Grundfos, a global leader in advanced pump solutions and water technology, and Barghest Building Performance (BBP), a Singapore-based energy efficiency technology provider, have signed a memorandum of understanding to deliver and scale an innovative energy-efficient digital solution across Southeast Asia. The solution can help reduce energy consumption of cooling systems by up to 40%, meeting the region’s urgent need for sustainable cooling solutions.
The novel solution focuses on reducing the energy consumption of commercial and industrial climate control systems. Also known as heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, it currently represents one of the world’s most important sources of greenhouse gas emissions. In Southeast Asia, rising electricity demand from cooling alone is projected to require around 200 gigawatts of additional generation capacity by 2040, and cooling could be responsible for as much as 30% share in the region’s peak electricity demand .
Conventional systems often use up a high level of energy due to issues such as over-pumping to compensate for discrepancies between the chilled water supply and return temperatures. In addition, they have the tendency to run at constant speed and pressure throughout its operations, regardless of fluctuating cooling demands. The systems’ high energy consumption ultimately contributes to greater carbon emissions, driving climate change.
Through leveraging automation technology, remote monitoring, and Internet of Things, the solution ensures the HVAC system operates in optimised conditions at any time, by intuitively regulating the interactions between the various parts within the system. This minimises unnecessary energy use, and in turn helps customers reduce their environmental impact. Grundfos and BBP will look to scale this across Southeast Asia, focusing on Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, and Malaysia.
Both recognised as leaders in driving energy-efficient solutions, the partnership brings together Grundfos’ application expertise, global presence, and ambition of creating disruptive digital offerings, with BBP’s patented technology, and implementation capability. BBP’s strong track record includes some of the world’s most prominent industrial and commercial real estate brands, ranging from data centres, hospitality, industrial, office, and retail.
Fredrik Östbye, Group Vice President, Head of FutureLab, Grundfos, said, “Southeast Asia is undergoing rapid industrialisation and urbanisation, and cooling and ventilation in commercial and industrial buildings will only play a bigger role as we move into the future. However, conventional cooling is not sustainable in today’s climate crisis. With sustainability being a very key part of Grundfos’ DNA, this partnership demonstrates our commitment to create cleaner and more energy efficient technologies to enable our customers to reduce their energy consumption and limit their impact on the environment.”
As a first step, the two companies are focusing on reducing barriers in product adoption and scalability, by digitalising the identification, evaluation, and onboarding of customers who are interested in reducing their energy consumption and environmental impact.
Commenting on the partnership, Poyan Rajamand, Co-founder, BPP, said, “Global temperatures have been on the rise, and this has cast a spotlight on the need to provide cooling in cities without overburdening urban power grids and further contributing to climate change. We see great synergy between the missions of BPP and Grundfos, which is to bring greater energy efficiency in solutions serving an increasingly urbanised world, and so we are excited to be driving the forefront of sustainable cooling for the commercial and industrial building sector.”
The Shanghai edition, which comprised five fairs, occupied 40,000 square metres of exhibition space
The Shanghai edition of the the “Intelligent Green Building – IGB” exhibition platform – held from September 23 to 25 at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre – featured over 700 exhibitors showcasing an array of products and solutions for smart homes, intelligent building, HVAC, building automation and more.
IGB comprised five different exhibitions, namely Shanghai Smart Home Technology (SSHT), Shanghai Intelligent Building Technology (SIBT), Shanghai International Lighting Fair (SILF), Shanghai International Trade Fair for Heating, Ventilation and Air-Conditioning (ISH Shanhgai & CIHE) and Building Solar China (BSC)
Intended as a cross-sector building ecosystem with total solutions for energy-efficient building technologies, IGB was also a successful platform for industry players to forge better business opportunities, especially as smart home technologies steadily gain global prominence. Exhibitors and trade associations found the exhibition to be an effective platform to promote mutual business development.
Mr Sun Rui, Marketing Manager of Jiujiang Derui HVAC Co Ltd, a system integrator, commented: “It is great to showcase HVAC, smart home and building technologies under one roof. The heating industry crosses over with home decoration in many areas. Along with the growing popularity of heating supply in East and Central China, the requirements of customers become more sophisticated. They look for the integration of lighting, heating and air conditioning for homes. These fields are interrelated and complementary.”
IGB also served as an effective platform for networking and mutual development.
