Warning that global challenges – from diminishing water resources to changing climatic conditions – have gained urgency since the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) was established at the 1972 Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment, bGreen, in a news item dated March 14, 2013, titled Upgrading the UNEP, has revealed that this year, the UN has decided to give UNEP a bigger role to play in the global environmental arena.

Having chosen UNEP to be the new “voice of the environment”, the UN has apparently put the onus on it to assist in developing the environmental policy consensus and athorised it to conduct continuous and ongoing review of the global environment. UNEP, said the UN, is also responsible for notifying governments and the international community about any new environment-related issues.

The General Assembly is said to have earmarked funds for the project from the UN’s regular budget to facilitate UNEP to carry out its new responsibilities. An appeal has also reportedly gone out to other UNEP donors to increase their voluntary funding.

According to the news item, prior to the action initiated by the General Assembly, UNEP’s Governing Council consisted of 58 members, but effective February 2013, the Assembly has decided to permit all 193 UN member states full participation at the UNEP Governing Council. The first meeting of the enlarged Council was reportedly held at the UNEP headquarters in Nairobi from February 18 to 22.

The news item reported that the Global Ministerial Environment Forum created by the then UNEP decided to bring the world’s environment ministers under one roof for high-level meetings with the Governing Council.

It has been revealed that the newly included member states have begun handling their new responsibilities in right earnest and have already implemented a few of the provisions to this resolution. One in particular, said the news item, included the necessary arrangements for the future of the Global Ministerial Environment Forum. The first practical initiative taken by the UN General Assembly, implementing the commitment made by world leaders at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development at Rio+20 last June to improve the institutional framework for sustainable development, was part of the other provisions.

Speaking in the context of the new initiative being kick-started, UNEP’s Executive Director Achim Steiner, who also holds the title of UN Under-Secretary-General, was quoted as saying: “Universal membership of UNEP’s Governing Council establishes a new, fully-representative platform to strengthen the environmental dimension of sustainable development, and provides all governments with an equal voice on the decisions and action needed to support the global environment, and ensure a fairer share of the world’s resources for all.”

The new initiative with its attendant major decisions by the General Assembly, appears to be a step forward in the direction of enhancing global cooperation, promoting the integration of the social, economic and environmental building blocks of sustainable development, and in the process, has given a boost to coordination within the global body.

“The resolution reaffirms UNEP’s role as the UN’s authority on the environment, and provides the mandate to enhance our ongoing work on bringing the latest science to policy-makers, directly supporting national and regional environmental efforts, improving access to technology, and other key areas. For UNEP and the environmental community, this is a truly historic day,” Steiner reportedly added.

The Middle East has often been criticised for its excessive consumption of resources as was confirmed by a 2012 Living Planet Report1, which named Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates as the top three countries having the largest per capita ecological footprints in the world.

The situation is ripe for change, and developers across the region are now giving a serious thought to the impact of sustainability and green construction concepts on their profits and cost savings targets.

After a steady growth through 2012, the Middle East construction market looks set to once again regain the momentum of the pre-recession era. Countries across the Middle East, particularly the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE, have announced plans for major development undertakings. Experts predict USD 4.3 trillion worth of construction projects coming up across the MENA region over the next decade, representing a growth of 20% through 2020.

Now taking centre stage in discussions within the industry is the issue of sustainable construction. As far as new projects are concerned, there is still a lot of work that needs to be done to translate good sustainable designs into sustainable buildings. For a number of projects in the region, lack of quality control in construction or poor commissioning have resulted in great intentions on paper not being transformed into reality.

Whilst an increasing number of facility and building owners are looking to manage their energy and water consumption more effectively, this only accounts for a fraction of the existing building stock in the region.

Sustainability – the mantra

While sustainability has been a buzz word in the industry for a number of years, we are now definitely witnessing a genuine drive for new development projects in pursuing increasingly higher levels of sustainability. This is driven partly by regulation, and also by the fact that developers realising that sustainability offers a genuine opportunity to increase the value of their assets and also ensure that their assets are future-proofed. Commercial, as well as private buildings, will begin to incorporate green design elements in their construction in order to limit the amount of damage they do to the environment as well as to be as energy-efficient as possible.

Continued growth in public sector projects

Throughout the region, there is a commitment from governments to invest in social and commercial infrastructure. In order to increase the financial efficiency of these projects, both during construction and operation, government agencies are increasingly turning to sustainability and energy efficiency as a means of reducing the lifecycle costs of these buildings.

The results of these efforts have led to reductions in government spending on utility bills and infrastructure, which ultimately translate to freeing up revenue for more “constructive” purposes. As massive infrastructure projects are due to get underway during 2013, developers will be keen to look at innovative means to reduce the energy impact of these construction projects, both during construction and operational phases.

Commissioning – the new buzzword

In the Middle East, traditionally, commissioning of buildings has not been carried out effectively, which has resulted in many buildings performing poorly during operation and, therefore, requiring frequent maintenance.

However, judging by the feedback right through 2012, we are likely to see a growing trend of a number of developers choosing to utilise commissioning agents on projects to ensure a more effective transition between design, construction and operation stages of projects. Commissioning agents will be increasingly called upon to identify potential savings in capital costs for clients by better optimising designs and streamlining the testing and commissioning processes, such that building owners receive a better functioning building at the start of operation.

Time FOR energy retrofit projects

Due to recent hike in utility tariffs, the economic downturn and a greater focus on energy and sustainability issues, facility owners and operators are paying greater attention to their utility bills. Conducting detailed energy audits of facilities has shown that buildings can save approximately 20% of their energy bill through low- to no-cost measures alone, that all pay back within 12 to 18 months with an Internal Rate of Return (IRR) upwards of 40%. As far as important decisions go, during 2013, building owners are likely to realise the need for investing in low-cost measures to reduce their energy consumption.

While these trends only scratch the surface of green building initiatives, they are indicative of the positive direction in which the industry is heading. The year 2013 looks poised to be a year for massive growth of the green building market, and the onus is now upon facility owners, managers, architects and design teams to “think green”, lest they should find themselves in the red.

The writer is Founding Managing Director AESG. He may be contacted at s.alabbar@aesg-me.com

REFERENCES
1 http://awsassets.panda.org/ downloads/lpr_2012_summary_ booklet_final_120505__2_.pdf

Technological advances in LED lighting are happening at incredible speed. The technology is now permeating every area of our lives, from traffic lights and car headlights to laptop computers, but arguably with the most impact in commercial lighting.

Lighting represents an average of 21% of a building’s total energy consumption (Department of Energy and Climate Change, UK, July 2011) and accounts for 19% of global energy production. It is estimated to be responsible for around six per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Traditional lighting systems emit around five per cent of light for 95% of heat energy, which, for a product aiming to produce light, does not fulfil even the most relaxed of performance criteria. However, the very low price of such systems, and the incremental efficiency improvements that technology advancement has brought, have until now kept traditional solutions as a clear favourite over greener options.

However, the industry is now changing. The emergence of LED as an efficient light source has made it possible for governments to set targets and even ban types of inefficient light bulbs. Proponents of LED lighting argue that a worldwide switch to LED could reduce the energy consumption of lighting by 40%. This equates to approximately EUR 130 billion per year saved in running costs or 670 million tonnes of CO2 emissions avoided – the equivalent output of 640 medium-sized power plants.

Honeywell, which has a heritage in LED dating back 40 years, has recently called for a global switch to LED lighting. It’s a move supported by global independent body, the Lighting Industry Association. According to Peter Hunt, Joint Chief Executive of the association, the pace of change in LED technology has brought not just high efficiency, but also the opportunity to improve the quality of the lit environment, as manufacturers invest in continuous improvement. For facilities managers looking to reduce costs and meet energy targets, the switch to LED lighting is a logical, effective solution.

Europe, as the most aggressive global region when it comes to energy efficiency, is likely to drive the global uptake of LED across the next 10 years and set the example with regards to implementation. However, to date, most organisations – across Europe and the rest of the world – have been slow to investigate the cost- and energy-saving benefits of the technology, often discouraged by widely-discussed myths. Much of the confusion in the market has been caused by many brands selling LED without a strong heritage in the technology, leading to disappointing experiences creating future barriers to entry.

