baraha Hospital, UAE, who emphasised that all precautions must be taken during these unprecedented times. Ahmed said that although the World Health Organisation (WHO) issued a statement that SARS-CoV-2 was not airborne, there is still a need to disinfect, because droplets can fall to the floor, adding that this has prompted hospital staff to disinfect all equipment used and to clean around patients thoroughly.

Ahmad added that Al Baraha is giving special attention to improving operation of the hospital from an engineering perspective.

Prior to COVID-19, she said, the hospital had already taken stringent measures to enhance air quality to prevent the spread of infectious diseases, by cleaning the coils, systems and ducts semi-annually.

However, after COVID-19, efforts were intensified, and the team had undertaken greater precaution and initiated more disinfection measures to prevent staff from getting infected. “The patient already has COVID,” she said. “We have to protect our front liners – the doctors, nurses and workers, everybody, including our administrative staff, because they are the ones in this scary environment.”

An important strategy the hospital implemented, Ahmad said, relates to fresh air changes. She explained that while areas such as the critical care department, ICU and neonatal room would typically have more fresh air changes, postCovid-19 the hospital has made an effort to transfer all wards to negative pressure before receiving any new patients. “We are not allowing any return air to come back to the hospital,” she said “We isolate all the departments, and we make all the air go outside, with pre filter, HEPA filter and UV light to prevent returning infected air. From the beginning, we take this action, and although it is very costly and it is affecting our temperatures and humidity, I feel the action that has been taken is right.”

checked and ducts?

Imran Shaikh

Ahmed Elkiki Kandasamy Anbalagan

Azmi S Aboul-Hoda

to increase fresh air in a manner that, hopefully, doesn’t have too much of an impact on energy efficiency.

FALLING SHORT OF THE BASICS Hanan Ahmed

Agreeing, Imran Shaikh, Vice Chair, CIBSE, UAE, said that given the current scenario with COVID-19, increasing fresh air supply, even to levels that exceed typical CIBSE and ASHRAE recommendations, is good practice.

“To minimise airborne transition of SARSCoV-2, the general advice is to increase the air supply and the exhaust ventilation,” he said. “The underlying principle is to dilute and exhaust them to outside air, and reduce a chance they are becoming deposits on surfaces and inhaled by new users.”

Shaikh said that the risk of room occupants catching illness is reduced when they are in a well-ventilated room than in a poorly ventilated one, thus underscoring the need

For Azmi S Aboul-Hoda, Managing Director, EMergy, UAE, although additional measures to improve IAQ are commendable, he said that stakeholders should take the time to reflect whether basic operational requirements of the building are being met in the first place. “I would like to suggest to work with what we have,” he said. “We already have buildings equipped with the basics that we can work with. If we really utilise what we have in a building properly, then we are moving one step ahead. The next step is extra measures that will enhance our situation. However, I don’t really suggest to go ahead and spend money on extra measures, while already our components and systems and what we have in building are not utilised in the direction of ensuring right air quality and preventing the spread of COVID-19.”

Kandasamy Anbalagan, Managing Partner, Proleed Engineering Consultants, UAE, agreeing, pointed out that Dubai Municipality guidelines and building permit requirements ensure that all relevant systems should be in place in most residential and commercial buildings, including critical applications, such as hospitals and hospitality sector.

Even pre-COVID, he added, what has been installed, as part of design requirements, should provide fresh air, filtration, air treatment and energy recovery, according to ASHRAE standards. “Whether FM had the knowledge or was aware of their purpose when the building was handed over – this is where disconnect comes,” he said. “They don’t know the impact of what they do on the building’s indoor air quality.”

Anbalagan said that in many instances, in order to save energy the FM team has switched off the fresh air or kept the temperature at 24-25 degrees C. “They are bringing moisture into the building, and it’s going to remain in the building forever unless treated and brought back to design conditions at 15-16 degrees C,” he said.

Unfortunately, Anbalagan said, this is an issue that permeates across residential and commercial facilities, such as shopping malls.

Echoing similar observations, Mohamed R Zackariah, Chief Consultant, Suhaimi Design– Protecooling, Saudi Arabia, added that poor utilisation of existing equipment could also be attributed to inadequate commissioning. “The commissioning process is a quality assurance process to ensure whatever is being implemented and constructed and designed is properly executed at site and properly commissioned, properly put in operation and properly kept in operation continuously,” he said. “This commissioning process has a role in the pre-design stage, in the design stage, in the project handover stage and while FM is taking over the project.”

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Post-event Report

Disinfection 360

such as ASHRAE and CIBSE,” he Ideally, Zackariah said. “After we do the installation, said, there should be our team members tell us that a properly trained FM operations and maintenance team and an ongoing has been neglected in a very commissioning bad manner.” Rahman said this process to ensure all typically manifests in filters not equipment, systems being properly maintained and and subsystems are replaced or ducts not being up and running in an cleaned. “Most of the people optimum way. “But, neglect these basic aspects,” he practically, most of said. “We are not getting required the requirements are Mohamed R Zackariah design intent, and operating rules not properly fulfilled,” are being flouted, and that's why he said. “There is we don’t have IAQ. Whatever lack of expertise in chemicals and disinfection you the construction side use, if the system recirculates and lack of expertise contaminated air pollutants you in the FM side that end up nowhere. This is what renders even the is happening in most of the existing system, projects. As designers, we design which has capability to the best of our ability by to provide benefits, kind of regulation – that’s the only way you following guidelines, but if it is not useless because they can bring in a change.” implemented after installation are not operated and and not properly maintained well.”

THE FULCRUM operated and Zachariah said For Dominic Mc Polin, Mohamed Shafiq Ur Rahman maintained, that a classical regulation is the fulcrum whatever we have example is control in the seesaw balancing done is lost.” systems. “There are energy-efficiency Anbalagan said he high quality control systems executed and requirements and public believes a lot of the gaps implemented in projects,” he said. “When health concerns. In his happen, because the FM you go and inspect a building, you will see position as Chief, Central personnel are not liable to most of the operation are bypassed and Planning, Central Planning authorities or to the building operating on manual mode. Basically, if we Office, Ministry of Works, owner when it comes to make all what we have up and running in Municipalities Affairs and IAQ-related operations good operating condition, we will be better Urban Planning, Bahrain, and proper preventive off than where we currently are.”

Mc Polin said that the Dominic Mc Polin maintenance of systems.

Weighing in, Mohamed Shafiq Ur Ministry is looking to As of today, he said, there Rahman, Senior HVAC Engineer 1, Dar Gulf readjust energy targets in are no clear regulations or Consult, Kuwait, shared the same experience order to balance energydirections from the Municipality regarding even in critical high-density developments. efficiency goals with public health issues.

HVAC-related maintenance, meaning “My experience in different projects is that “Energy audits must also include the public operators are not held accountable. “Projects we design it in a very good manner, following health audit – it’s as simple as that,” he said. and buildings being designed are not being all regulations and guidelines given by “It has to be put into the green building maintained,” he said. “There has to be some relevant authorities and industry bodies, codes – that’s the vehicle in Bahrain.”

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September 2020

Mc Polin said the Ministry has undertaken operational consultancy to look into the adjustments required to strike this balance and initiating energy modelling in Bahrain to look at the additional cost that will be incurred if fresh air flushing is initiated in buildings in the morning before occupation, and if the systems are running 24/7 with fresh air intakes. “We are looking at the increase in energy demand,” he said. “And what we are trying to do is to articulate this into our green building codes, so our energy

auditing now will include, we hope, a public health audit on the environment, based on good science and emerging science.”

Mc Polin admitted that it is very hard to take additional costs at this time.

“Whether you are in a private sector or in the public sector, we are all facing financial restrictions, and it’s very difficult when you come forward and say, ‘Well, we have to increase our energy cost here in order for public health benefit.’ That’s where we are at the moment, and we have opened these discussions with key ministries, and we are hoping to make those adjustments to our green building codes.”

Despite the cost and challenges, Mc Polin said that industry stakeholders must seriously look at strategies related to recirculation of air owing to the threat of fake news. “All that has to happen is for fake news to get out that ACs give you COVID, and your shops are bankrupt and you can’t sell apartments anymore,” he warned.

“I know people moving out of apartments.

Why? Because they are insecure, they don’t know who is in the lift, or in the corridors, and they don't know what air they are breathing.

If we are not smart enough to deal with these problems up front, even if we don’t

have the full scientific formula, this will be a major threat to our real estate industry in the type of apartments we build, in the type of shopping malls and in the type of public spaces.”

Mc Polin warned that once fake news catches on, “every developer who doesn't want to pay the price for fresh air flushing will be bankrupt”. “The smartest developers I have spoken to are already implementing this in their buildings,” he said. “Why? Because when fake news hits the ground, they want to put their hand up and say: ‘Hey, guys! We knew about this, and we have taken these actions, and we are doing this and that.’

