Interview - ADeB Consultants

STATE-OFTHE-ART SERVICES

Sustainable Business Magazine speaks to George Nicholson, Director and Engineer at ADeB Consultants Ltd., about energy efficiency, new technology in the Caribbean, and the long-term financial savings of going green.

By Izzy Moss

ADeB Consultants Ltd. is a MEP Consulting Engineering firm based in Bridgetown, Barbados, that offers its services primarily across the Eastern Caribbean. ADeB’s services cover mechanical, electrical and plumbing building services, surveys, the design of new systems, the retrofitting of existing systems, and general consultancy for a wide variety of sectors, including the commercial, industrial, healthcare, and hospitality sectors.

As companies throughout the region have begun seeking to reduce their energy consumption and switch to renewable energy, ADeB have developed in-house expertise in a range of sustainable technologies suited to Caribbean buildings. “ADeB are involved in various solar PV projects, and we specify the design of air conditioning systems to be energy efficient, such as Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF) chillers,” explains George Nicholson, Director and Engineer at ADeB Consultants Ltd. “This is a relatively new trend, using VRF technology in a chiller as opposed to standard compressors to vastly increase efficiency. In electrical specifications, we specify LED lighting. On the plumbing side, the use of solar hot water systems in Barbados is quite prevalent. ADeB has worked on some of the largest solar hot water systems in Barbados, such as in hotels. ADeB is energy efficiency-conscious in our design, but a lot of it also depends on what the client’s budget is.”

EFFICIENCY INNOVATORS

“We were the first company to specify a VRF system in Grenada, for example,” says Mr. Nicholson. “There was a bank/credit union that was renovating their offices. It was a three-story building that had a very small footprint, and not a lot of room for equip-

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ment. Grenada has a lot of hills, so the building was built on multiple levels. Getting this system in to suit their new layout was going to be a challenge. ADeB proposed the VRF system, and it worked out extremely well.”

ADeB also installed the first underfloor air conditioning system in an office building in Barbados, a technology which has been shown to reduce the energy consumption compared to a conventional, ceiling-based air conditioning system. “I myself directed

HP PRIMARY ISOLATION AFTER that project,” says Mr. Nicholson. “The floor heights were extremely restrictive but there was the opportunity to go down slightly and create that additional height. Underfloor systems are quite common in other parts of the world but unique in Barbados.”

GREEN SAVINGS

ADeB encourages clients to consider not only the health and environmental benefits of energy efficient technologies, but also the long-term financial savings. “There are company mandates that are aiming towards greener energy,” says Mr. Nicholson. “Some clients are interested, so they make an inquiry, but may be shocked when they actually see the price. ADeB’s job is to help clients see the big picture. They may spend this money now, but they’ll make savings in the long run. If these companies have the capacity to make that initial spend and look at the Return on Investment (ROI) as a positive, then that is when we get to move forward with the technology.”

“ADeB assisted in the replacement of 150-ton standard chillers that were failing and replaced them with six 25-ton VRF chillers,” says Mr. Nicholson. “ADeB had to prepare the entire installation to be completed in one weekend so that the building

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was open for business the following Monday. The benefits of that technology were not immediately obvious to the client. However, a year later, they saw a 30% reduction in their energy consumption, which in an 11-story building is quite significant. The client resisted initially, since the price was double that of a conventional replacement chiller, but in the end they saw the value: 20 years of 30% reduction in energy consumption.”

COLLABORATIVE TECHNOLOGY

“We have taken a bold approach in innovation and the application of new technologies, and are making a move to the Building Information Modeling (BIM) software Revit, by Autodesk,” says Mr. Nicholson. “Again, this collaborative technology is common in other parts of the world. However, it is quite fledgling for companies in the Caribbean. There are a few firms that are using Revit and the full power of BIM technology to improve the efficiency of designs, reduce construction waste, and make information available to engineers and clients post-project. ADeB fully understands the power of that, and are making an effort to move in that direction.”

“The Revit platform will help us conduct design work, advise our clients, and interact with fellow consultants more efficiently and effectively,” says Mr. Nicholson. “It is going to be critical for the Caribbean moving forward to embrace the technologies that are coming to the fore. Youth are more and more focused on computers and the virtual environment as they grow up. That will be the future of our building management systems and facilities management. How we design and construct, and what we implement during construction is going to have a huge bearing on how buildings are run and managed in the future.” c “HOW WE DESIGN, CONSTRUCT, AND WHAT WE IMPLEMENT DURING CONSTRUCTION IS GOING TO HAVE A HUGE BEARING ON HOW BUILDINGS ARE RUN AND MANAGED IN THE FUTURE.”