The first of these myths is that LED systems cost too much. All too often in commercial lighting situations, for example building corridors, warehouses and car parks, lighting decisions are based on initial cost rather than longer-term benefits. Initial fixture costs may be higher for some LED lighting solutions than for comparable incandescent and fluorescent lighting solutions. But initial fixture cost does not account for the total cost of owning, operating, and maintaining a lighting system. A LED tube from a reputed company lasts five years longer than the average fluorescent tube, and because of their long life, LED lighting fixtures avoid the maintenance and material costs incurred when changing the exhausted tubes.

Also, with LEDs consuming far less energy, annual power costs can be significantly reduced. The average fluorescent tube generates 58 watts compared to a good quality LED at 23 watts, saving 60% and having a dramatic impact on a building’s energy consumption. In fact, payback on LED lighting solutions can often be realised in less than three years.

The second myth is that LEDs are not bright enough. This was traditionally true, but is simply no longer the case. Traditionally, comparisons between the lumen output of conventional lamps against LED lighting fixtures have been inaccurate and misleading, as they fail to account for the significant amount of wasted light in conventional lighting solutions. When comparing lighting fixtures on the basis of delivered light, LED fixtures often perform as well, and in some cases significantly better than conventional fixtures, while consuming far less energy. Plus, with LEDs being inherently directional, they emit almost all of their light output in the desired direction, rather than dispersing it in all directions.

In fact, LED is a revolutionary lighting technology. It offers greater colour variability, “instant on” capability, dimming capacity, and freedom in design. It also has a much wider optimum temperature span. It can withstand extremely cold conditions – such as those in freezer cases or on the streets of Alaska – as well as operate effectively up to +40°C. In fact, a Honeywell LED operates effectively from +40°C to -20°C. By comparison, a fluorescent tube is limited to a range of+35 °C to +15°C and often struggles at the typically lower ambient conditions found in many applications. A T5 fluorescent, for example, has an optimum temperature of 35°C, making it very limited in its use.

Despite this, technology transitions can create significant uncertainty, and the myths around LED lamps have kept them in the slow lane to adoption, with businesses largely missing out on their great potential.

So, what is the future for LED in a traditionally slow-moving lighting industry? Legislation is critical to the growth of the lighting market across the next 10 years. The high level of natural wealth and population growth drives newly emerging markets in APAC and the rest of the world, but the hard push of legislation in Europe followed by NAFTA is closing the gap. According to McKinsey & Company, LED lighting has the potential to be the dominant technology in domestic and commercial lighting by 2015. The word “potential” is the key here. In order for these potential benefits to be realised, organisations need to be more cognisant of how the benefits outweigh the myths.

The writer is Business Director of Honeywell Electrical Devices and Systems (ED&S). He can be contacted at james.chorlton@honeywell.com

Modular chilled water plants have several applications. The first application of water-cooled modular plants were inlet turbine cooling, which were used to increase the capacity of a power plant. The modular solution proved to be ideal for existing power plants, where offsite construction and short installation period provided a great advantage for small plants of 10,000 tonnes or less, required for the power plants.

The second great application came in the form of temporary plants of 1,000- to 10,000-tonne capacity, which provided the ideal solution either for entities dealing in plants on a rental basis or those purchased to supply short- to medium-term cooling until the permanent plant room was built. However, modular plants which were designed for 0.9 to 0.95 KW/tonne were often operating at 1.1 to 1.3 KW/tonnes, as integrated industrial controls and operation were not invested in. This was due to the temporary nature of the installation, as reported by key district cooling operators, who typically operate several temporary solutions.

The third application of a modular plant was for a large capcacity district cooling plant. Two such plants have been built in Dubai – the first in the Jumeirah Beach Residence (JBR) plantroom, with 60,000-tonne capacity, and the second at the Dubai Festival City, with 50,000-tonne capacity.

Jumeirah Beach Residence – district cooling plant with 60,000 tonnes

Two aditional plants of 36,000 tonnes each, where phase 1 comprised 18,000 tonnes, were built for Barwa City in Qatar, and a small plant of 5,000 tonnes was built for a capital project in Abu Dhabi.

All the above plants comprised containarised chiller, condenser pumps and primary chilled water pumps, while the cooling tower was built on a separate concrete basin or used FRP basins. The elctric switch gear and water tanks were built in traditional concrete structures and the distribution of chilled water pumping in some cases was containarised, and in other cases, it was built in concrete structures. They, therefore, represented a hybrid approach of traditional concrete structures, a chilled water plantroom and a modular containarised solution.

Despite its advantages, the main drawback of a modular plant is the large footprint it creates. For example, the JBR plant is almost 170 m x 60 m = 10,000 m2 in footprint or 5.9 tonnes per m2 of land. The Dubai Festival City plant is 135 m x 60 m = 8,100 m2 in footprint or 6.2 tonnes per m2 of land, while Barwa City DCP occupies an area of 5,440 m2 for each plant of 36,000-tonne capacity, which translates into a density of 6.6 tonne/m2.

Dubai Festival City has a district cooling plant of 50,000 tonnes

The traditional multi-storey plants are typically constructed on 15 to 20 tonnes per m2 of land, saving prime and expensive city centre real estate land that can be utilised for other purposes.

Here, it needs to be pointed out that one of the best examples of judicious use of land is Qatar Cool West Bay 2 plantroom, where a 37,500 m2 of chiller plant was constructed based on a world record of 22 tonnes per m2 of land, only for the chiller plant, and almost 17 tonnes per m2 of land for the entire plant, with a thermal storage tank.

Now, let us compare the plus points of a traditional plantroom and a package chiller plant.

The main advantages of traditional plantroom over a package chiller plant are:

• Three times better land utilisation
• Better aesthetic appearance in critical city centres
• Easier operation and maintenance as all chillers are accessible on a single plantroom, rather than opening several doors and side openings to clean the condenser or change major component in modular plant
• Much better operating efficiency, as industrial control is integrated in one system, as compared to fragmented communicating controls between several containarised units
• Lower construction cost – the West Bay 2 has cost Qatar Cool around QR 140,000,000 or QR 3,750 tonnage, as compared to QR 5,500 or QR 6,000/tonne for a modular plant built at the same period

The main advantages of a modular plant over a traditional plant are:

• Modularity offers more flexibility in terms of buildup; on the other hand, in a traditional plant, one has to build the entire concrete plant and stageup the chiller component
• Can carry out offsite construction with standarised quality-controlled component that are not dependent on contractor work
• Faster onsite construction period once the module arrives on site – however, a caveat: the module requires a six to 10-month ordering period, depending upon chiller manufacturer’s delivery period, as well as other main components

It is interesting to note that more than 90% of 3,500,000,000 tonnes were built in the GCC region as tradional concrete plants, while less than 10% opted for modular plants, due to the above-stated reasons.

In the final analysis, it is my opinion that a large capacity plant, for example, one above 10,000 tonnes in capcity and up to 60,000 tonnes, should be built in a traditional manner. But where a 100,000-tonne plant is required, the builtup capacity can be staged to minimise initial investment, as it will take a few years before the full capacity is needed. It would be better to build two plants of 50,000 tonnes, preferably at two separate strategic locations, in order to optimise the distribution piping. And if only one plot is available, it is better to build them side by side, where one can be built immediately, and the second one at a later stage. The first 50,000-tonne plant building and thermal storage can be built in one go, while chillers can be staged as and when necessary.

On the other hand, small capacity plantrooms of less than 10,000 tonnes or a temporary or a semi-temporary cooling arrangement could consider the modular plant option, as it offers an advantage, when it comes to construction cost and time.

The writer is the CEO of DC Pro Engineering, Dubai. He can be contacted at gberbari@ dcproeng.com

In simple terms, net-zero energy implies that a solution involves producing as much energy as it consumes. Net-zero site energy use can be ascertained by exporting an equal amount of received energy measured over the course of one year. The equation for net-zero source energy use is that one energy unit produced on-site could offset three imported units produced off-site. Net-zero energy emissions offset the amount of produced carbon emissions through the energy source powering a building.