That’s what’s going to separate the bankrupt from the survivors in the next wave – and the next wave is a recession. It’s going to articulate itself in the herd instinct, just like in the stock exchange. It doesn't matter what the logic is or what the numbers are, the herd will decide what will happen, and if fake news gets out that there is a problem with ACs and air circulation, every developer that has not paid attention to these messages will go bankrupt.”

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Masato Hinouchi is designated Deputy General Manager (from October 1, 2020), Middle East Office, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.

LIKE A LARGE SUBTERRANEAN SNAKE

Below the surface of Singapore lies the future of keeping cool, says Masato Hinouchi

W

hen you flick the switch on a typical air conditioning unit, you are setting off a process that has not traditionally boasted green credentials.

Conventional cooling devices account for as much as 10% of all global greenhouse gas emissions, according to the World Bank. It predicts that if left unchecked, emissions from cooling will double by 2030.

Cooling’s potential impact on the environment grows even starker over the longer term, as temperatures in cities that we currently regard as extreme potentially become the norm within 30 years. Indeed, last year, many parts of the world experienced record-high temperatures, with the global average

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September 2020

number of cooling degree days 15% higher than in 2000.

This will mean a global increase in demand, and in regions not normally associated with air conditioning, such as northern Europe.

However, the International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts that the majority of demand growth will come from emerging economies, particularly in Southeast Asia. The region, where currently only 15% of the population has access to air conditioning, is predicted to see “skyrocketing” sales of units over the next 20 years. This will be driven by rising incomes, access to electricity and increasing prosperity, making air conditioning more affordable for more people across South East Asia. Finding an effective way to sustainably keep the region cool is, therefore, critical, and some cities may have found the answer – district cooling.

“SECRET WEAPON” IN THE BATTLE AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE As one of the hottest and most humid countries in the world, Singapore is heavily reliant on year-round air conditioning. With so many office and residential buildings relying on traditional cooling units, which emit large amounts of heat, it is no wonder the city is warming twice as fast as the rest of the world.

The United Nations calls district cooling a “secret weapon” in the ongoing battle against climate change, so effective is its power to achieve sustainable cooling on a grand scale.

Singapore’s well known Marina Bay financial district, offices, shops, restaurants, and hotels are all kept cool by a single source: The world’s largest underground district cooling system.

Based around a central subterranean

plant, the system channels water along five kilometres of closed-loop pipe network, giving it the power to lower temperatures across a substantial neighbourhood.

Driving the whole chilling process are Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) Group’s centrifugal chillers. The largest chiller units measure around 12 metres in length, six metres in height and width, and weigh more than 160 metric tons; each chiller unit has a cooling capacity equivalent to approximately 3,600 residential air conditioning units. This vast capacity gives them an economy of scale that makes them much more efficient than individual domestic units: they are able to generate six times the amount of thermal energy from each unit of electricity.

The Marina Bay district cooling system uses a total of 16 of these centrifugal chillers, including one that can operate in two ways – as well as using chilled water, the unit can be switched to ice-making mode. This turns it into a massive ice storage tank, making ice during off-peak times, when the cost of electricity is much lower, such as at night.

Throughout the day, warm water that has sucked the heat from Singapore’s many buildings flows back over the ice, which cools the water, before it returns to the buildings again. Matching production to demand in this way further boosts the Marina Bay system’s energy and cost efficiency.

COST-EFFECTIVE CHILLING As well as being more environmentally friendly, district cooling systems are costeffective. It is cheaper to chill many buildings

together than each one individually: In Marina Bay, it is estimated that the system cuts energy demand for cooling by 40% – the equivalent energy usage of 24,000 apartments in the city-state.

Capital costs for district cooling systems are much lower, too, as there is no need for individual chillers or cooling towers, plus maintenance costs are pooled.

Being buried underground also has the significant social side-benefit of freeing up precious roof space in densely populated cities, where amenity space is low in availability and highly sought after.

As the vast potential of district cooling and its role in achieving multiple socioeconomic and environmental goals continues to be revealed, cities around the world are waking up to the benefits.

People will always want to cool down in hot climates – district cooling offers them a far more sustainable way to do it.

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

www.climatecontrolme.com

37

Nimal Amukotuwa is an independent MEP consultant.

He may be contacted at namukotuwa@gmail.com.

CONNECTED AND SINGING IN HARMONY The amalgamation of DCPs is perhaps the answer to greater penetration of district cooling in Dubai, says Nimal Amukotuwa

T

he amalgamation of various district cooling plants in Dubai came up for substantial discussion during the DC Dialogue conference in September 2019 in Dubai and, more recently, during the DC Dialogue webinar, in June 2020. The main driver of the discussions was Dominic Mc Polin, Chief, Central Planning - Central Planning Office, Ministry of Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning, Bahrain. Indeed, he has been an ardent advocate of the proposed interconnection of district cooling plants in Bahrain. He has also spoken with passion on the subject, in the context of the sentiment in Bahrain.

Such a move would have its challenges, constraints and benefits. This article airs these.

As the topic is at its infancy, discussion of any specific district cooling plant or district cooling provider is not considered in this article; instead, the discussion is limited to the aspects indicated in the former paragraph, as possibly providing a stepping stone for further study of amalgamation.

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September 2020

CHALLENGES AND CONSTRAINTS OF AN AMALGAMATION The challenges and constraints of amalgamation would be the ones that would first require consideration and discussion.

These could be listed as…

• The requirements of the various district cooling providers in making the connections.

• The practical and physical task of connecting the various district cooling plants.

• Having a similar or identical quality of water in all the plants being connected.

• Determining a rate each provider would receive per kWh.r (kilo Watt hour of refrigeration) supplied by the provider.

The requirements of the various district cooling providers in making these connections The district cooling in Dubai is regulated by the Regulatory & Supervisory Bureau (RSB) for electricity and water. The Bureau is responsible for terms of licensing, district

cooling providers and billing. The Bureau’s remit also includes arbitrating or mediating disputes.

The main district cooling providers in Dubai could be considered as: • Empower (inclusive of Palm District Cooling) • Tabreed • Emicool (Emirates District Cooling) • Nakheel The requirements of the above and other smaller providers need to be ascertained and then formulated, in order to have an agreement among all the providers. The authority of the RSB ought to include these and other requirements/aspects, needed to provide a smooth amalgamation of the systems.

The practical and physical task of connecting the various district cooling plants The existing district cooling plants in Dubai are spread over many districts or areas, including Mirdif, Dubai Investment Park, Palm Jumeirah, Jumeirah Beach Residence, and central Dubai (Dubai Healthcare City, Dubai International Financial Centre, Downtown Dubai and Sheikh Zayed Road North). For it to be practical, the amalgamation of district cooling plants only in areas adjacent to one another should be considered; outlying areas, such as Mirdif and Dubai Investment Park, should remain as standalone district cooling plants within those areas.

A feasibility study is required to ascertain the connection arrangement between the different district cooling networks. The scope of study ought to include pipework, pumping requirements and the chilled water that could be provided from one network to the other.

Lower energy consumption, achieved through having a more distributed or spread out district cooling connection to properties

Installation of energy transfer stations (ETSes) among the networks is not recommended due to the possible energy loss, related to a rise in temperature.

Having a similar or identical quality of water in all the plants being connected An essential factor in the amalgamation is the quality of water among the various networks being connected. It needs to be similar in quality, if the networks are directly connected to one another without an ETS.

The quality of water, as a requirement, needs to be added to the responsibility of the RSB. In addition to providing a guideline, the RSB ought to have a team to monitor the maintenance of the quality of water.

Determining a rate each provider would receive per kWh.r (kilo Watt hour of refrigeration) supplied by the provider

With the amalgamation of the district cooling plants/networks, the demand on chilled water on each district cooling plant would be more stable; it would also be consistent with end user demand. As such, the district cooling plant would be able to operate at a better delta T than when loads fluctuate regularly, providing a more energy-efficient operation.

Also, with amalgamation, the properties between the connected areas could be connected, as well, increasing end user demand. Further, amalgamation would assist district cooling providers in operating their plants at a higher efficiency, as they would be operating a higher load.

The saving in energy is a benefit to the Dubai government, as electricity consumption would reduce, enabling DEWA to produce less electrical energy.

Benefits to the district cooling provider

Equally, the RSB ought to establish a tariff for district cooling chilled water usage. The tariff should be such that the benefits of district cooling providers as well as of end users are considered.

It also should be the responsibility of the RSB to ensure that only BTU meters approved

by RSB are used to monitor and record the end user consumption.

BENEFITS OF AN AMALGAMATION Amalgamation could result in…

• Lower energy consumption, achieved through having a more distributed or spread out district cooling connection to properties • Benefits to the district cooling provider • Benefit to the end user

As mentioned above, the district cooling provider is able to benefit from the plant operating in a more stable and consistent mode, paving the way for a better delta T and for increased demand from end users added to the network through the interconnection.