An “#IGB_NETWORK” event was organised by the IGB platform in the afternoon of 23 September, where influential industry professionals freely exchanged ideas on building efficiency and sustainability in a casual environment. Participating guests, included the chairmen and chief secretaries of significant international and domestic trade associations and standards organisations, leaders and experts from renowned building enterprises, colleges and universities, design institutes and trade media, appreciated the networking opportunities.
Mr Tom Owens, Director of International Development at the Custom Electronic Design and Installation Association (CEDIA), commented that the “#IGB_NETWORK” event was a great way to start off the shows. He said, “There are a lot of professionals that believe in the same things. The networking event is a great way to create partnerships and build new relationships.”
The 4th International HVACR/Pumps/Valves/Compressors Indonesia 2015 is back again this November for its fourth installation following 3 successful editions held previously. Gathering all industry professionals from all over the world, the HVACR/Pumps/Valves/Compressors Indonesia 2015 is an ideal platform to not only view and experience exclusive product launches, meet, interact and network with fellow industry professionals but also an avenue to obtain the latest news, trends and happenings within the industry.
Poised with a vast amount of business opportunities and potential with the supportive governmental policies and huge investment plans to improve the infrastructure in the country over the next few years, Indonesia could well become the 3rd fastest growing economy amongst the world’s wealthy industrial countries and the world’s 7th largest economy by 2030.
Attracting over 190 exhibitors from 15 different countries and 4,102 visitors from 22 different countries from the last edition held in year 2014, HVACR/Pumps/Valves/Compressors Indonesia 2015 has proven to be the unparalleled platform and exhibition that’s not to be missed!
Buildings are valuable assets but the costs of maintenance can affect the bottom line of a business. As energy
costs continue to rise, building owners and facility managers face increasing pressure to reduce operational
costs, at the same time, increase productivity, improve sustainability and ensure business continuity for their
organizations.
A building’s chiller plants typically consume the most energy, so it makes sense that any strategy to reduce costs and to be environmentally friendly needs to start here. Johnson Controls is a global multi-industrial company with established core businesses in the building and automotive industries. It leverages on decades of YORK chiller innovations to deliver more efficient and sustainable chiller solutions in its continual push of the boundaries of chiller technology.
Larry Kouma Product Management Director, Asia Chiller Solutions, Johnson Controls Inc.
With over 20 years of experience in the HVAC industry, Larry boasts
vast technical knowledge in the design and application of steam and
chilled water systems. He is passionate about driving sustainability
across the value chain and has spent over a decade working with
energy efficiency standards. In addition, he has served on the
ASHRAE-ANSI 90.1 Standard Committee for 8 years.
In a recent interview, Mr. Larry Kouma (Product Management Director) shared his insights into regional trends in Asia’s refrigerant industry and on how the YORK® Magnetic Centrifugal Chiller (YMC2) system addressed the most pressing concerns of facility owners and designers.
BRJ: What are the regional trends in the refrigerant industry in 2014?
LK: With the awareness of ozone depletion and commitment to the Montreal Protocol, major suppliers are responding to the phase out of hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs). However, meeting all the requirements of safety, reliability, efficiency, Ozone Depleting Potential (ODP) and Global Warming Potential (GWP) is a tall order. The refrigerant that best fulfils these requirements are the hydrofluorocarbons (HFC) for large HVAC equipment applications, and in certain applications, natural refrigerants including hydrocarbons, ammonia, and carbon dioxide (CO2), are also safely applied.
BRJ: In what direction would these trends change in the next few years?
LK: Increasingly, refrigerants are also assessed based on their Life Cycle Climate Performance (LCCP), which takes a holistic approach in estimating all warming impacts – both direct and indirect – over the lifetime of the refrigerant for specific applications. Research will continue to push forward to find or create refrigerants that best fulfil all the necessary criteria while minimizing climate impact. Meanwhile, HFCs look to be the mainstay with European Union F-Gas Regulation to mitigate its GWP by addressing the containment, use, recovery, reporting, labelling, training, certification and some market prohibitions. This will have implications especially for sectors with high leakage such as automotive and commercial refrigeration.
BRJ: What are some of the most pressing building and facility challenges faced in the industry today?
LK: Rising energy costs and the need to improve productivity and minimize downtime continue to be key challenges for building and facility managers today. In addition, there is growing interest in sustainability across the industry as organizations increasingly seek to incorporate it into business goals and culture.