Natural resources – the state of affairs in the GCC

Before a case can be made for any energy source, it is important to gauge the ground reality. Looking at the present scenario, it is evident that the GCC countries will have the dubious distinction of emerging as world leaders in electricity consumption, as per capita consumption is expected to increase at annual rates of 2.5%. By the same token, power requirement in Qatar is expected to rise to 10 GW by 2020, compared to 7.6 GW today. Water demand in Qatar is also envisaged to double from 1.1 million m3/day in 2011 to 2.1 million m3/day by 2020. A large part of this increase can be attributed to the needs of a growing population and a significant 47% of energy consumption being diverted for residential use. It is interesting to note that the GCC countries put to use only 10.5% of their electricity in the industrial sector, as opposed to 37.7% globally.

The graphs on Figure 1 and 2 depict the water consumption in the GCC states in 2010 and water production in Qatar, respectively. From the two graphs, one can say that Qatar is, at present, the highest consumer of water among the GCC states and that there is a steady and steep increase in total water production in Qatar in the last five years. The average annual increase from 2006 to 2010 is an alarming 13.2%.

The map on Figure 3 indicates the limitation of seawater desalination, which is an eloquent comment on the heavy dependence on seawater in the region to meet its ever-increasing water demands and the pressure the region in general, and Qatar in particular, puts on its desalination plants.

Challenges and solutions

Given the data, it is not difficult to realise that there are several challenges to be overcome in the path to achieving net-zero. The challenges become even more daunting in the light of the fact that Qatar is getting ready to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

The country’s resources and infrastructure will be tested to their limits during the preparation stage, to the run up to the event, and during the mega event itself in the coming decade. Viewed from this prism, a few of the parameters and challenges to be kept in mind are:

1. Climatic conditions
2. Water scarcity
3. An open-air experience
4. Evening matches in summer
5. Safety of athletes
6. Comfort of spectators
7. State of technology
8. Integration and flexibility
9. Infrastructure

One way of combating the challenges is to press into service solar-assisted refrigeration solution. The specific areas which need special attention are:

• Source of the solution
• Systems of the solution
• Current system solution
• Alternatives at a larger scale
• Alternatives at a smaller scale
• Alternatives at the air side

Absorption chillers

Absorption chillers offer a solution. The following are the advantages of absorption chillers:

• Reliable, durable and mature technology
• Significant reduction of electrical consumption
• Reduced operating costs
• Reduced CO2 emissions
• Non-flammable and non-toxic
• Ecologically benign
• Ozone-friendly working medium LiBr
• Vacuum and LiBr solutions charged in factory (“plug & play”)
• Water as refrigerant
• Available for outdoor installations

However, absorption chiller technology is not without its drawbacks. In a nutshell, they are:

• High sensitivity towards high condenser water temperature
• High make-up water rates (evaporation, blow-down and drift loss)
• Relatively high chilled water temperature (7°C to 8°C)
• Temperature level of the heat medium, provokes aggressive corrosion
• Large area for solar collectors
• Assisting rather than driving
• When we compare steam-driven centrifugal chillers against absorption chillers, we notice the following:
• Applicable to large tonnage from 100 to 5,000 TR with free source of steam
• Machine COP = 1.8
• Steam-driven centrifugal chiller at capacities more than 1,000 TR is more cost effective than two-stage absorption chiller

The sun as a solution – pros and cons

Now, going back to the use of solar energy in the light of the 2022 World Cup, it can be seen that the use of solar energy and infrastructure have been favourable in major competitive and non-competitive venues. A few of them which can be cited as examples are: the 2022-bid Showcase Stadium, Doha; Masdar City, Abu Dhabi, UAE; ESAB Head Office, UAE; and UEFA HQ, Nyon, Switzerland.

Masdar City Solar Cooling Plant Solution Pilot has the following features:

• A Sopogy micro-parabolic trough collector with uniaxial tracking and a total mirror aperture area of 334 m2
• Synthetic oil as thermal media
• Heat is transferred to the system’s pressurised water circuit through a heat exchanger
• A Mirroxx linear fresnel collector with uniaxial tracking and a total mirror aperture area of 132 m2 heats the pressurised water directly
• The two solar thermal collector systems have been in successful test operation already for more than three months
• Schneider Electric provided the control system components for the pilot plant
• Fraunhofer Institute of Solar Energy to analyse the monitored data and assess system performance
• Collector’s thermal energy has been driving the broad 50 refrigeration-tonne double-effect absorption chiller cooling 1,700 m2 of office building
• Air delivery system uses chilled beams coupled with fresh air energy recovery units
• Water consumption data not available

The 2022-bid Showcase Stadium, Doha, has the following features:

• A 500-seats model stadium with retractable roof
• A Mirroxx linear fresnel collector with uniaxial tracking and a total mirror aperture area of 1,040 m2 heats the pressurised water directly
• Thermal storage PV arrays for electricity generation with a monitoring system and not connected to the local electrical grid
• Double-Effect 150 TR Thermax absorption chiller with dual fuel source and underground chilled water storage tank
• Displacement ventilation for air delivery system for the pitch coupled with UFAD for spectator stands
• Water consumption data not available

ESAB Head Office, Jafza, UAE, has the following features:

• 6,500 m2 built to achieve LEED Platinum
• USD 1 million solar thermal cooling system, one of the large-scale applications in the region
• Solar system use 1,500 solar vacuum tubes
• 70% energy reduction compared to a “As-Usual Building” by using solar thermal and efficient lighting systems
• Six packaged absorption units (climate well) to serve roof-mounted AHUs handling latent loads
• Radiant cooling system using thermo-deck approach (hollow-core ceiling slab) handling sensible loads

UEFA HQ, Nyon, Switzerland has the following features:

• Design intent: must be a sustainable and energy-efficient building operating in 2010
• Building’s cooling load: 100 TR
• Renewable energy source: geothermal, thermal solar and PV (200 m2)
• Thermal array: 90 vacuum tubes over 110 m2 area generating 55 KW used for heating and domestic water in winter and cooling in summer to cover 10% only of the loads
• Water temperature: hot at 88°C for generator and chilled water at 7°C.
• Storage tank: 3,000 litres
• Refrigeration machine: absorption chiller with cooling capacity of 10 TR

Delivering on promises

Despite the examples cited, it needs to be noted that delivering on promises of net-zero comes with its own set of attendant conditions, like context integration, systems selection justification, cost effectiveness, infrastructure integration and controls integration. Let us examine a few of them.

Context integration

Integration with other aspects:

• Event, accommodation, medical, mobility and education
• The location of district cooling plants
• Chilled water reticulation optimisation
• Location of solar fields
• Relationship with other utilities
• Use of recycled water for heat rejection
• Used cooling tower blow-down water for irrigation

[table here] – Systems selection justification

Systems integration

• At present, most solar cooling systems are assemblies of single components and don’t provide a fully integrated system.
• These components, in many cases, have their own control units.
• The performance of the solar cooling solution depends a lot on the availability of a single-source centralised control.
• The industry will follow the market momentum in embracing a fully integrated solution for solar cooling system.

Cost effectiveness

• Thermal absorption solar refrigeration system costs almost three to four times the cost of a conventional vapour compression system.
• Double effect direct-fired/steam absorption chiller costs between 1.8 to two times the cost of a vapour compression chiller.
• The cost of reduced scale cooling system using adsorption machine costs almost four times compared to a non-solar assisted system.
• The cost of a direct-fired and steam absorption chiller is 35% higher than the direct-fired chiller.
• The cost of a direct-fired and hot water absorption chiller is 35% higher than the direct-fired chiller.
• A square metre of a thermal solar flat collector costs between QR 1,700 to QR 3,400.
• A square metre of solar evacuated tube costs between QR 3,400 to QR 3,970.