Benefit to the end user The considered benefit to the end user would be a lower tariff. This, in turn, would pave way for greater acceptance of district cooling.

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

www.climatecontrolme.com

39

covid

19

Sanjeevv Bhatia is CEO, Netix Global BV. He may be contacted at sb@sbintl.com.

CRITICAL PIECE OF THE PUZZLE A Smart building management is the secret to the safe reopening of commercial buildings in a world still being ravaged

by COVID-19, says Sanjeevv Bhatia

IDENTIFYING LIMITATIONS THE PANDEMIC HAS IMPOSED

s countries, the world over, reopen their economies, business and building owners are exploring what they need to do to facilitate the return of employees to the workplace. Although this next phase is essential in responding to pandemic-induced unemployment and kickstarting the supply chain, it’s also fraught with genuine concern.

SMART BUILDING TECHNOLOGY: THE SECRET TO SUCCESSFUL REOPENING The Wharton School recently predicted that relaxing restrictions could lead to a decrease in social distancing, causing a resurgence in COVID-19 cases. Nevertheless, the thought of keeping the economy shut is even less

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September 2020

appealing, with experts already predicting a recession deeper than the one in 2008-09.

People need to work, landlords need to be paid, and supply chains need to get back up to speed. All stakeholders – from local and federal governments to corporations and small businesses – are looking for the secret to ‘re-opening’ with the lowest risk, and one of the critical pieces of that puzzle is smart building management.

Global technology research company, Omdia predicts sales of smart building technologies will close in on USD 700 million by the end of 2020. It further posits that demand for smart buildings will remain strong, despite depressed sales and shutdowns in other industries. This is largely due to the fact that corporate offices across industries will rely on these tech solutions, to manage their re-emergence from nationwide lockdowns.

To understand the central role of techenabled smart building management, in responding to a dramatically altered world, one needs to first look at the ways in which the COVID-19 crisis has redefined work arrangements. The two key disruptions to have emerged in the aftermath of the pandemic are remote working and reframed working arrangements for those workforces that are returning to shared workspaces.

Broadly speaking, these can be described as: ■ Working from home, and how it

has changed the way we work

When employees converted their dining tables into desks, they fundamentally challenged established beliefs about remote working. Surprisingly, many employers found that workers could be just as productive from home as they were at the office. In turn, employees learned that not commuting saved them time and money, and allowed them to work with a more flexible schedule, leading to better work-life balance. For some, this shift to remote work arrangements will continue indefinitely.

for tenants and greater sustainability in operations. In the era of ‘new normal’, birthed by COVID-19 – which is requiring facilities management teams to deliver unprecedented quality, with much greater consistency than ever before – the case for widespread adoption of smart building technologies has become even more compelling. Some of the critical postpandemic needs that centralised digital management of properties addresses include:

air quality and changing air filters throughout the building, FM teams can now rely on smart building management technology to facilitate remote automation and real-time, data-driven and targeted maintenance.

These capabilities are particularly crucial, as social distancing mandates smaller onsite teams for service providers within buildings.

■ Cloud, connectivity and remote

management of automated systems

■ Social distancing in the

workplace

■ New rules for the new workplace Slowing the spread of the coronavirus remains a priority even as workers return to their daily commutes and pre-COVID routines. It’s important to continue to maintain social distancing, as well as frequent hand washing and surface sanitisation, in accordance with CDC guidelines; in fact, such measures are only the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

Considering such factors as the number of individuals using a given space, the need for monitoring air quality, carrying out health checks and determining how shared amenities are utilised, the list of changes to be incorporated in the ‘new normal’ workplace is extensive.

ACCELERATION OF DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION IN BUILDING MANAGEMENT In recent years, the commercial real estate industry had already been proactively adopting unified and centralised smart building management solutions, which leveraged AI and IoT technologies to reshape building operations and maintenance. In the pre-pandemic scenario, the benefits of such digital suites centred on increased efficiency, optimised returns, value-added services

Employees may not be able to come back to the same layouts, especially in offices that utilise an open workspace environment or cubicles that force people to work in close proximity. Digital tools can empower building management teams by giving them means to monitor and enforce social distancing in real-time.

IoT- and sensor-based smart building management technologies make it possible to measure occupancy on an ongoing basis, as well as to identify spaces that require more careful management, due to the relative footfall they draw.

■ Tracking the movement of

individuals in managed spaces

Knowing where people are inside the building is now a critical data point for decision-makers. They can choose to move people to less-used areas or reroute traffic to reduce the number of people passing one another. Management might decide to program the elevators to move a single direction or to adjust the cleaning schedule to ensure that hightraffic areas are disinfected several times a day. All of these measures, and more, benefit from the granular and system-wide transparency that a network of digital tools can enable.

■ Facility management and

sanitisation measures

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) reports that the concentration of air pollutants can be up to five times higher indoors. Monitoring and improving air quality has long been one of the core areas of focus for Facility Management (FM) personnel.

Instead of manually measuring

With limitations on the size of workforces that can be feasibly deployed by FM teams, the ability to operate and manage embedded building management remotely is crucial. Connected buildings link building automation suites to centralised platforms, which are accessible to remote personnel through Cloud. Even the allocation and inventory of shared resources and services benefits from such connectivity. For instance, sensors can track levels of soap and paper products in restrooms, simplifying topups. Instead of sending staff out to wander the floors, FM teams can now achieve high-quality outcomes, using a much leaner workforce than in legacy models.

ACHIEVING CONSISTENCY IN OUTCOMES Without a doubt, the most significant challenge faced by all stakeholders, in the context of re-opening the economy, is regaining an acceptable degree of control over our environment and operations. Given the high price of falling short of unfailing consistency in adhering to highly specific standards, implementing digital technologies in the post-pandemic world is a no-brainer.

Our buildings are the spaces within which the vast majority of our activities and interactions occur, and this new digitised model of smart building management will emerge as the new standard approach, for commercial real estate operations.

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

www.climatecontrolme.com

41

REGIONAL NEWS

ebm papst: Important to educate market on EC retrofits

Company MD highlights importance of developing an eco-system of experts

T

By Hannah Jo Uy | Assistant Editor

overview,” he said. “At this moment, here is a need to we do see consultants pushing for further educate the EC, but some are not fully up to market on the design speed regarding EC technology, and installation of EC and I think it’s the fan and AHU technologies in the context of manufacturers’ job to teach and retrofit projects, said Koen van Koen van Nistelrooij provide consultants with updates Nistelrooij, Managing Director, related to EC technologies.” van ebm papst. “AHU manufacturers Nistelrooij emphasised that he believes are knowledgeable,” he said. “They know the biggest responsibility lies with the what EC is and how to connect EC fans, but fan manufacturer, who is developing and retrofitting is a completely different type of supplying the technology, to provide the right business, and we need to make sure we teach information to minimise strange requests and instruct the market well.” van Nistelrooij circulating in the market, “such as for EC fans pointed out that improper installation of with AC specs, which is contradictory”.

EC fans by unqualified technicians could Koen said the company is also focusing potentially lead to failure of equipment, on strengthening communication and which could deter further retrofit initiatives collaboration with FM companies. “As ebm using EC technology. “It’s about instructing papst, we are good at making fans,” he well and making sure the people installing said. “We try to be ahead with providing the the equipment know what they are doing,” newest technology and high-quality fans, he said. and we need to do what we are good at. But As such, van Nistelrooij said the company we are not good at installing fans on site or is committed to spreading knowledge making sure fans are controlled properly by and reaching out to customers in a bid to the BMS – other companies are better than improve design, installation and operation of that. These companies can also do energy EC fans in the market. “We need to support audits, and we work together to provide our customers to make sure the consultants energy reports.” are using the correct specs in their spec

In line with this, van Nistelrooij is a big believer in the importance of cultivating a reliable ecosystem of experts with different particular specialisations. “In my opinion, a retrofit is a complete project, it’s not just a fan,” he said. “As ebm papst, we found a few energy companies we work with and support. If a customer comes to me and says, ‘I want to retrofit.’ I would say, ‘Great, I can provide the fan, but I don’t do the physical work.’ Because if I do the physical work I am stealing my customers’ customers. It’s the same as I would start producing AHUs. For me, it doesn’t make sense – we are a fan manufacturer. We should not change our complete mindset, just because there is an opportunity. There are a lot of good companies in the Middle East that can do retrofit. Why don’t we work together to make sure we serve the customer well.”

‘Infection control benefits of keeping RH at above 40% a proven fact,’ Condair says

Company highlights salient features on the occasion of ASHRAE issuing humidity guidelines for reopening schools, universities

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By CCME Content Team

he ASHRAE Epidemic Task Force recently published guidance on the operation of HVAC systems in schools and universities to mitigate the airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2, by way of preparing for the reopening of schools in the new academic year, Condair highlighted through a Press release. The ASHRAE-recommended winter classroom design condition specifies

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September 2020

40-50% RH through proactive humidification, either via AHUs or directly in the classroom, Condair said.