With the increased focus on climate change globally, many countries are enacting legislation and providing
incentives to modernize and retrofit existing facilities. In fact, the recent 2013 Energy Efficiency Indicator (EEI)
study by Johnson Controls found that such government policies and programs were one of the key drivers for
Asia to adopt “greener” and more energy efficient HVAC equipment and solutions.
In Singapore, the government’s push to green 80 percent of all buildings by 2030, mean that building owners
and facility managers will increasingly look to proven and reliable HVAC and solutions to help them to achieve
their energy efficiency and green building targets in the next few years.
BRJ: How does YMC2 help address them?
LK: Johnson Controls is one of the first to apply the magnetic-bearing technology to chillers, originally in response to mission-critical needs of the navy. Subsequently, we then extended this technology to make it available to other sectors (including commercial) to help address the growing demands with energy consumption reductions and sustainability. The magnetic-bearings reduce friction and vibration, while eliminating the need for oil to lubricate the bearings – delivering energy-efficiency, high reliability and noise control as a result. It addresses these challenges through:
Improved Efficiency – YMC2 chillers is 10 percent more efficient than new conventional, variable-speed chillers. The magnetic-bearing technology eliminates mechanical-contact losses in the driveline. In addition, proven energy efficient YORK® features such as the OptiSpeed™ variable-speed drive and the optimized centrifugal compressor have been retained and improved on. The efficiency benefits can be greater than 30 percent when considering replacement of an older existing chiller at end of life.
Reduced Noise – The YMC2 chiller is quieter than any water-cooled centrifugal or screw chiller on the market. Driveline vibration is eliminated with the magnetic-bearing technology, while the YORK® OptiSound™ control further helps reduce noise. As a result, the YMC2 chiller operates at a maximum of 73 dBA at full-load standard conditions (The human ear would perceive the YMC² chiller only half as loud as other magnetic-bearing chillers).
High Reliability – The design of the YMC2 chiller has fewer moving parts, requires less servicing and has a longer motor life. This helps to increase reliability and reduce maintenance costs. The chiller’s permanent-magnet motor has an inherently longer life than traditional motors, and the OptiSpeed drive’s soft-start sequence helps to further extend motor life.
Better Sustainability – The YMC2 chiller uses refri-gerant HFC-134a which has zero ozone-depletion potential. Furthermore, it is designed with 57 percent less refrigerant-piping connections which drastically reduce the potential for direct global warming caused by refrigerant leakage potential. The 10 percent to 50 percent efficiency improvement also reduces indirect global warming caused by greenhouse-gas emissions generated by electric utilities. Indirect impact is typically more than 95 percent of the chiller contribution to environmental warming impact over the operating life of the chiller.
BRJ: What is the potential for adoption of the new YMC2 technology in Asia?
LK: We see lots of potential for adoption in both the developed and developing markets in Asia. Interest in the developed markets, such as Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore, would be more immediate and widespread. For one, the YMC2 chiller is ideal for retrofit installations because it not only delivers higher efficiency but also caters to a higher capacity within a small footprint.
We are also starting to see interest in developing markets, such as India and China, where a few forward thinking companies have started to implement high efficient systems and solutions. At the same time, the governments in these countries have increasingly taken steps to drive the adoption of more energy efficient and green solutions across businesses and infrastructure through regulations and incentives. So we can expect good growth in these markets in the coming years.
In general, YMC2 is a versatile solution that is suitable for application across a wide range of industries. Given its high reliability and superior sound control, it is also recommended for high performance facilities such as data centers, healthcare facilities, educational institutions and concert halls.
BRJ: In terms of cost savings, how long is the payback with YMC2 installed?
LK: Generally less than five years, and can be lower than three years depending on total system design and ambient conditions.
BRJ: Does YMC2 help existing buildings? Please elaborate.
LK: The YMC2 contributes towards helping reduce the energy consumption and operational costs of commercial and industrial buildings. It is also ideal for retrofit in existing buildings because of its small footprint – it can fit into the old chiller space and still cater to a higher capacity (up to 560TR) and deliver higher efficiency. Its energy efficient and sustainable features also help existing buildings meet the energy management and environmental targets set out by building owners and increasingly, governments.
In Singapore, government legislation and incentives play a big part in driving the adoption of more energy efficient HVAC solutions. This is in part due to the Government’s push to green 80 percent of all buildings by 2030.
New regulations increasingly require new and existing buildings to achieve a minimum Green Mark standard when retrofitting or installing a new cooling system. Existing buildings are also required to carry out regular energy audits and report annual energy consumption data.