Conclusion

The main aim of conducting this study was to demonstrate the feasibility of a carbon-neutral (solar) solution for a cooling plant at a different scale vis-à-vis the 2022 World Cup. To begin with, the entire operation needs a vast area for the solar field (15 to 20 times the football pitch size). It also requires a single-source control system for all the systems’ components. It also needs to be pointed out that cooling system efficiency is sensitive to high condenser water temperature. The adverse impact of dust and humidity on system’s efficiency also needs to be taken into account. Other aspects that have to be factored in are high rates of water depletion and pollution (evaporation and bleed-off) and higher costs. The cooling plant reticulation needs be integrated into the city’s infrastructure for its effective and efficient functioning.

Finally, an “opportunity document” needs to be developed for each venue to grasp more accurately the pros and cons before the project is implemented.

The article is based on a presentation made by Salah Nezar at an ASHRAE Oryx Chapter seminar on September 24, 2012. The presenter’s disclaimer: This is an unscientific presentation with scientific overtones.

The author is a LEED AP, GSAS GCP, Sustainability Director, QPM. He can be contacted at s.nezar@qpm.com.qa

ABSTRACT

The concept of free cooling in HVAC is an old one. However, its relevance has now come into the limelight due to skyrocketing energy price and the advent of green buildings.

There is no single definition of free cooling, and therefore, it is understood and applied differently in different cases. This paper aims to unveil the concept of free cooling by applying it to a Dedicated Outdoor Air System (DOAS)and understanding its dependency on the ambient air conditions with relevance to different geographical climates.

BACKGROUND

Free cooling is perceived differently by different people. To many, it is the natural cooling energy available in the environment. However, it has to be noted that it requires a datum to ascertain what the free cooling energy is, before one can begin to analyse the concept of free cooling.

The main sources of natural cooling are:

• Deep seawater
• High altitude coldness
• Nighttime coldness
• Subterranean geothermal energy

The definition of free cooling is very subjective, even from an HVAC perspective. Nighttime coldness and the differential between design conditions and ambient conditions form the basis of free cooling.

FREE COOLING FROM AN HVAC PERSPECTIVE

Free cooling takes place when the external ambient air enthalpy is less than the indoor air enthalpy and the cool external air is transferred to the building envelope.

Free cooling is used in conjunction with air systems. Air conditioning systems either provide or supply air using one of the following:

• A mixture of outside air and re-circulated air
• 100% outside air system or in other terms, dedicated outdoor air system

Free cooling may be used with mixed outside air and re-circulation systems by the use of modulating dampers. Dampers are provided on the outside air intake duct work and the recirculation duct work. In the event of cool outside air, the quantity of outside air is increased and the quantity of recirculated air is reduced to provide the required supply air temperature. In this way, cooling by means of refrigeration equipment is avoided altogether at certain times of the year and often at night.

DOAS is an independent unit for bringing in all the fresh air directly into an occupied space. It is based on the divide and conquer approach, wherein all the external latent and sensible load is taken care of by the DOAS unit.

In addition, special DOAS units also condition fresh air to a dew point where it is lower than the room design dew point, enabling the dehumidified fresh air to also take care of internal latent load.

UNDERSTANDING APPLIED FREE COOLING CONCEPT

Figure 1 (see bottom gallery) simplifies the concept of free cooling and how it is applied:

Assumptions:

• The room air and return air are maintained at 75°F/50% RH.
• The red line depicts RA enthalpy line.
• The triangle shown in blue depicts free cooling on account of enthalpy, which can be calculated using the enthalpy difference of outside air and return air.

The area with supply air temperature less than the room return air temperature will give sensible free cooling calculated by difference in DBT between outside air and return air. The area when the air condition is less than the dew point temperature of a room is the area with free latent load. This area has constant load not based on the enthalpy difference. There is no free sensible cooling in this area.

DIVIDE AND CONQUER

R Mark Nunnely and several other authors have explained in various papers the advantages of the “Divide and Conquer (DAQ)” approach, which separates the fresh air unit from the parallel terminal unit.

To explain further (Figure 2 – see bottom gallery), in a DAQ approach, the fresh air unit takes care of the entire fresh air load and deliver the ventilation/supply air at design temperature neutral with a dew point sufficiently lower than the design dew point, to take care of the internal latent load.

Thus, the parallel unit, be it FCU or chilled beams or AHUs, has to cater only to the building envelop and the internal sensible load, as both can be handled and managed independently. This design provides a simple and economical approach to the building air conditioning design.

THE DOAS APPROACH

As explained above, in the DAQ approach, the importance shifts to the configuration and type of fresh air unit, often referred to as DOAS. Depending on different geographical reasons and several other considerations, various DOAS have been configured, designed and developed. The authors have been continuously studying and developing different configurations for a DOAS by using one or more of the following:

• Enthalpy wheel
• Cooling coil
• Active dehumidification wheel
• Passive dehumidification wheel
• Sensible wheel
• Evaporative cooling pads

The authors in this and another other paper, ‘Applied DOAS – a tropical climate retrospect’, demonstrate that an intelligent combination of a total enthalpy wheel, cooling coil and passive desiccant dehumidification wheel (Figure 3 - see bottom gallery) offer the best solution in terms of substantial energy saving, offsetting internal latent load and effective RH management by supplying air at a dew point lower than room design to take care of internal latent load, in addition to removing fresh air latent and fresh air sensible load.

GLOBAL WEATHER PROFILE

Geographical weather profiling is an understanding and study of various measurable parameters which govern the natural climatic conditioning of the various geographical regions.

Profiling plays a major role in assisting and applying HVAC concepts and designs with a weather profile backdrop.

From this viewpoint, the globe can be divided into three main regions:

• America
• Europe
• Asia

From Figure 4 (see bottom gallery), it is apparent that the HVAC designs are built around considering the America region as cooling-centric; the Europe region as heating-centric; and the Asia region as moisture-centric for a good and viable HVAC design.

The weather profile of a city is the key driving parameter in assessing free cooling value that the climate offers to any HVAC design.

FREE COOLING AND ITS IMPLICATIONS IN A DOAS DESIGN APPLIED TO GLOBAL WEATHER PROFILE

The authors now intend to apply the free cooling concept for the most energy efficient DOAS design (enthalpy wheel, cooling coil and passive desiccant dehumidification wheel). The idea is to get a holistic picture taking into account a global perspective. To further demonstrate the importance of hourly data, the study is further categorised into a 24 x 7 (Table 1 - see bottom gallery) scenario and a normal working hours – 9am to 5pm (Table 2 - see bottom gallery) scenario.

OBSERVATIONS

As it is evident from the above data (Table 3 - see bottom gallery), the free cooling hourly basis from one city to another, the DOAS should be intelligently designed to decide its control logic on the basis of the free cooling available.

This can be done by controlling various parameters, like supply air fan speed and bypass, different component speed and cooling coil temperature. It needs to be pointed out that an intelligent DOAS will offer a logical solution to ably utilise the advantage of free cooling.

CONCLUSION

Through this paper, the authors attempt to elaborate the concept of free cooling from an HVAC perspective and are inclined to conclude that the most important criterion that governs free cooling is the ambient air condition. The HVAC equipment system design will govern the way free cooling is applied in the most effective manner.

Image Gallery

Click on any image thumbnail below for a larger view: -

References

1. A Practical Guide to Free Cooling, Alternative Cooling, Night Cooling and Low Energy Systems for Air Conditioning Systems: Mike Hardy
2. Dehumidification and Cooling Loads from Ventilation Air: Lewis Harriman, Plager D, Kosar D
3. 30% Surplus OA. Does it Use More Energy?: Stanely A Mumma
4. Designing Dedicated Outdoor Air Systems: Stanley A Mumma
5. Designing for Absolute Moisture Control: R Mark Nunnelly and J Patrick
6. ABCs of DOAS: Wayne Morris
7. Overview of Integrating Dedicated Outdoor Air System with Parallel Terminal Systems: Stanley A Mumma
8. Applied DOAS: A Tropical Climate Retrospect: Deepak Pahwa and Milind Mate

About the Authors:

• Deepak Pahwa is the Managing Director of Bry-Air (Asia) Pvt Ltd, and Fellow ASHRAE. He serves on TC-3.5, TC-5.5 and TC-5.7.
• Rahul Aeron is the National Sales Manager of Desiccant Rotors International Pvt Ltd

Whilst the term “Green Building” is relatively new to the region and is currently much in circulation, the concept itself has been around for generations here. In the early decades of the 20th century, buildings were extremely sustainable due to the lack of availability of centralised electricity and water supply and the use of only local building materials. Buildings were, therefore, constructed with a strong focus on using passive design measures to provide ventilation and daylight, whilst keeping out unwanted heat.