Mahmoud Widyan, General Manager, Condair Middle East, said: “It is very reassuring to see guidance from an authority such as ASHRAE including a recommendation for 40% RH as a

minimum level of indoor humidity.

The infection control benefits of keeping indoor air at above 40% RH have been proven in many scientific studies. ASHRAE’s Epidemic Task Force has taken this very positive step in recognising Mahmoud Widyan this science and specifying humidifiers ought to be used in educational establishments during the

‘IAQ market to grow by USD 9.54bn between 2020 and 2024’

Company official shares trends in demand; discusses how the uptake of solutions stems from changing consumer behaviour patterns and growing awareness on importance of IAQ, following COVID-19 outbreak

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By Hannah Jo Uy | Assistant Editor

s per a recent industry report, the indoor air quality (IAQ) market is expected to grow by USD 9.54 billion between 2020 and 2024, with the Asia Pacific region expected to showcase the highest compound annual growth rate (CAGR), said Jayant Jayant Purohit Purohit, Product Manager, Panasonic Life Solutions Middle East & Africa. Purohit added that the report also recognised China, India, Saudi Arabia and the UAE as major markets for IAQ products and that the Middle East, as a region, is expected to contribute significantly to the growing market figures. “The demand is increasing further as endusers and developers are focusing on healthy indoor environment improvements, sustainability and smart homes,” he said. “With the ongoing pandemic situation, more and more organisations and homeowners are focusing on health and safety, which has contributed to a slight uptake in demand for IAQ solutions like air purifiers and air quality monitoring equipment.”

Purohit said that in the Middle East and Africa (MEA), demand is steadily growing across multiple sectors, including homes, offices, hotels, hospitals, daycare centres, nurseries, universities, airport lounges and smoking rooms, and that this can be attributed to the region’s hot climate, which makes stakeholders especially dependent on their HVAC systems. “Even before the pandemic hit, homebuilders were seeing growing consumer interest in healthy homes,” he said.

“A 2018 Energy Pulse Report by the Shelton Group found that 68%

winter, for the health and protection of pupils and staff.

“Without humidification, indoor humidity will typically drop below the important 40% RH threshold during the winter season. In the Middle East, this is happening from around October through to March. Educational establishments, such as schools, colleges and universities are key battlegrounds in preventing the spread of COVID-19, or indeed other respiratory infections, such as the flu. Winter humidification is an effective weapon against respiratory infection. Indoor humidity of between 40-60% RH keeps the body’s respiratory immune system operating efficiently, whilst also decreasing the quantity of airborne viruses and their infectious nature.”

Mahmoud said he hopes the recommendation will be taken seriously by

of homeowners believe their house has a moderate to substantial impact on their health, and respondents ranked ‘making my home healthier/safer’ as the number two reason to spend money on a home.”

Purohit said that this awareness on the importance of IAQ has only increased with the onset of COVID-19. He pointed out that since companies implemented corrective measures, such as ordering employees to work from home, more and more people spent longer time in their residences, compared to pre-COVID times, and that being confined to such a limited space highlighted the consequences of “Sick House Syndrome”, which includes headache and nausea.

While there was awareness even before the pandemic, Purohit said that the additional cost of air purifiers previously served as a barrier for people looking to improve their IAQ. “[Now] since people have started staying at home and working from there, this investment makes sense, as they are going to feel the effect,” he said, adding that he expects this trend to be reflected in future sales figures.

Overall, the COVID-19 pandemic has created more awareness among people in the MEA region on the importance of air quality in both their personal and professional environments, Purohit said. He added that people are more willing to install products that enhance the safety and health of occupants in the home and office. He said that High-Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters, with active filtration technology, are also expected to gain preference over other types of air purification technologies and that there will be higher demand for such products owing to their application in residential and industrial developments.

the Middle East authorities and industry bodies. The commercial humidifier manufacturing sector is ready to step-up and play its part in the fight against COVID19, but educational establishments must act now if they are to be ready for the winter, he said. “We frequently work with universities to humidify research labs, archives and offices but humidity control in lecture halls and

classrooms is extremely uncommon,” he said. “Humidification is a practical, natural and non-pharmaceutical intervention against respiratory infection, and we hope to see similar, clear guidance for healthcare premises and office buildings shortly.”

www.climatecontrolme.com

43

REGIONAL NEWS

Rheem launches Innovation Centre in Dubai

Company says the experiential learning arena, in Dubai Silicon Oasis, aims to enhance knowledge of the HVAC contracting community, and provide skillbased training in the region

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L-R: Kartik J Raval, Brian Hempenstall, Pramodh Idicheria and Dinesh Rupani

By CCME Content Team

eminar Air Conditioning Company, a member of Al Shirawi Group, has launched the Rheem Innovation Centre, which the company described as a state-of-the-art experiential and learning arena, at Dubai Silicon Oasis. Brian Hempenstall, Managing Director – Rheem (MEA); Pramodh Idicheria, COO - Leminar Global and senior members of the Leminar and Rheem teams participated in a ribbon-cutting ceremony, on July 28, to officially inaugurate the facility, spanning an area of 367 square metres, Leminar said through a Press release, dated August 24.

Further describing the facility as “digitally forward” and as a revolutionary step towards skill development, Leminar said the centre seeks to positively impact the contracting community by creating a repository of knowledge and by providing training to bring out best-inclass skills among HVAC contractors in the UAE. Through the facility, Rheem will continue to upgrade the level of training offered to its strong network of contractors and provide technology updates to its customers, Leminar said, adding that while Rheem has six such hightech, hands-on innovation learning centres across the United States, it is with the able support and partnership of Leminar that it has been able to launch the first-ever such centre in the UAE. Speaking at the launch, Hempenstall said: “Rheem is proud to have a successful collaboration with Leminar and pave the way for its exponential growth in the UAE market. We value this partnership, and together we will make sure this platform proves to be one of the best to harness knowledge and help skill enhancement.”

Added Idicheria: “The Rheem Innovation Centre will bring forth our efforts towards CER (Corporate Environmental Responsibility) and showcase our range of sustainable and technologically advanced products. Leminar's robust network of customers will benefit from

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the several live demonstrations and working models installed at the centre, as it will help them get hands-on experience and understand the detailed mechanism behind the products.”

According to Leminar, the Rheem Innovation Centre will…

• Facilitate the detailed showcasing of VRF systems – their working principles and methods • Include a live demonstration lab to enable clients/ customers to experience sound/noise levels • Include a live working demo of Tecnair Close Control Units • Include a performance test rig of Frese PICVs • Display all kinds of thermostats and their features • Provide a site example of Mexico – specifically, a rotary fixture of an air-handling unit, highlighting Rheem’s skills of placing the unit in four different ways, as per requirement • Give a live demonstration of all available air conditioning models • Provide a detailed explanation of the working principle of a compressor, where the equipment can be broken down and reassembled • Include a dedicated product showroom to showcase Rheem’s cutting-edge offerings that promise a new degree of comfort Kartik J Raval, GM – Leminar Global, said: “As we move towards a more interactive business model with time, customer experience is key to every business’ growth story. The Rheem Innovation Centre will prove to be the cynosure of experience, education and efficiency for the industry in times to come.”

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45

REGIONAL NEWS

ELIPS receives ISO 14001:2015 and BS OHSAS 18001:2007 certifications Company says it has successfully renewed ISO 9001:2015 on Quality Management System, and continues compliance with the specifications and standards of the European International Network for District Cooling

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By CCME Content Team

mpower-Logstor joint venture, ELIPS, which manufactures and provides insulated pipe systems, has succeeded in aligning its production and operations with international practices and standards by obtaining two new international Ahmad Bin Shafar certifications, ISO 14001:2015 on Environmental Management System and the BS OHSAS 18001:2007 on Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems, the company said through a Press release. It has also renewed ISO certification on Quality Management System (ISO 9001: 2015), the company said. Further, it has successfully renewed the Euroheat & Power certification, which is granted in accordance with the guidelines for quality assessment of pipes and continuing its compliance with the specifications

and standards of the European International Network for District Cooling, the company said.

Speaking on the occasion, Ahmad Bin Shafar, Chairman, ELIPS, said: “As remarkable achievements in standardising company’s functional areas, ELIPS has succeeded in obtaining international certifications on Environmental Management System and Occupational Health & Safety Management System. ELIPS’ Environmental Management system is based on ISO 14001:2015 standards. Detailed environmental aspect impact analysis is conducted and necessary control measures are implemented for the entire process from raw materials to final production and to the execution processes at client’s project sites. ELIPS yielded outstanding environmental gains and economic successes, as it is the only insulated pipe systems company in the Middle East that uses zero-emission materials in its manufacturing processes.

