Cable sizing concept assessment focused on key electrical engineering project offices in Brazil, Chile and Mexico October 2013
Introduction
An economic and environmental cable sizing concept consists basically of upsizing wire and cables for an electric installation, thus resulting in lower energy losses and CO2 emissions. Electrical designers usually define cable sizes based on electrical standards that consider only safety-related technical requirements. Thus, this new concept associates energy and CO2 reduction, bringing an opportunity to introduce and promote the market adoption of this concept.
Objectives General and specific milestones have been defined to develop this work in full compliance with 2013 global target-Building Construction LA, as follows:
1.1 OVERALL OBJECTIVES Strengthening the dissemination of "Economic and Environmental Sizing for Electrical Conductors" concept which was kicked off in 2012 aiming the major influential companies in the several states and regions in Brazil, Chile and Mexico. Colombia’s project offices have been added while this work was underway. The size and importance of companies in the local market should represent that together these companies are responsible for between 60% and 80% of the new projects Despite working outside their home region or state, some electrical designers work for electrical projects located at other states.
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1.2 SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES Promoting both this concept and the "Economic and Environmental Sizing for Electrical Conductors – DEAC software" in the energy market, by:
Identifying and screening companies regarded as influential in the domestic electrical engineering.
Applying survey to make it easier to learn about the interest on using the software, and acquiring knowledge on the optimal sizing for conductors and LEED certification.
Making an in-person presentation on the DEAC concept to the screened engineering companies.
2 ACTIVITIES IN PLACE Meeting the 2013 objectives required that the following activities were put in place: a. Identifying and screening companies well known for their role in the electrical engineering market, which together reached between 60% and 80% stake in developing energy projects. Each country developed a proper methodology for screening their companies: Chile: based on market information provided by two experienced electrical engineers actively working in the industry, a list of major electrical designers was prepared. That list primarily comprised the mining, industrial, and commercial segments and their influence in the industry was certified through in person writing-backed survey. Brazil: following a directory of designers' office provided by an electrical magazine, electrical designers were screened per each state engaged in industrial and commercial building projects. Prior to a face-to-face interview, a phone call to verify each company’s relevance was placed. Mexico: major electrical designers' directories were initially used and then reviewed with manufacturers and nonresidential electrical verification bodies, after which the electrical design companies were invited to engage in. Group meetings were then held via conferences, web conferences and tradeshows taking place at stakeholders' booths.
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Colombia: based on information provided by several channels, a list of major electrical design companies was prepared, focusing on those companies responsible for 60% to 80% of the industrial and commercial installation projects. A phone call to verify their relevance in the market was placed before the technical meetings could be held. Subsequently, wire and cable stakeholders like Prysmian in Brazil, Covisa in Chile, Condumex and Viakable in Mexico and Inducables in Colombia provided their referrals, market information and guidelines to support this activity. Please refer to each company and their countries on attachment I. b.
Those companies were surveyed to help find out about their interest on using the software, and their acquaintance on conductors’ optimal sizing and LEED certification. Such survey’s results are shown by country and are consolidated per region on table 1.
c.
A visit to the recommended companies, followed by a presentation on the both the concept and DEAC software, was made with a special offer for them to use DEAC software in their from-the-scratch or ongoing projects, so that they could manage to assess the proper outcome.
d.
A brochure on the DEAC software was further handed out to the visited companies and all the involved attendees. As for Brazil, a copy of cable sizing standard was further delivered. The brochure is available in PDF format on www.procobre.org and www.programacasasegura.org /deac websites, along with an updated version of the software.
e.
In addition to interviewing companies, numerous seminars, workshops and webinars were held toward spreading over the cable sizing concept and its related standards. Some of them were: renewable energy dissemination seminar organized by the Chilean International Renewable Energy Congress, Greenpower, ExpoSolar Chile organized by ACESOL (Chilean Association of Solar Energy), Latin American and Caribbean Seminar on Energy organized by OLADE (Latin American Energy Organization) and five CINASE workshops held in Brazil.