Following the discovery of oil and the introduction of centralised power and water in the region, the design of buildings began incorporating air conditioning, electrical lighting and running water. However, during this era, building designs still maintained the passive design measures of local traditional architecture, such as window set-backs and shading. This was mostly due to the fact that at the time electricity was still considered a luxury and a precious commodity. Designers and builders, therefore, would instinctively develop buildings to suit the local climate with due consideration for resource scarcity. There are numerous examples of such architecture throughout the UAE, such as the World Trade Centre building in Dubai.

As the UAE entered the 21st century, globalisation brought with it many ideas and design concepts from the West, and fully glazed skyscrapers began dominating the city’s skyline. It can be argued that the use of fully glazed and, therefore, poorly insulated façades can be an inappropriate design concept for the climate in the region. However, the concept came to be frequently used to showcase modernity in new buildings. Costly, energy-intensive air conditioning technology was utilised to ensure that such buildings were able to maintain comfortable interior conditions despite the poor insulation.

Recognising the need to improve building sustainability, local building codes began evolving during this time to incorporate some of the fundamental features of Green Buildings, predominantly with a focus on insulation. For example, Dubai Municipality introduced insulation standards for new buildings in 2001. Towards the latter part of the decade, local governments also began introducing more rigorous codes, such as the Estidama Pearl Rating System in Abu Dhabi and the mandating of elements of the LEED Rating System for buildings within Dubai World’s jurisdiction. Furthermore, Dubai Municipality is also due to release its own Green Building regulations.

Whilst these are, indeed, welcome measures for the industry, and local governments should be praised for the bold steps being taken to address the sustainability of buildings, there are a few fundamental issues that need to be addressed in the industry. Despite all these measures being taken, we are still, unfortunately, in a situation where buildings being constructed today consume more energy per square metre of floor area than buildings constructed in the 1970s. As an industry, we are falling over ourselves to find the latest breakthroughs in technology to help save energy, and there have been some incredible advances made in technology. Why, then, are we using more energy now than 40 years ago? Surely, engineering should be about progress, shouldn’t it?

Unfortunately, we as an industry are still not asking ourselves the fundamental question of how much energy a building consumes in real life, compared to other buildings. It is true that some wonderful work is being done at the design phase with building information modelling in order to simulate the performance of buildings before they are built. This is, undoubtedly, a move in the right direction and is a great tool for designers to improve building designs. But shouldn’t we also, then, pay more attention to what the building consumes in reality after it is built?

Furthermore, a lot of the analysis done at the design stage consists of comparing the building being designed to a theoretical baseline of “the same building built to code requirements”. Therefore, if the fundamental design is terrible, the analysis that is required by the rating system will not reveal this. So, the question that needs to be asked is: What do we need to do as an industry? Here are a few suggestions, which, in my opinion might help address the issue:

Adopt a realistic approach

We need to start talking about a building’s energy use intensity and energy consumption per square metre, rather than comparing buildings to theoretical baselines.

Set stringent quality control guidelines

Quality control in the integrity of building envelopes needs major improvement. Some insightful analysis goes into building designs to select the right glass and insulation. But quite often, all this good work is lost during construction, as insulation and façades are installed poorly, with high levels of thermal bridging and air leakage. It is not only the contractors who are at fault here. A lot of building envelope designs done by architects in the region are also very poor, with enormous amounts of thermal bridging. There is really little use in specifying the top of the range insulation if heat is allowed to pass through all the exposed elements of the building. Major savings in energy can be made by addressing this rather simple issue, which would not cost that much to fix.

Focus on the operational aspect

We need to move the discussion of Green Buildings into the realm of building operation. There is a lot of talk about green design and green construction. But all the noble objectives appear to cease to matter once the building is completed and has received its rating. Buildings do not consume energy while they are being built. They only consume energy when they are occupied. This, therefore, should be the most important phase of a Green Building’s life. In the light of this, we need to pay more attention to the energy efficiency of building operation and begin reporting the energy use intensity of existing buildings.

Ensure proper utilisation of new technology

Before we try to outdo ourselves with the highest technology of systems in buildings, we need to make sure that those systems will be commissioned properly. Far too often, when we look at existing buildings, we see the most expensive and the highest spec building management system turned off because it is not working properly or the operators do not know how to use it. Bridging the interface between construction and operation through proper commissioning is essential, particularly now, as buildings are becoming more and more high-tech.

Despite these issues, there is a lot of great change that has taken place in the industry over the past few years, and governments and private sector are both making great strides in the realm of sustainable buildings. However, we must not rest on our laurels and must wake up every day and ask ourselves the fundamental question of how we can really make our buildings better.

The writer is Director at AESG. He can be contacted at s.alabbar@aesg-me.com

As we continue to face a challenging economy, the performance of buildings as a financial asset is rising up the priority list in the business agenda. Property fund managers are leading the way in maximising the returns on their investment in buildings by making them more energy efficient and sustainable. And there are lessons to be learnt from their practices.

The 40% Symposium, held in the UK by BRE at the end of 2011, introduced speakers from leading financial investors such as PRUPIM and Aberdeen Asset Management. These fund managers oversee hundreds of buildings around the world. For example, the PRUPIM portfolio consists of 740 buildings worth £18.5 billion. These experts made it clear that understanding the performance of the buildings they manage is vital.

Reflecting this, Nina Jackson, Director of Sustainability and Environment at PRUPIM said at the conference: “Why measure environmental performance? Because you can’t manage what you don’t measure.”

Endorsing this view, I believe that even with any level of property investment, information on individual buildings is a matter of great interest. Collecting data has several functions at this level. It allows fund managers to prioritise assets for improvement plans and enables the managers to identify good operational practice that can be implemented in other properties. Hard data has real value for them.

This is a message that all building owners, FMs and energy managers within the UAE should take to heart. Here, it needs to be pointed out that fund managers are well aware of the pressures of local energy prices and international legislation. This affects all building management professionals, no matter how small or large their portfolio. Collecting data, and understanding how to turn it into useful information will become increasingly important. In this regard, sub-metering is the key. But knowing how to get the most from a building energy management system is also vital.

I think building owners and end-users should make 2012 the year in which they focus on collecting useable data from their building about its energy use and other performance factors. It doesn’t have to be complicated, but it is a very worthwhile project that will bear dividends in the long term. If pension fund managers are interested in sub-metering, it’s time to pay close attention!

The writer is Business Development Manager, Optima International. He can be contacted at: michael@optimain.ae

A pump is a simple and robust piece of machinery which performs a vital function. It is the heart of the HVACR sector. Come to think of it, our heart itself is a pump. We are alive as long as this central pump keeps ticking. The analogy doesn’t end there. Both pumps are sturdy, but demand maintenance and need to be treated with respect. Sarfraz H Dairkee, General Manager, Corp Dev & Engg, MAHY Khoory & Co, Dubai, UAE, endorses this view. “Pumps can operate in a wide range of head, flow conditions, handling a variety of fluids,” he says. “However, just like car engines, they operate efficiently only in a narrow band. Application and system engineering considers the entire pumping system with variances and transients to propose an optimum solution. In simple words, it is the solution rather than the product approach.”

THE REGIONAL OUTLOOK

Given that pumps perform a range of important functions, the pump segment in the HVACR sector in the region regaining its balance after the recession hiccups is good news. “The basic pump sets would roughly constitute about one to 1.5%, and the entire pumping system that includes pipes, fittings and controls around two to four per cent of the total construction costs,” Dairkee estimates.