“ELIPS’ Health & Safety Management System is based on OHSAS 18001:2007 standards. Detailed Occupational Health & Safety risk assessment is conducted across the production processes of ELIPS and its project sites. Control measures are implemented holistically to ensure the health and safety of its staff and all stakeholders. ELIPS is meeting with all the local and international HSE-related legal compliances.”

Bin Shafar added that ELIPS’ Quality Management System, which is based on ISO 9001:2015 standards, works to minimise business risk, enhance the production process to deliver high quality insulated pipe systems and service to projects that makes its customers satisfied. Every product of ELIPS, he said, is designed with highest standards of quality by understanding the customer’s requirements clearly.

Emicool announces 7% discount on bills for next three months Rebate across residential, commercial and industrial sector represents second phase of the stimulus package by the District Cooling utility company

By CCME Content Team

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September 2020

Taqeef introduces ‘Ultimate Comfort’ AC series in the UAE Midea’s new series features air-conditioning technology using ‘Inverter QuattroTechnology’ for stronger airflow within seconds, company says

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By CCME Content Team

idea’s ‘Ultimate Comfort’ air conditioner (AC) series by Midea is now available in the UAE, its distributor, Taqeef said through a Press release. The series features Midea’s latest innovations in the AC space, ensuring Tariq Al Ghussein the even distribution of cold and clean air inside a room while producing almost no noise, Taqeef claimed.

The series features the Midea ‘Inverter QuattroTechnology’, which is a high-frequency compressor that generates a strong flow of cool air within a matter of seconds, Taqeef claimed.

The AC’s optimised air outlet design enlarges the airflow angle by 110° together with a faster turbo fan speed, delivering a long-distance windblast of up to 25 metres, Taqeef claimed. The ‘Silky Cool’ feature, one of the key functions of the Ultimate Comfort, utilises the innovative Coanda technology, which guarantees an even distribution of cool air in a room by directing airflow up towards the ceiling, Taqeef claimed. The air then evenly descends around the room, avoiding a direct blast of air on the body for the highest level of comfort, Taqeef said. An integrated Wind Sprayer allows thousands of mini holes to transform centralised airflow into a gentle breeze for a more comfortable cooling experience, Taqeef claimed.

E

“Our focus has always been to provide our customers with the latest AC technology to cope with the extreme climate in the UAE,” Tariq Al Ghussein, CEO, Taqeef, said. “Midea’s Ultimate Comfort Series is a fantastic addition to our product portfolio, as it brings an innovative, high-quality and comfortable cooling solution to a market where cooling is considered a life essential.”

The Ultimate Comfort series also features ‘Innovated Air Magic’, which is an advanced sterilisation technology, Taqeef said.

Ions that kill harmful bacteria in the air are released while the AC is on, Taqeef said. Dual filters in the ACs capture micro dust, and a self-cleaning feature keeps the unit free from moulds and bacteria, making the AC units highly durable, Taqeef claimed.

With its accurate temperature control technology, Midea’s smart sensor AC function detects the room’s temperature and humidity level, Taqeef said. Users can customise the desired indoor humidity level from 30% to 90% via a smartphone through the Midea app, Taqeef said. They can also view and control electricity consumption through its Bill Control app function, Taqeef said. The inverter air conditioners offer three operating power options: 50%, 75%, and 100%, giving users options to lower power level and conserve energy, Taqeef said.

The AC technology also ensures low noise at 18 decibels, creating a more conducive environment for relaxation and peace of mind, Taqeef claimed.

Its advanced compressor is designed to deliver comfortable, cooling air, with outside temperatures as high as 60 degrees C, Taqeef said.

“Maintaining thermal comfort is one of the most important goals of AC, and this is now more significant than ever, as we are spending more time indoors,” Ghussein said.

“Innovations in the sector have made it possible to ensure the highest indoor air quality, while also providing end-users with the ability to easily control temperature and humidity levels through a smartphone, adding a new layer of comfort and convenience to AC usage.”

in the private and public sectors mirates District Cooling to maintain a safe economic (Emicool) announced climate and a thriving business a seven per cent sector in Dubai. Our current discount on declared initiative is a translation of the load for the three-month period directives of the government and from August to October 2020 for Dr Adib Moubadder is re-introduced with the aim of its residential, commercial and supporting companies, residents industrial sector customers. and the business sectors, enhancing financial With the current total operating capacity liquidity and mitigating the effects of the of 355,000 refrigerated tons (RT), the current economic situation. The impending second phase of the stimulus package growth in the district cooling sector indicates will be applicable for customers falling an increase in demand for efficient cooling under identified concession areas amongst services, and with district cooling services Emicool’s portfolio, the district cooling utility forming an important aspect of day-to-day said through a Press release. lives, we are positive that this move will help Dr Adib Moubadder, CEO, Emicool, said: provide a positive environment and reflect “Emicool’s efforts are always directed towards on the economic competitiveness.” continuous coordination with our partners

Emicool said it continues to play a major role in contributing to global efforts to make a positive impact on climate change by reducing consumption relying on larger operational cycle and conserving natural resources using environmentally friendly district cooling systems, which in turn, contributes to cost reduction for consumers while facilitating sustainable development.

The diversity of its customer base and the key sectors served, the company said are testimony to increasing investments towards infrastructure development, coupled with growing demand for reliable and cost-efficient cooling systems driving the cooling market.

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47

REGIONAL NEWS

Business continuity, financial stability, among key topics slated for TQuadC

The fourth edition of The Client, Consultant, Contractor Conference (TQuadC), to be held on October 14, will also feature a co-located event, ‘IT in HVAC, to showcase digital solutions for improving building performance

B

By CCME Content Team

usiness continuity, financial stability and confidence-building measures will be among the key topics of discussion during the fourth edition of The Client, Consultant, Contractor Conference (TQuadC), being organised by CPI Industry and to be held on October 14, 2020 in Dubai. TQuadC will follow an iterative process of drawing from discussions in previous editions in a bid to propel the MEP industry towards resolving outstanding issues afflicting it. Most importantly, though, given the prevailing mood, the event will serve as a platform for stakeholders to identify business opportunities and to define strategies to navigate through the situation engendered by the pandemic.

Comprising uniquely structured sessions, the conference will include plenary and panel discussions, manufacturer perspectives, IT & FM perspectives and client perspectives. Delegates will have an opportunity to participate in a structured Q&A session. Overall, TQuadC is a unique opportunity for the HVACR industry to come together, swap notes, reassess priorities,

GLOBAL NEWS

Frascold presents new body version of recip compressors The connection to the suction flange in the S Series compressors has been lengthened, amongst other improvements, company says

By CCME Content Team

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September 2020

infuse reasoning, and discuss stresstests, strategies and solutions to dispel doubts surrounding the way forward in this pandemic.

“TQuadC is an essential event in the context of the pandemic and in the context of our collective will to not only survive but also to thrive,” said Surendar Balakrishnan, Co-Founder and Editorial Director, CPI Industry.

This year’s edition features a co-located event, ‘IT in HVAC’, which will showcase the best digital solutions for the building industry.

The event will focus on how smart strategies could help stakeholders in the time of COVID and will touch on pathways towards resolving common construction-related disputes and strengthening stakeholder engagement through the use of digital tools.

The co-located event will contribute to the objective of enhancing the current business landscape by highlighting how transparency is a distinct possibility with

F

rascold has introduced a new body version of recip compressors, the company said through a Press release.

The new body version can be mounted on all models of the company’s single- and two-stage S series. Specifically, compared to the previous shape, the company said, the following improvements have been made: 1. The ribs have been removed, which makes the painting of the compressor even more optimal and resistant.

2. The connection to the suction flange has been lengthened, so that the fixing holes do not pass through and, therefore, the possibility of creating rust points during operation has been cancelled.

4th edition the digital tools in the marketplace, and how it will be to the industry’s advantage, considering that Dubai and the UAE are focusing on digitalisation with such deep intent. As such, TQuadC will explore the digital tools available on the Dubai landscape, including cutting-edge solutions, which Dubai has welcomed as a testbed of innovation.

Central to the discussions are BIM, BMS, blockchain, IoT, machine learning and artificial intelligence. They will provide a strong context to the discussions and drive the narrative towards a set of outcomes, insights and recommendations aimed at greater energy efficiency, optimising water use and improving indoor air quality.

To know more, visit: http://ccme.events/cccme/

3.

4.

The connection in the lower part of the compressor, between the motor side and the carter side, has been optimised.

The support surface of the compressor plate has been enlarged.

According to Frascold, the new design was created keeping unchanged both the fixing holes distances and the references for the suction and discharge valves, granting a constant and high level of the series performance.

