HVAC TRENDS | SPONSORED Q&A Which big trends do you see emerging in leak detection in 2024? Peter Double, managing director at Andel www.andel.co.uk Sustainability is crucial for our own operations, our supply chain and the products and services we offer Sustainability, reducing emissions and increasing the use of renewables will continue to be a hugely significant trend in 2024 and beyond. Climate change poses a massive challenge to us all and the ambitious UK government target of net carbon zero 2050 will be a key consideration for all businesses in all industries. Andel is a multi-disciplined company providing a range of sustainable solutions to protect both the built and natural environments. Demand for leak detection and water sustainability continues to grow year on year providing a great opportunity and driver for R&D, innovation and new smart technologies that deliver the optimum sustainable solutions to customers. As an environmental company, Andel has taken the initiative to become net carbon zero by 2025. This means more energy efficiency, reducing carbon emissions, eliminating the use of fossil fuels, reducing waste and implementing a forensic approach to measuring the environmental impact of our business. Consequently, sustainability is crucial for our own operations, our supply chain and the products and services we offer. Hybrid environmental monitoring systems and water sustainability have become important What developments have you seen in the use of packaged plant and off-site manufacture in UK HVAC? Matthew Blackmore, head of business development at Armstrong Fluid Technology bit.ly/armstrongfluids Over-sizing at the outset to later accomodate full cooling load is hugely inefficient An important development that we have experienced at Armstrong in recent years has been the use of off-site manufacturing approaches to deliver significant energy efficiency advantages, and to avoid technical challenges inherent in large-scale projects. In particular, projects which, by practical or financial necessity, need to expand incrementally over an extended period of time. One example is the provision of cooling systems for data centres. Data centre applications present specific challenges in relation to the design and operation of chilled water systems, which are driven by higher-than-average cooling loads, the need to design for modular expansion, and shorter upgrade cycles. Over-sizing at the outset in order to accommodate the full cooling load at a later date is hugely inefficient and does not align with the typical financing models employed in the data centre industry. In these applications, options such as Armstrongs iFMS modular packaged pump solutions have proved highly successful as they bolt-on additional cooling in line with expansion developments in our leak detection product portfolio. Enhanced, hybrid, multi-function control systems provide customers with a new level of leak detection and environmental monitoring providing simultaneous and automatic zonal isolation of water, gas and/or oil supply if an alarm is triggered. Protecting natural resources and reducing environmental impact are key to sustainability. Water flow monitoring and motion sensor systems provide sustainable water conservation solutions, protecting natural resources, saving on costs and earning BREEAM credits. Digital gas leak detection systems can reduce environmentally damaging refrigerant gas escapes, earn BREEAM credit and provide environmental and H&S-compliant solutions for the full range of commercially used gases. of IT processing capacity. In addition to avoiding the energy wastage of over-sized plant, this assists profitability by preventing the need to front-load capital investment, and guarantees reproducibility. Another notable example is the district energy sector, where the energy requirements of schemes change significantly as sites are connected to the network. Armstrongs off-site manufactured temporary energy centres and scalable energy centres have revolutionised projects of this type. Rather than relying on the traditional approaches of either installing for day one load, or pre-installing equipment ready for a future full load condition, temporary or scalable energy centres enable capacity to be scaled-up in line with the load profile of the site. 26 November 2023 www.cibsejournal.com CIBSE CPD Nov 23.indb 26 02/11/2023 16:51