Nadir Ilmas, Division Manager, Faisal Jassim Trading Co, LLC, Dubai, UAE, admits that pump is a diversified product line, whereby it is difficult to size the entire market, but adds: “The market size of pump for the HVACR segment would be around $100 million. The construction industry size in the region is roughly one trillion US dollars. Out of this, Saudi Arabia holds 51%, UAE 25%, Qatar 13% and others 11%. The size of the market related to pumps in these countries (Saudi Arabia/ UAE/Qatar/Oman) is probably around $75 million.”

Rajat Mathur, Director – Sales & Business Development (Gulf Countries), Grundfos Gulf Distribution FZE, Dubai, pegs the present pumps market in the GCC region at $300 million and gives the breakup: Saudi Arabia – approximately $130 million; the UAE – approximately $75 million; and Qatar – approximately $35 million.

As with so many other things in the HVACR sector, Saudi Arabia and Qatar have become the focal points for the pumps segment for the main players, with huge government spending on housing and infrastructure in the Kingdom and massive construction activity in Qatar in preparation for the World Cup being the key market drivers.

“We see a big potential in Saudi, which currently has 50% of the total construction activities in the region,” says Ilmas, whose company has a presence in the Kingdom, Qatar and Oman. “The market size is around $550 billion in Saudi Arabia and in Qatar it is around $130 billion. We also see Oman as an emerging market with a potential of over $4 billion. Oman, in the last few years, has seen major growth with new state-of-the-art airports lined up in Muscat, Salalah and Sohar.”

Ilmas factors in Oman’s tourism potential and draws attention to hotels coming up in Qasab, Muscat and Salalah. “There is also a new seaport under construction in Duqm, Oman. Obviously, a new port would need infrastructural development, which includes hotels, housing and so on,” he adds.

Mathur, too, admits that Oman appears to hold “good prospects”, but hastens to add that the speed of execution of projects is the key to success and market growth. His company, Grundfos, like many other major entities, has added dedicated resources to serve its customers’ needs from design stage till execution stage of projects, in Saudi Arabia and Qatar. “As of now, there is definitely a boom in Saudi Arabia, but market capacity for realisation of project execution is a challenge,” he warns.

Dairkee, on his part, points out that pumps for air conditioning are generally specified for multi-storey buildings and dense development, while villas and smaller buildings rely on window and split air conditioners. He, therefore, believes that the market outlook would depend on mega development plans and allocation of funds in the two countries.

The subtext to the Saudi-Qatar success story, therefore, is cautious optimism.

LIFE AFTER RECESSION

The three experts agree that the region did, indeed, sustain damage during the recession, and is slowly getting back on its feet, holding hope for the pumps market.

“There has been an impact on all segments of pumps business, but especially building service segment and HVAC sectors (district cooling plants) have been affected,” explains Mathur. He thinks the market is now looking steady. He hopes that it will maintain a defined path.

Ilmas, too, thinks that the post-recession recovery has been steady and that the pumps and HVACR market are recovering, with 5,045 building construction projects in progress. “Globalisation continues despite regional conflicts throughout the world, but friction in global markets caused by security concerns means that global growth averages around three to 3.5% throughout the period,” he points out, introducing another variable to the discussion. “Oil shocks and a lack of trust undermined international cooperation and trade integration, causing a global recession in 2010-2012, followed by slower growth thereafter. The global economy benefits from increasing globalisation and trade in a harmonious global environment and reaches growth rates of over four per cent,” he adds.

Dairkee believes that the post-global financial downturn is likely to put pressures on the investment as well as operating costs. “This would call for better utilisation of resources with improvement in efficiency and effectiveness of resources in general, and energy and water in particular,” he says. “Efficiency, therefore, is likely to affect profitability more significantly, as compared to the past. This should open up requirements for energy audits and retrofitting of systems to curtail the cost. Considering the increasing awareness and appreciation of environmental footprint, the sector providing effective turnkey services is likely to grow.”

MARKET TRENDS AND INNOVATIONS

In Dairkee’s opinion, there appears to be a growing preference for automation in pumping systems generally for monitoring BAMS. Mathur enumerates high-efficiency, energy-saving, long-life, reliable pumps which cost less, need less maintenance and give value for money as items on everyone’s wish list. When it comes to trends, in terms of digital and electronic technologies, he believes the market is leaning towards variable frequency-driven pumps, digital dosing pumps, dedicated controls for HVAC and sewage pumps.

Ilmas invokes the sustainability mantra, which is on everyone’s lips. “With the world going greener, we can see more and more money being pumped into R&D and the pumps are getting more efficient, more installation-friendly,” he elaborates. Ilmas goes into the finer points: “We are seeing more and more use of investment casting technologies in pumps, whereby we have far less rejections in final pump castings. Pumps have become leaner, which means, with investment casting, we can create a pump with the same hydraulic with much lesser weight. Obviously, this leads to savings on metals, foundry cost and so on.”

The experts agree that the region is responsive to new technologies and innovations. Dairkee qualifies this: “The region is quite responsive in terms of specifying branded modern products. However, innovative applications and methodologies have yet to get the appreciation of their possibilities.”

Mathur, while seeing a growing acceptance towards innovation, sounds a caveat: “It (the market) is still on a learning curve about lifecycle cost of pumps and system, which means, when they get the latest technologies, the premium associated with initial buying should be combined with the benefit of the full running cost of the pump system for a better evaluation and acceptance of new technologies and innovations.”

With sustainability being top priority globally, the question is, how has the sector and the region’s market resonated with this? “Very well,” believes Mathur and cites as evidence, UAE Green Building Compliances, Estidama Compliances (Abu Dhabi), Environmental Safety Compliances (Masdar, Abu Dhabi), which have come up with new regulations.

Dairkee, too, believes that there is now a greater inclination and effort discernible on the part of governments and municipalities in the region towards implementing sustainable practices. However, to reap significant benefits, sustainability has to be adapted and closely integrated into the local environment, he specifies.

CHALLENGES

While the experts broadly agree that the pumps market in the region is quality conscious, responsive to innovation and generally free from the malaise of incorrect selection and installation problems, which other segments suffer from, and which can impact energy efficiency, they concede that there is room for improvement in these and other key areas.

According to Dairkee, the main challenge and, therefore, huge potential areas for improvement is system optimisation and appreciation of lifecycle performance evaluation. “Energy efficiency is yet to be measured, and therefore, to be managed,” he says. “In fact, it is often the case of obese designs that cause system failures and draw attention to the pumping system deficiency. Separate energy measurement for the pumping systems is seldom observed. It is, thus, not routinely checked and optimised. There’s always a tendency to assume a high safety factor, resulting in pumps and systems much larger than actually required being used.

This obesity/over-sizing is due to consultants putting more safety margins while selecting pumps, Ilmas points out. “So, we see a lot of pumps running at 50 to 60% of the rated RPM, whereby they work on lower part-load efficiency, leading to the efficiency of a pump dropping substantially,” he says.

Mathur believes that improper installation practices and operation and lack of periodic maintenance are areas that need tightening in the region. “We are helping as much as we can in all the major projects,” he says. Acknowledging the difficulty customers sometimes face in finding servicing facilities, especially for models and product lines that are no longer being manufactured/when the dealer has stopped operations, he says: “Our distribution partners across the Middle East keep sufficient stocks. As a policy, Grundfos maintains spare parts availability for almost 10 years after a particular model is discontinued.”

Dairkee concurs that prompt and satisfactory service and repairs catering to pumps irrespective of brands are much sought after. He believes that most customers/clients appreciate this only after facing a crisis at firsthand.

Ilmas is critical of the lack of a real service culture in the region, when it comes to maintenance. “Most of the pumps run endlessly unless they break down,” he points out. “We hardly find customers and end-users who regularly maintain their pumps. The contractor normally finishes the contract at the end of defect liability period. Once this period is over, the building is taken over by the maintenance contractor, who hardly maintains the pump. I suppose there could be much better maintenance of prime movers in the region, which is currently not the case.” Going into specific issues, Ilmas makes the following observations:

Pumps need periodic greasing of the bearings along with realignment of pump coupling – we hardly see that happening in the region.