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GLOBAL NEWS

ASHRAE announces new dates for IAQ 2020 conference Society calls for papers for event, now scheduled to take place in September 2021

A

SHRAE has announced that the IAQ 2020 conference, scheduled to take place from September 14 to 16, 2020 in Athens, Greece, has been postponed – it will now take place from September 13 to 15, 2021. In line with that, the Society has issued a new call for papers. The deadline for submitting abstracts is December 21, 2020. It made the announcement through a Press release.

Organised by ASHRAE and the Air Infiltration and Ventilation Centre (AIVC), the theme of the conference, “Indoor Environmental Quality Performance Approaches”, focuses on the metrics, systems, sensors and norms necessary to implement performance approaches, ASHRAE said in the release.

“Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) has been the core of ASHRAE'S IAQ series of conferences for the past 30 years," said Max Sherman, Co-Chair, IAQ 2020. "This conference has expanded from only covering indoor air quality concerns to exploring indoor environmental quality, which includes indoor air pollution, thermal conditions, acoustics and illumination and their interactions. The COVID-19 crisis has required us to hold IAQ2020 one year later but allowed us to expand the scope further to include IAQ in a post-COVID world."

In addition to the original conference topics, the conference steering committee is seeking papers related to the scientific challenges the world faces following the COVID-19 pandemic, which include: • Role of ventilation and building airtightness in epidemic preparedness • Filtration and disinfectant options to control COVID-19 • Face-covering impacts on indoor air quality • HVAC and IEQ in a post-COVID world

By CCME Content Team According to the release, authors have the option of submitting either a conference paper or an extended abstract and to state their preference for either an oral or poster presentation. Submissions are due December 21, 2020. If accepted, ASHRAE said, complete manuscript submissions are due April 19, 2021.

EIA calls for support of updated refrigerants safety standards proposal Says the proposal is vital to unlocking the climate benefits of Kigali Amendment, specifically to maximising emission reductions from a global phase-down of HFCs

A

By CCME Content Team

new safety standard proposed by an International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) working group is vital to maximising emission reductions from a global phasedown of super pollutant hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) under the Montreal Protocol’s Kigali Amendment, the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) said through a Press release.

If approved by a vote of IEC member countries, the proposal is on course to be adopted in the international standard for airconditioning, IEC 60335-2-40, allowing greater use of climate-friendly and energy-efficient refrigerants in room air conditioning systems around the world, EIA said.

Clare Perry, EIA UK Climate Campaign Leader, said, “The adoption of a revised safety standard to allow flammable refrigerants in room air-conditioning is vital for meeting climate targets and implementing agreements to phase down HFCs, such as the Kigali Amendment under the Montreal Protocol.”

Most common air-conditioners sold today contain refrigerants with a global warming potential (GWP) thousands of times that of CO2, while this standard would allow greater use of flammable refrigerants, such as propane with GWPs close to zero, EIA said, adding that member countries represented on the IEC’s sub-committee 61D will have from now until October 30 to vote on the proposal.

Christina Starr, Senior Climate Policy Analyst, EIA US, said: “Climate-friendly hydrocarbon refrigerants have been safely used in billions of household refrigerators around the world for decades,

50

September 2020

but have been largely blocked in air conditioning by outdated standards. It is incredibly important for countries to support this proposal to unlock the full climate benefits of reducing HFCs and increasing energy efficiency in cooling.” Starr is also a member of the US standards technical panel for air conditioners, UL 603352-40.

According to EIA, the number of room air conditioners is set to triple to over 4.5 billion globally by 2050. A new report commissioned for EIA found that a shift away from HFCs in domestic split AC systems supported by updated product standards could avoid emissions of over two gigatonnes CO2equivalent by 2030 and 5.6 gigatonnes CO2e by 2050.

“Many countries, particularly in the Global South that are A5 Parties to the Montreal Protocol, are in the process of phasing out ozone-depleting refrigerants, hydrochlorofluorocarbons,” Starr said. “An updated standard that allows safe use of climatefriendly refrigerants will enable early action by these countries to ‘leapfrog’ super-pollutant HFCs and transition directly to better substitutes for air conditioning.”

EIA said it is urges Montreal Protocol stakeholders to take note of the current voting period for this proposal and ensure support for its rapid advancement and finalisation. Once adopted into the revised IEC 60553-2-40 standard for air-conditioning, EIA said, various regional and national standards bodies will need to adopt it to take full effect in some markets globally.

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GLOBAL NEWS

Berner introduces air curtains “that deactivate viruses” Company says its PureAir Package disinfects and purifies air of viruses, VOCs and particulates

B

By CCME Content Team

erner has developed the PureAir Package, an air purification system for air curtains to help buildings combat the COVID-19 pandemic while supporting sustainability goals, the company said through a Press release. The Berner PureAir Package complements the built-environment’s indoor air quality (IAQ) and disinfection efforts by deactivating viruses, killing bacteria, and neutralising a space’s airborne volatile organic compounds (VOCs), as well as allergens and other biological contaminants such as mould spores, the company said.

This is the industry’s first air curtain to include needlepoint bipolar ionisation (NPBI) technology, enabling users to safely disinfect and purify the air in the space, beginning at the doorway, the company claimed.

The PureAir Package is currently available on Berner’s Architectural High Performance 10 (AHD10) air curtain, designed for separating environments at main entrances in retail, restaurants, hospitality, healthcare, education and other commercial and industrial applications, the company said. The PureAir Package includes the NPBI module; a washable one-inch-thick (25-mm) aluminum mesh MERV-8 particulate filter; a 10-speed 1/2-hp electronically commutated (EC) motor;

and a factory-installed Intelliswitch with Pure Mode operation, the company said.

During periods when the door is open, the air curtain operates as both an air curtain and an air purifier. When the door closes for longer than 60 seconds, the air curtain automatically transitions to Pure Mode for continuous NPBI ion distributio­­­n throughout the space with one of its lowest, quietest speeds, the company said. The Pure Mode setting distributes a minimum­­­ion density of 787 ­­­ions/inch2 (2,000 ions/cm2) within a minute for reliable pathogen disinfection of the space, the company added. On Pure Night mode, to provide optimum ion density, the air curtain runs at a powerful high speed, de-stratifying the air in the room and purifying it prior to occupancy periods, the company further added.

NPBI has been third-party surface-tested

by Cypress, California-based Innovative Bioanalysis, to neutralise airborne viruses, including the source of COVID-19 disease, SARS CoV-2, at a 99.4% success rate during 30-minute exposures, the company claimed. NPBI also disinfects mould, mildew, allergens, bacteria and other biological contaminants using an ionisation process that’s Environmental Claim Validated through UL-2998 for zero ozone emission

and byproducts free, the company further claimed.

The ionisation process creates positively and negatively charged ions that are distributed by the air curtain, the company said. These ions attach to microscopic airborne particulates. The positive and negative ions break down gases such as VOCs and odours and also pull hydrogen out of viruses, bacteria and mould that deactivates or kills them, the company said. The polarised particles’ electrical attraction and subsequent agglomeration facilitates their entrapment in the air curtain’s intake air MERV 8 filter, the company said. Together, the combination of the NPBI technology and MERV 8 filter approaches HEPA performance and improves the IAQ, the company said.

The Intelliswitch, a programmable digital controller, which has a time clock, time delay, built-in thermostat, 10-speed fan control, and other integrated customisable features, can also be operated wirelessly through the Berner AIR, an advanced control technology communications platform for air curtains, the company said. The platform uses a wireless controller, encrypted at the processor level, to connect the Intelliswitch to the Berner App for smartphones, which also allows Berner factory technicians to help local contractors troubleshoot service, the company said. Air curtain technology is ideal for NPBI, because air curtains are used right where customers, patients and employees, to name three, enter and exit a building, the company said. The air curtain, the company said, distributes ions from inside the space, starting right at the entrance, for an immediate effect, and it tirelessly replenishes the supply, as old ions reach their minutes-long lifecycle.

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www.climatecontroljournal.com www.climatecontroljournal.com is the answer to a longexpressed need for a Web site, which would cover individual regions around the world in a bid to provide exclusive news, interviews, case-studies, technical articles and feature articles that are of relevance to HVACR and allied industry professionals, who are either based in them or are contributing to them in terms of energy efficiency (from the perspectives of reducing emissions and total cost of ownership), good indoor environmental quality and reliability across residential, commercial and industrial projects. The Web site contains five region-specific portals: • • • • •

Africa Asia Europe Middle East The Americas

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GLOBAL NEWS

VDE Verlag offers English edition of natural refrigerants guide Textbook, containing over 300 pages, is aimed at planners, plant designers and operators of refrigeration and air conditioning systems, builders, architects, apprentices and students in the fields of refrigeration, air conditioning and heat pumping

G

By CCME Content Team

ermany-based publishing house, VDE VERLAG’s Natürliche Kältemittel – Anwendungen und Praxiserfahrungen, which offers a comprehensive practical guide to working with natural refrigerants, including CO2, ammonia, hydrocarbons and water, will soon see an English version. The English edition will be titled Natural Refrigerants: Applications and Practical Guidelines, and is being adapted for a global audience, in particular with reference to standards, the publishing house said through a Press release.