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3 RESULTS OF SURVEY
Below are the results of the questionnaire filled out by the visited companies:
Table 1 Countries
Brazil
Chile
Mexico
Colombia Region
number of project designers interviewed
41
8
44
15
108
states / regions covered
9
1
11
1
22
% of companies aware of the Environmental Cable Sizing Concept
34
38
68
47
50
knowledge source
CDA
CDA
Foro Latino CDA
CDA
CDA
% of companies aware of the Cable Sizing Standard
10
38
32
27
23
% of companies aware of the LEED Certification
51
50
75
20
56
% of companies that once applied the LEED certification on their customers
29
50
0
67
24
% of companies interested in trying the Environmental Cable Sizing Software
98
100
100
87
97
% Interest to engage in a specific webinar on this theme
93
100
100
93
96
% Companies willing to provide feed back to us
98
100
93
100
96
Average presence on new projects
70
75
61
68
66
Estimated number of projects these companies designed / year
1065
192
1325
100
2682
4. FINDINGS AND COMMENTS
It was found out that nearly 50% of the companies in the region were familiar with the conductor optimal sizing concept, and they had learned about it from Procobre’s marketing actions made in previous years.
Nevertheless, just a few (23%) were aware of the concept-related technical standards.
On the other hand, the LEED certification is quite known in Brazil, Chile and Mexico, but only some companies have it in place for their electrical design.
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In general, most of the companies were willing to test Procobre’s software on their projects, considering their electrical conductor sizing against economic and environmental aspects, as it contributes to minimizing greenhouse gas emissions to the environment;
The screened and visited companies are in charge of defining between 60% and 80% of the commercial/industrial projects for those cities or regions they are related to;
The 108 companies surveyed have a portfolio of around 2682 projects / year.
Some barriers still remain to be broken down: high initial costs, unawareness, low energy costs in some regions, an over five-year payback and cultural values;
Disseminating this concept into technical forums and working with green-building committees is a must, so that everyone can benefit from the strong presence of the LEED certification in the market. Ultimately, it can be considered that all general and specific objectives for this year have been fulfilled. ANNEXES
Annex 1: List of engaging companies
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Mexico UVIE CCIDTES Instalaciones Eléctricas TECSA GRAN VISIÓN CONSTRUCCIÓN, S.A. DE C.V. Lakcma Constructora, S.A. DE C.V.
Ingeniería mecánica Eléctrica, SA de CV Productos y servicios electromecánicos SA de CV, PROSEL Virgo Ingenieros Electromecánicos SA de CV Gruco Instalaciones & Construcciones Especializadas UVIE UVIE UVIE UVIE UVIE Construcciónes Vidalum, SA CV ELECTROCONSTRUCCIONES Grupo PC Solución y conservación Electrica Industrial, S.A. de C.V. FIDERE III Asistencia Técnica Prado S.A. de C.V. (SERVELEC) Samitzi GRB Instalaciones UVIE VERIFICACIONES Y PROYECTOS DE SURESTE SC Ingeniería MC UVIE (Monterrey)
UVIE Anahuac Organización Constructora UVIE Asistencia Técnica Prado S.A. de C.V. (SERVELEC) UVIE-RJCCB Powergreen Technologies UVIE Supervisores y Proyectistas de Instalaciones S.A. de C.V Grupo en Ingenieria ENRO S.A. DE C.V. LPD Consstructora Chufani SA CV EQUIPOS E INSTALACIONES INDUSTRIALES PARA LA CONSTRUCCIÓN, S.A. DE C.V.
UVIE UVIE UVIE Gran Visión Construcción UVIE Dirección General de Television Educativa 6
Brazil P3 Engenharia Elétrica Ltda. Sadenco Engenharia Nord Electric ENSERVE Engenharia PCON - Projetos e Consultoria Ltda. N2A ENGENHARIA Fortiori Engenharia ETI Engenharia RMP Cobrapi SEI Engenharia Senior Engenharia Proconsult Enga. Proerg Enga. Lumens Enga. Minerconsult EPC Enga. VPC Enga. Simatec Lumatec Engenharia Ecom Engenharia Shock Engenharia BK Engenharia
Powertech Engenharia de Instalações Ltda Grupo MPE Datum Engenharia
Sage Engenharia MPE Engenharia Pethras Engenharia Petrobras Planave Chemtech Rebek Engenharia Projectus Engenharia Cobrapi Ecthos Engenharia Acxxus Engenharia Catena Engenharia Excepar Engenharia Ensiste Engenharia Eletromonte
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Chile Fleischmann Ingeniería de Proyectos JRI Ingeniería AMEC-CADE CLAS Ingeniería S.A. CONTAC Ingenieros Limitada POCH y Asociados SKM CHILE REICH Ingeniería Limitada Colombia
Casa Cointelco Elsiscom Adesystem Rymcia Sia Industrial Asotectol Control Link BRP ingenieros Armenta Chavarro Ingycons Inessman Diconel Ebingel SENA
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