Corrosion issues are not particularly common in the region, as pumps normally last 10 to 15 years in a typical HVAC application.

There are installations, especially with cooling towers, where there are NPSH (Net Positive Suction Head) issues leading to cavitation. It has also to do with air getting mixed in water in cooling tower applications.

The majority of cavity issues occur in condenser pumps, as they work in open circuit.

We have started offering customers ceramic coating on pumps to extend its life span – we have supplied pumps with ceramic coating on three major contracts in Dubai, Muscat and Salalah International Airports.

Educating the customers/clients and offering the right product for specific applications and assisting them in the initial pre-sales stages in order to avoid future problems can go a long way in countering the challenges faced in the region, believes Mathur.

PRICE VERSUS QUALITY

An accusation commonly levelled against the region, in general, and the HVACR market, in particular, is that despite being open to the latest innovations and being environmentally aware, it is governed by price rather than by quality, reliability and sustainability. This is more so when the market goes through times of economic upheaval and uncertainties, such as the one we have been witnessing in the last few years. The HVACR sector is no exception. But when it comes to the pumps segment, the experts tend to adopt a less cynical view. “Yes to a certain extent,” Mathur says cautiously, regarding price dictating terms. Adds Dairkee: “The market is rather brand conscious and reliability is linked to the brand rather than better engineered solutions. Appreciation for integrated design and that each application is unique is gradually sinking in, albeit at a very slow pace.” Ilmas, on his part, asserts that the market in the region is conscious about quality, reliability and sustainability. Speaking from his company’s perspective, he says, “Obviously, the customer today is looking for the best product with the most competitive price. We cannot out-price the product just because it has got inherent better quality.”

When it comes to pump design, Dairkee stresses that since manufacturing has reached a certain level of maturity, there is little to differentiate between products in the same bracket. But he points out that much difference could be achieved with better application and system engineering.

Mathur highlights the importance of raising awareness to win the quality versus price battle. “We market our product features by educating customers on the value of quality, lifecycle cost, energy-saving through one-on-one meetings, seminars and factory visits,” he says. “We work closely with all the stakeholders who drive this change. And we see an encouraging response. Hope it will improve more in future.”

In the final analysis, if a product is known for its quality, reliability and sustainability, then customers do recognise and respect this, believes Mathur.

TESTING TIMES

The HVACR sector plays an important role in the region’s economy and comfort, given its construction activity and climatic conditions. And the pumps segment forms a vital component of the sector. Therefore, pumps sold in the region, typically, need to withstand the harsh environment. Testing normally involves parameters of flow, head, efficiency, NPSH value, power consumption and material-worthiness conducted according to international standards ISO 9001, ISO 14001, UL/FM approved (fire pump norms). “Most of the American products are tested in accordance with Hydraulic Standard while all European counterparts do their testing in accordance with EN ISO 9006 Class 2 Standards,” Ilmas explains.

When it comes to quality, how relevant is region-specific testing, is a question often raised, now that GCC markets have been using HVACR equipment now for several decades, and will continue to use them in the foreseeable future. “SASO (Saudi Arabia) and KUCAS (Kuwait) are relevant testing norms for small range of pumps, and in large contexts, Grundfos globally takes care of the quality and testing of all our pumps,” says Mathur. He would advocate region-based testing centres only at the pump manufacturer’s facility. “We, at Grundfos, have the same at our Dubai facility covering our Middle East customer base and are already operating in the region for more than 40 years along with our distribution partners, and we will continue to invest in the region,” he says, indicating that region-specific testing is a feasible idea.

Citing the example of large facilities in Saudi Arabia which are doing testing for the process industry, Ilmas, too, emphasises the need for a regional testing centre. “The testing lab should be able to test pumps up to 50,000 gallons,” he says. “We, at Xylem (Bell & Gossett), do not have a local testing centre. However, Xylem has already taken necessary initiatives to establish testing centers throughout the region. We should have a test pad to test the 20,000 gallon in the next one or two years.”

However, Dairkee points out that with limited manufacturing in the region, such facilities may have a limited role. “As such, it is pumping system engineering that offers a significant scope for improvement,” he says. “Therefore, I would rather advocate a pumping system training and optimisation centre.”

DOES RETROFIT HAVE A FUTURE?

The poser is seemingly an oxymoron, but as technology improves – as it must – retrofitting has become an ongoing process, driven, not only by natural wear and tear of products and systems, but also by considerations of energy efficiency and sustainability. In this regard, the region does have a promising retrofit market, the experts agree. “Pump system re-engineering and retrofitting offer very promising running cost optimisation and higher system reliability potential,” says Dairkee. “And yes, there have been several occasions when our services have been sought. In all the cases, the pumping system engineering has resulted in energy reduction in the range of 50 to 70% and increase in reliability. The pumping systems which used to fail frequently are operating for years without any recall and with much lower operating costs after re-engineering.”

Ilmas reveals that his company has been called to replace pumps in cases of incorrect installment or selection, vis-à-vis application. “We have started a new initiative to address the retrofit market of late,” he highlights. “This is quite a profitable business. We see a lot of installation in the region which are not delivered in the desired effect. We get repeat requests from customer for upsizing/downsizing of supplied equipments.”

Mathur adds that his company is promoting the Energy Audit and Pump Audit programmes in the region. “Although, as long as prices of water, electricity and fuel are heavily subsidised and do not reflect the cost, it will be difficult to create such a culture,” he warns.

CONCLUSION

The post economic downturn phase has been a difficult one, but things have now stabilised, and with pumps playing a pivotal role in the HVACR industry, they continue to command a steady market. Working with the stakeholders to increase their market share, educating customers and consultants to help them keep pace with innovation, with an eye on sustainability and quality are strategies the big players have adopted to bring a level of standardisation in the market. And it is not long before standards set in Europe come to the GCC region and get implemented, they believe.

“We have increased our efforts throughout the GCC region and have been able to maintain the growth story,” admits Ilmas. “The region is slowly adapting to IE-3 design of motors which are even more efficient than the earlier high-efficiency designs. The introduction of investment casting technology has made the pumps much more compact than before. They are much lighter in weight and environmentally friendly in comparison to older heavier designs.”

Mathur believes that the growing preference towards energy efficiency, smart design for easy installation and maintenance and environmental-friendly products is good news for the pumps segment.

In Dairkee’s opinion, pump specifications/standards, materials and processes of manufacture are getting standardised with application. “There is discipline in manufacturing and commitment to ensure consistent quality of every pump being manufactured,” he says, and succinctly sums up: “Pumps are simple and robust machines, and with better understanding of the variances, the system dynamics and integrated approach, much higher reliability and system efficiencies are achievable.”

Glass is an ideal material for application in building shells. The transparent material can be used in a variety of applications and – irrespective of the type of finishing – fulfills individual functions.

Modern insulation glass offers reliable heat insulation and solar protection, prevents high noise pollution and also, if required, corresponds to the highest safety levels. In addition, individual design highlights can also be achieved through the use of glass. The elementary functions of glass products in the building shell also include heat insulation. In view of the increasingly tighter legal requirements placed on architectural heat insulation and the rising energy prices in recent decades, the glass industry has been continually further developing its products and has achieved considerable improvements in efficiency.

STRINGENT REQUIREMENTS

Despite the versatility of glass, the limits of physics cannot, however, be overcome even with the use of perfected glass formats and highly functional coatings. In the case of double (insulation) glazing, which has been used over decades, the limit has already been reached with a heat transfer co-efficient (Ug-value) of 1.0 W/m2K. To satisfy the current heat insulation requirements by law, this value is absolutely sufficient, but not for future requirements. According to the European Union Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD), which came into force in 2010, as early as January 2021, only “nearly zero-energy-buildings” are to be erected in the private construction sector – in other words, buildings which require almost no external energy supply. For new buildings, which are used by the authorities as the owners on an owner-occupier basis, this requirement will apply two years earlier. As poorly insulated existing buildings account for a large part of high building energy consumption, here too, the minimum requirements for heat insulation applying to new buildings have to be satisfied for larger restoration projects and new extensions.