“VDE VERLAG is very happy to team up with shecco,” said Bernd Hansemann, Product Manager for HVAC&R textbooks, VDE VERLAG. “VDE VERLAG’s excellent authors and content, combined with shecco’s expertise in international marketing of natural refrigerant subjects, is the perfect base to spread the knowledge into the market.” shecco is a market accelerator that has been active in helping to bring climatefriendly technologies faster to the marketplace, the publishing house said.

The book was the brainchild of Professor Michael Kauffeld of the Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences, in Karlsruhe, Germany, the publishing house said, adding that he wrote the chapters on thermophysical properties, ice slurry and N2O as refrigerant for applications below -50 degrees C (-58 degrees F) focusing on air-cycle technology. He is one of the textbook’s three editors, the publishing house further said. The other editors are Michael Eckert, Co-Owner and Chief Engineer at the ammonia refrigeration company, Kälte Eckert; and Volker Siegismund, Professor at Baden-Wuerttemberg Cooperative State University in Mosbach, the publishing house added.

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September 2020

Each chapter is written by an expert in the specific area. Professor Armin Hafner of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology wrote the chapter on CO2, the publishing house said. Eckert contributed the ammonia chapter.

Joachim Schadt, Managing Director and Owner of Secon, a company that builds hydrocarbon chillers, and his former colleague Irmgard Bauer, wrote about hydrocarbons. Juergen Suess, former CTO of Efficient Energy, the company that developed the water-only eChiller, together with his colleague Florian Hanslik, covered water as refrigerant, the publishing house said.

“When talking to people in the refrigeration industry about how to use natural working fluids, the lack of information and training is always mentioned as the number one obstacle,” Kauffeld said. “This book can help spread knowledge about the safe and energy efficient use of natural refrigerants for the benefit of the environment – and often also for the economy.”

Ilana Koegelenberg, Market Development Manager, shecco, added: “Time and time again, the lack of suitable training material in the natural refrigerant

space has been cited as an ‘excuse’ for slowed progress towards more sustainable HVAC&R solutions. When we first came across the German textbook, we immediately saw an opportunity to also bring this expert knowledge to the global stage and really offer a technology-neutral answer to the training challenge.”

The 300-plus-page textbook is aimed at an audience of planners, plant designers and operators of refrigeration and air conditioning systems, builders, architects, apprentices and students in the field of refrigeration, air conditioning, and heat pumping technology, the publishing house said. It presents the experiences and techniques of industrial refrigeration and transfers them to commercial refrigeration applications. It also covers general conditions and legal requirements for the use of natural refrigerants, the economic efficiency of the refrigeration systems, and additional knowledge on handling these systems, the publishing house said.

Tables, pictures and plant diagrams, it further said, are used to show examples of practical implementations. “shecco is very excited about what this textbook could do for raising the bar for natural refrigeration installations around the world – not only from a safety point of view but also in terms of efficiency,” Koegelenberg said. “We firmly believe that by making this knowledge accessible to all, we can greatly accelerate the adoption of natural, clean cooling technologies around the world.”

According to the publishing house, print and online editions of the English translation will be available beginning in October/November 2020 at the VDE online shop.

Belimo donates to ASHRAE global headquarters renovation project One among 18 major donors to the project, the company has contributed valves, which it says were chosen for their “data-sharing capabilities and seamless controlled integration”

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By CCME Content Team

elimo is one of the 18 major donors to the ASHRAE Global Headquarters Renovation Project, the company said through a Press release. Belimo said it donated some of EV3 DN65 Angle its most technologically advanced HVAC field devices, including more than 100 valves. The products were chosen for their high performance and BACnet communication, for their data-sharing capabilities and seamless controller integration, the company said.

Listing out its technologies, Belimo described them as such…

• Belimo Energy ValveBelimo Energy Valves: The IoT pressureindependent valve utilises advanced cloud-based analytics to leverage system data to provide energy savings and the most efficient system operation.

• Belimo Clear Edge: An analytic data device, it automatically discovers, captures and analyses system data from multiple Energy Valves in the building through BACnet.

• Pressure Independent Valves: These maximise available energy savings of variable flow pumping systems and address unique control challenges.

• 6-way Pressure Independent Valves: These have the functionality of up to four two-way control valves and two balancing valves, saving material and installation time.

R-32, R-125 and R-143a from China to the US out of antidumping duty scope US Department of Commerce issues statement on HFC components to that effect, AHRI says

By CCME Content Team

•

•

Belimo’s 100th million actuator assembled on the advanced Butterfly Valve: This consumes up to 80% less power than conventional designs and is equipped with Near Field Communication (NFC) and BACnet communications capabilities Globe Valve: This comes with a soft seat design to provide ANSI Class VI leakage rating; and improved rangeability of 100:1 offers greater flow control.

Belimo said its innovative solutions provide comfort, energy efficiency, safety, ease of installation, and less maintenance for buildings and long-term reliability.

“Belimo is excited to be supporting ASHRAE’s Global Headquarters Renovation Project and is pleased to see a wide variety of our products helping the project meet its goal of net-zero energy,” said James Furlong, President, Belimo Americas.

The renovation project is expected to be completed by late summer, with a move in October 2020.

Butterfly Large Valve

T

he US Department of Commerce on August 19 issued its final determination “not to include hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) components, R-32 (difluoromethane), R-125 (pentafluoroethane) and R-143a (1,1,1,-trifluoroethane), imported from the People's Republic of China (China), within the scope of the antidumping duty (AD) order on HFC blends from China”, AHRI said through a Press release.

US Customs and Border Protection will be directed to discontinue its suspension of liquidation and to refund all cash deposits for antidumping duties, AHRI said, AHRI said it previously informed its members of the Department of Commerce’s preliminary determination in an International Alert, dated April 10. The preliminary determination, it said, was that imports of HFC components, R-32, R-125 and R-143a from China were circumventing the Order. This, it added, has been overturned with the final determination.

www.climatecontrolme.com

55

GLOBAL NEWS

Making polling places safer ASHRAE Epidemic Task Force offers guidance for HVAC systems at polling places

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By CCME Content Team

s election season continues throughout the United States during the pandemic, the ASHRAE Epidemic Task Force is offering HVAC and water supply system guidance for polling places.

ASHRAE’s Building Readiness guidance provides practical information and checklists to help minimise the chance of spreading SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, ASHRAE said through a Press release.

“Protecting our voters and poll workers from increasing the spread of COVID-19 at polling places is essential to protecting the health, welfare and safety of the entire population,” said Dennis Knight, Vice Chair, ASHRAE Epidemic Task Force. “Many different HVAC system types are used in polling places, so adaptation of these guidelines to specific cases is necessary.”

ASHRAE presented the following general recommendations related to HVAC and water supply systems for polling places: • Space Selection: Select a space with larger area for people to spread out and, if possible, a high ceiling to provide more volume for dilution.

Consider space with operable windows, if there are potential ventilation issues.

• Inspection and Maintenance: Consider assessing the condition of systems and making necessary repairs. All building owners and service professionals should follow ASHRAE Standard 180-2018 “Standard Practice for the Inspection and Maintenance of Commercial HVAC Systems”.

• HVAC Operation: The HVAC and toilet exhaust systems should be running when the space is occupied.

If the HVAC system cycles on/off with the thermostat, consider running the fan constantly during occupied hours. If toilet exhaust is controlled by manual switches, leave the fan running for 20 minutes after use, or consider setting the switch to “on” and use signage that directs not to change the setting.

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September 2020

•

•

•

•

•

•

Ventilation: A good supply of outside air, in accordance with ASHRAE Standard 62.1-2019, to dilute indoor contaminants is a first line of defence against aerosol transmission of SARS-CoV-2. Preand post-occupancy purge cycles are recommended to flush the building with clean air. If the polling place is not ventilated or poorly ventilated and filter efficiency is not good, consider opening doors and windows, and consider re-locating all voting to the outdoors.

Air Distribution: Air flow distribution should not cascade air from the face of a person onto others, so take care in using personal fans.

Filtration: Use of at least MERV-13rated filters is recommended, if it does not adversely impact system operation. If MERV-13 filters cannot be used, including when there is no mechanical ventilation of a space, portable HEPA air cleaners in occupied spaces may be considered.

Also, consider portable air cleaners in locations with more vulnerable staff.

Air Cleaning: Air cleaners, such as germicidal ultraviolet air disinfection, may also be considered to supplement ventilation and filtration.

Technologies and specific equipment should be evaluated to ensure they will effectively clean indoor air without generating additional contaminants or negatively impacting space air distribution by creating strong air currents.

