It’s become a year-end, on-and-off feature at Climate Control Middle East to share a wish-list of where we would like to see the HVACR industry and the broad building construction ecosystem heading. The inherent objective is to identify aspects that protect the interests of all relevant stakeholders through peaks and troughs, and to highlight efforts that need to be taken, or bolstered, towards meeting socio-economic and sustainable development targets.

Surendar Balakrishnan

For want of space, here are just some of the key items in the list…

1 Recognising the need for a plurality of cooling approaches, and acknowledging a horses-for-courses mindset, provided there is transparent sharing of on-site performance data, as fundamental to taking techno-commercial decisions.

2 Shifting the district cooling narrative from a largely market-driven approach to one that more emphatically supports policy and strategy on climate change.

3 Still with district cooling… taking consumer interests into prime consideration whilst defining or revisiting corporate financial policy, thus ushering in real transformation in the way district cooling schemes are run.

4 Still further, amidst all the talk on consolidation of district cooling companies, not losing sight of the wonderful potential for using idle capacity to avoid costly expansion of infrastructure, by tapping into existing reticulation networks, provided all possible technological hurdles can be overcome without imposing a formidable financial burden.

5 Devising a full-fledged and integrated regional strategy, and supporting funding mechanisms, for increased focus on refurbishing Existing Buildings, with energy efficiency, reliability and Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) as indispensable KPIs.

6 The government mandating specific (IAQ) interventions for building owners to carry out without exception, with renewal of building permits hinging on continuity of IAQ performance, as indicated by results of sustained third-party testing and monitoring.

7 Exploring the potential of Natural Gas-driven solutions, demand-control ventilation, VFDs, energy-recovery wheels, heat-reflecting paints and multiple forms of Renewable Energy, to name just six, to the fullest, as conviction-based approaches to lowering Total Cost of Ownership and GHG emissions.

8 Fixing leaks in ducting systems, including at duct connection points, often a source of energy losses worth billions of US dollars.

9 Implementing full-fledged IT-based asset management systems that incorporate IoT, ML and SaaS for comprehensive predictive maintenance solutions.

10 Globally speaking, rethinking with a view to continue the safe use of nuclear energy as a robust, sustainable and speedy decarbonisation strategy.

11 Digitalising upstream and downstream cold chain assets to reduce food loss and improve food safety & quality assurance (FSQA).

12 Safeguarding the interests of manufacturers and suppliers from delinquent contractors.

13 Government-backed nurturing of an ecosystem of specialised MEP consultants and MEP contractors as indispensable, collaborative entities in achieving regional and national GHG emission reduction goals and IAQ-related targets across all building profiles; evolving financial mechanisms, including ESCROW accounts, for tracking of payments across the construction hierarchy to ensure transparency and timely disbursement of monies owed to all stakeholders.

14 Corporate financial reporting and stating of intent, indicating percentage of revenue dedicated to R&D, as a means to innovation.