Johnson Controls, has helped existing buildings such as PoMo, a mixed-use retail facility achieve the BCA Green Mark Platinum rating with YMC2. The YMC2 helped address the needs of the building owners by reducing energy consumption and controlling excessive equipment noise. With the YMC2, the retrofitted chiller plant achieved an impressive system efficiency of 0.65 kW/RT and successfully lowered sound levels below 73 dBA.
SINGAPORE – Johnson Controls is introducing a new technology in China to meet the growing demand for central heating that does not emit harmful pollutants. The York Dual Steam Turbine (YDST) heat pump recycles surplus heat from industrial or power plants into higher temperature hot water that can be used to operate large central heating plants. Compared to traditional boiler heating, the YDST can reduce coal consumption by up to 30 percent while supplying the same amount of heat.
“Urbanization and the government’s efforts to promote sustainable development are driving demand in China for more energy efficient technologies and solutions,” said Soren Bjerg, vice president and managing director, Johnson Controls Building Efficiency, Asia. “This is a real opportunity for us to expand our presence in an important market and use our expertise and innovation to address a growing need to reduce emissions.”
This technology is an important innovation for the Chinese market where the government has made a major commitment in its Five-Year Plan to reduce pollution from the burning of fossil fuels. The plan uses industrial surplus heat as a major source of urban heating.
The capacity and versatility of the YDST make it ideal for large-scale central heating plants.
It is the first centrifugal heat pump – driven by a steam turbine, not electric – that supplies over 100 megawatts of heat per heat pump system, doubling the current capacity available.
It can accept waste hot water as low as 50oF to 120oF and increase the temperature up to 140oF to over 200oF.
The demand for central heating is estimated to grow significantly in China over the next five years due to rapid urbanization, particularly in northern China. Johnson Controls, a global multi-industrial company, has successfully implemented a heat recovery solution at a large northeast Chinese municipal heating facility. It has saved more than US$1.2 million while alleviating the need to burn 9,200 tons of coal in the last heating season, the equivalent to removing 4,000 passenger vehicles from the road for a year.
Recently, the company opened a US$35 million expansion of its manufacturing and research and development center in Wuxi, China. The campus and its engineering center is now one of Johnson Controls’ largest research and development centers in the world for building solutions for heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems, as well as industrial refrigeration solutions. The campus will spearhead continuing innovation on heat recovery for the global market.
ABB and Philips join forces in commercial building automation for energy efficiency and increased functionality
Philips’ lighting systems will connect seamlessly with ABB’s building device controls, reducing the cost of renovation of mid-and small-sized commercial buildings
Amsterdam, the Netherlands – ABB, a leading power and automation technology provider, and Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA), the global leader in lighting, today announced a collaboration to simplify the integration of connected lighting systems and building device control for commercial buildings. Combining Philips’ wealth of expertise in LED lighting systems with ABB’s knowledge of building automation will benefit systems integrator, commercial building owners, facility managers and the people who work in these buildings.
Philips’ connected lighting system will interface seamlessly with ABB’s automation software to offer the ability to control a commercial environment including lighting, blinds, building access and heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC). The introduction of the solution from ABB and Philips will make it much simpler to reconfigure spaces. In a hotel this could mean altering the lighting scene after combining several separate rooms into a large meeting room, just through one click. Or in a shopping complex, a building manager can simply reconfigure the access, HVAC and lighting when a single unit is split into smaller ones.
Eric Rondolat, CEO of Philips Lighting, said: “Philips’ LED lighting combined with controls can deliver up to 80% energy savings compared to conventional lighting, while providing high quality light for a comfortable, more productive work environment. Together ABB and Philips will support our customers by making it easier to introduce the latest technology to drive energy efficiency and increased functionality.”
Tarak Mehta, head of ABB’s Low Voltage Products division, added: “The future is the ability to reconfigure spaces at the touch of a button, while reducing energy consumption. ABB and Philips will work together to offer a simple, scalable solution to streamline the introduction of this technology in commercial buildings.’’
Currently, re-configuring different building systems requires entering lines of code for each separate element. By enabling the control of all the different elements of building automation through compatible software, building management is simpler and more affordable to install and maintain.
Heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) and lighting constitute 70% of the energy consumption in commercial buildings and the introduction of building device control can improve energy efficiency by approximately 30%. Upgrading to more energy efficient systems represents a significant opportunity for building managers to save on operational costs.