Temperature and Humidity: It is desirable to set the thermostat at the higher end of the comfort zone, 75-78ºF and maintain relative humidity between 40% and 60%.

Energy Use Considerations: In selecting mitigation strategies, consideration should be given to energy use, as there may be multiple ways to achieve performance goals that have greatly different energy use impact. Control changes and use

•

of energy recovery to limit or offset the effect of changes in outdoor air ventilation rate and filter efficiency may reduce or offset energy and operating cost penalties.

Water System Precautions: Buildings that have been unoccupied could have stagnant water, and so, water systems should be flushed to remove potential contaminants. Utilising ASHRAE Standard 188 and Guideline 12 can help minimise the risk of water-borne pathogens, such as legionella.

“The task force’s approach to protecting indoor air quality in polling place is practical, and can help safeguard voters, poll workers and other building occupants, as most sites are shared locations that serve many different purposes,” said Luke Leung, Commercial/Retail Team Lead, ASHRAE Epidemic Task Force.

ASHRAE said its Epidemic Task Force has developed guidance and building readiness information for different operating conditions and several building types, including commercial, residential, educational and healthcare facilities. It encouraged HVAC industry professionals to visit ashrae.org/COVID-19 to view complete guidance on HVAC and water supply systems in polling places, along with other COVID-19 resources.

Presents

HVACR Virtual Conference Series: Themes: • How a strong Digital approach can help in the time of COVID, and resolve disputes and smoothen stakeholder engagement • Towards business continuity, financial stability and confidence-building measures

4th edition

14 October 2020 | Hosted from Dubai, UAE

2pm - 6pm (UAE Time, GMT+4) | 3.30pm - 7.30pm India Standard Time (IST) 6am - 10am Eastern Standard Time (EST) | 6pm - 10pm Singapore Time (SGT) The Client, Consultant, Contractor Conference (TQuadC), builds on past editions and follows an iterative process in ensuring the narrative is moved closer than ever to resolving outstanding issues. Plus, it seeks to identify business opportunities and define strategies to navigate through the situation engendered by the pandemic.

SPEAKERS (SO FAR)

OVERVIEW

T

he weight of insights and information gathered from the past three editions indicates a consensus that transparency among stakeholders is the way out of knotty payment-related and operational issues plaguing specialised MEP consultants and MEP contractors and HVAC equipment manufacturers and suppliers – more so in the midst of COVID. Transparency needs to be pursued with urgency, given the general agreement that a distracted ecosystem of specialised MEP functions is finding it a challenge to deliver excellence in design, specification and installation, so vital for improving building performance, which in turn, is a vital element in meeting the needs of UAE’s socio-economic and sustainable development parameters and targets.

Transparency is a distinct possibility with the digital tools in the marketplace, and it helps that Dubai and the UAE are focusing on digitalisation with such deep intent.

So, the question arises: How can Digital Dubai resolve disputes and smoothen stakeholder engagement in the MEP sphere, plus navigate through the pain-points engendered by COVID? The answer is, Dubai has the wherewithal to find solutions on the strength of its ‘cando’ attitude and pioneering spirit.

The 4th edition of The Client, Consultant, Contractor Conference (TQuadC), explores the digital tools available on the Dubai landscape, including cutting-edge solutions, which Dubai has welcomed as a testbed of innovation. The event speaks the language of ‘dashboards’ for better monitoring (including remote monitoring) and transparency, and identifies touchpoints, which can give clarity to the overall market.

Central to the discussions are BIM, BMS, blockchain, IoT, machine learning and artificial intelligence. They provide the context to the discussions and drive the narrative towards a set of outcomes, insights and recommendations aimed at greater energy efficiency, optimising water use and improving indoor air quality.

Dr Iyad AlAnwaar Al Attar Shimmari Independent Director of Air Filtration Design and Consultant, Chief Innovation Kuwait Officer, UAE Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure (TBC)

Euan Lloyd Krishnan Unni Senior Madathil Counsel, Chartered Al Accountant, Tamimi & Audit Partner, Bin Company Khadim, Radha & Company Chartered Accountants (TBC)

Kandasamy Anbalagan Managing Partner, Proleed Engineering Consultants

Rahul Girish Mansour Sagar Duragkar Hiranandani, Kharoub Kulkarni Managing Co-founder, Associate Managing Director, Hira Principal Director, Emitech Industries - Mech Consistent Group Engineering Engineering Services, Consultants Khatib & Alami (TBC)

Bjorn Ostbye Mohamed V Sekhar Project Shafiq Ur Reddy Development Rahman Managing Manager, Senior HVAC Director, Lulu Group Engineer 1, Lexzander International Dar Gulf Consult, Kuwait

Hassan Dr Zahid Younes Rizvi Director CEO & General & Partner, GRFN Manager, Aspire Consultants; Consulting President, ASHRAE (TBC) Falcon Chapter

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GLOBAL NEWS

Smardt Chiller Group in global growth push Expands its worldwide leadership team; Vince Canino is President and CEO; Ashraf Abdalla is COO; Roger Richmond-Smith remains as Chairman

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By CCME Content Team

mardt Chiller Group, manufacturer of oil-free centrifugal chillers, on August 18 announced a major expansion of its worldwide leadership team.

Vince Canino, COO since 2014, has become President and CEO, effective immediately, the company said. Canino’s

career in the HVACR and power industries includes senior VP roles with Trane, the chief executive role at the DG Energy Vince Canino cogeneration group and many years with GE Power Systems, the company said.

Ashraf Abdalla, formerly VP & General Manager, Global HVAC Applied Commercial Business, Johnson Controls, has joined Smardt as COO, initially focused on North American opportunities, the company said.

Roger Richmond-Smith, the founder of Smardt and, prior to that, the founder of Turbocor founder, has retired as CEO but remains Chairman of the Board of Directors, with project responsibilities for Europe, new product development and strategic marketing, the company said.

Richmond-Smith said: “I am delighted to pass the baton today to this new team of global industry veterans. Vince and Ash are both major talents, and together with

CFO, Lucie Roy, they make a formidable team. This is vital if Smardt is to exploit post-pandemic opportunities for Ashraf Abdalla its lifetime oil-free efficiencies in the planet’s fight against climate change. And to all the key contributors to this disruptive little global group since its audacious formation in 2005, a very big thank you from me.”

China-headquartered TICA, in 2018, took a major stake in Smardt. Its Chairman, Jiang Li, added: “The TICA-Smardt group faces very major opportunities across the globe. Smardt’s global leadership in oil-free centrifugals combines well with TICA’s China leadership in high-end air handling, with an array of new products to follow. Key to TICA-Smardt’s success is the recruitment of major global talent. Today’s announcement is a strong start to some exciting post-pandemic growth.”

ASHRAE Epidemic Task Force releases updated Building Readiness Guide Clarifies HVAC systems’ guidance for reopening of buildings

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By CCME Content Team

he ASHRAE Epidemic Task Force has updated its reopening “Building Readiness” guidance for HVAC systems to help mitigate the transmission of SARS-CoV-2, against the backdrop of many buildings preparing to reopen during the pandemic, the Society said through a Press release.

“The Building Readiness Guide includes additional information and clarifications, so that owners can avoid operating their HVAC systems 24/7,” said Wade Conlan, ASHRAE Epidemic Task Force Building Readiness Team lead. “By rolling out this updated guidance, we are providing a more robust structure for building owners to complete the objectives of their Building Readiness Plan and anticipate the needs of building occupants.”

According to ASHRAE, specific updated recommendations to the building readiness guidance include the following: • Pre- and Post-Occupancy with Outdoor Air: The intent of this strategy is to ensure that infectious aerosol in the building at the end of occupancy is removed prior to the next occupied period. The building is flushed for a duration sufficient to reduce concentration of airborne infectious particles by 95%. For a well-mixed space, this would require three air changes (three times the building volume) of outdoor air (or three equivalent air changes, including the effect of filtration and air cleaners), as detailed in the calculation methodology. There is also guidance on methods to increase the quantity of outdoor air introduced by systems.

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Energy Recovery Ventilation (ERV) Systems Operation: Guidance is provided to assist in determining if an energy recovery system using an energy wheel is well designed and maintained and whether it should remain in operation. Based on the assessment of ERV conditions, it may be possible to fix problems and return it to service.

• Building Readiness Modes of Operation for the Building: These should include the following:

Epidemic Operating Conditions in Place (ECiP) • Occupied- at pre-epidemic capacity • Occupied- at reduced capacity or Unoccupied temporarily • Operation during building closure for indefinite periods

Post-Epidemic Conditions in Place (P-ECiP) • Prior to Occupying • Operational Considerations once Occupied The guidance, ASHRAE said, still addresses the tactical commissioning and systems analysis to develop a Building Readiness Plan, increased filtration, air cleaning strategies, domestic and plumbing water systems, and overall improvements to a systems ability to mitigate virus transmission.

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