TRIPLE INSULATION GLAZING REFLECT MARKET TRENDS

In order to fulfill the expected high requirements placed on energy efficiency in buildings, insulation glazing will also have to achieve even better results in future. The glass industry is, therefore, increasingly relying on triple insulation glazing. With U values of up to 0.5 W/m2K, in the past this functional glazing was previously mostly fitted in passive housing. In the last five years, sales of high-insulation glazing have, however, risen dramatically, because when it comes to glazing, an increasing number of building owners are relying on high-energy efficiency – even if their buildings have not reached the level of passive housing.

According to the German Flat Glass Manufacturers’ Association (Bundesverband Flachglas), in the period from 2008 to 2011 alone, the share accounted for by triple insulation glazing of total glazing sales in Germany rose by around 10% to over 50%. For the current year, the association already expects a share of around 60%. And the upward trend will continue further.

“We are convinced that the market share will grow to over 90%. This trend is being accelerated by the forthcoming Energy Savings Ordinance (Energieeinsparverordnung – EnEV), which will probably prescribe the use of triple insulation glazing,” explains Jochen Grönegräs, Executive Director of the German Flat Glass Manufacturers’ Association, and Managing Director of the Multi-Pane Insulating Glass Quality Association (Gütegemeinschaft Mehrscheiben-Isolierglas).

Triple glazing in the Scandinavian countries of Sweden and Finland, along with Austria and Switzerland, have a very high market share, and one can see similar trend perspectives as those in Germany. In view of the current trend, the specialist world is in agreement – at least in central and northern Europe, the triple structure of insulation glazing is set to become a successive standard.

In parallel with the increase in energy efficiency, in the residential as well as commercial construction sector, the trend towards ever larger glass units is continuing. Architects and building owners want to have an open room ambience for their buildings with the maximum amount of daylight incidence and highest degree of external views. In winter the glazing should also ensure solar energy generation.

HIGHER GLASS PANE WEIGHT

The two current trends basically present no problem for the insulation glazing manufacturers. The know-how and technology involved in the manufacture of corresponding products are available. The problematic nature of climatic burdens (suction and pressure effect on glass panes and the edge seal), which is increasingly a feature of triple insulation glazing due to the larger inter-pane volume, can be overcome. What is problematic, however, is the increasing weight of the glass panes. By comparison, a glass pane measuring one square metre, designed as double insulation glazing with 2 x 4 mm and 16 mm inter-pane gap, weighs 20 kilogrammes. The same format as triple insulation glazing in the 4/12/4/12/4 format already weighs 30 kilogrammes. The increase in weight by 50% has far-reaching consequences.

The insulation glazing manufacturers must, therefore, gear their in-house processes to the heavy glass panes. While transportation becomes more expensive because the maximum loading capacity for trucks is already reached with fewer units and the fittings, manufacturers have to deliver extremely durable solutions. In the window sector, this presents a special challenge, because in this area, the aim is to develop high-load bearing fittings which can reliably hold the heavy elements in place for over decades, whilst at the same time, conveying a filigree impression. Even at this stage, fittings systems are already reaching their limits in this balancing act between the requirements. On top of this, the frame profiles for façades and windows also have to be adjusted to take the high weights.

The installation and fitting teams are particularly affected by the increased weight of the construction elements. For them the trend towards triple insulation glazing means a considerably increased burden. “The weight is enormous, particularly in old buildings where no technical aids can be used; the burden is striking, and personnel are clearly called upon much more than before,” reports Martin Gutmann, Master of the Federal Glazers’ Guild, who goes on to say, “If you are unlucky, you also have to do with triple sound-proof or burglary-proof glazing. Then the weight of the glass panes is even higher.” The situation is also made more difficult by the increased weight of the thermally optimised frame profiles.

THIN GLASS AS A SOLUTION CONCEPT

In view of this problem area, the glass industry, insulation glazing manufacturers and research institutes are working intensively on solutions. Their aim is to reduce glass pane weight without cutting down on its energetic functionality. The development of light, high-insulation vacuum glass, which has been on-going for years now, has still not really moved forward sufficiently for it to be used in classic window and façade construction. However, use of the very thin glass panes is already practical in flat roof-top windows in standard sizes. A further possible solution is light, transparent synthetic film and plates, which are aimed at replacing the central pane in insulation glazing. Whether this technology will assert itself on a broad front or not depends on the practicality and durability of the products as well as on their acceptance by the end-customers.

The application of thin glass appears to be the most potentially successful. As early as 2004, architect Prof Stefan Behling, who for some years now, has been presenting the latest trends and developments from the glass industry in the “Glass technology live” special show as part of the leading international glass trade fair glasstec, declared: “In the flat-screen sector, thin glass is becoming part of a revolution. At some stage perhaps whole walls, ceilings and floors will be able to change.”

In the area of entertainment and communication electronics, his forecast relating to modern smartphones and also products, such as Apple’s iPad, which are almost exclusively operated using thin glass touch-screens, has long since become reality. In addition, the current development tendencies on the insulation glass market confirm that Stefan Behling is right with his expectation for the architecture sector. Today, windows incorporating triple insulation glazing are already available on the market, and are no longer produced using triple 4 mm, but triple 3 mm-thick heat-treated glass panes. This means a weight reduction of one quarter. And even thinner glass is possible.

In the insulation glass sector, industry tests are already under way using hardened glass in the 3/2/3 mm format. Machine manufacturer Lisec recently received the 2012 Austrian State Prize in the “Research and Innovation” category in recognition of its special pre-stress technology. It enables the manufacture of flexible and robust glass in a thickness of only 2 mm without optical distortions. According to the company, the light thin glass is outstandingly suited for use in modern architecture.

When it comes to the thin glass used in insulation glass theme, critics point the increased breakage risk of the thinner glass panes. Their objection can be summed up as follows: Although the glass is lighter through the reduced thickness of the individual planes, at the same time, edge breakage risk has increased. The supporters of thin glass in contrast, point to the higher durability of the thermally hardened glass.

JOINT RESEARCH PROJECT

In order to explore the possibilities of weight reduction in multi-pane insulation glazing on a well-founded, secure basis, the renowned Rosenheim Institute of Window Technology (Institut für Fenstertechnik – ift Rosenheim), in cooperation with the German Flat Glass Manufacturers’ Association, has launched the “Energy-efficient multi-pane insulation glass – “Investigations into technical measures aimed at the reduction of glass pane weight” project.

The aim of the project is to investigate which measures can be used to reduce the surface weight of multi-pane (insulation) glass and the effects resulting from this. Norbert Sack, Head of Research and Development at the Rosenheim Institute of Window Technology and Project Director, explains in this connection: “A reduction in the surface weight of triple insulation glazing is desirable and would in principle be possible through the use of thinner glass or transparent plastics. Thinner glass could be used in all three levels – on the outside, the room side as well as the central pane of triple insulation glazing.”

He believes that within the framework of the project, however, no general investigation of all the principle factors was possible. On the contrary, decision-making bases for an assessment and future implementation should be developed. BF Executive Director, Jochen Grönegräs, adds: “We have included an assessment programme especially for 3 x 3 mm format insulation glass in the project in order to increase awareness for this theme. If the calculation bases are taken into account, it is definitely possible to manufacture insulation glass in the 3 x 3 format.”

In view of the relevant heat insulation (Ug-value), total energy transmission (g-value) and translucence (τV) values, insulation glass using thin glass comes closest to matching the values of conventional triple insulation glass. And in the area of sound-proofing too, the integration of sound-proof film or varying glass thicknesses ensures a high level of protection.

While the trade world is still conducting an intensive discussion on the advantages and disadvantages of using thinner glass, individual insulation glass manufacturers are pressing ahead in the competition for optimised insulation values. Even at this stage, on the Internet, you can find references to quadruple insulation glazing, which with 3 mm-thick glass, is designed to deliver an Ug-value of 0.3 W/m2K – a questionable development, because this format once again brings us back to the starting problem – the quadruple pane is just as heavy as today’s conventional triple glass with standard format