BANGALORE, India—A burgeoning middle class, steady eco-nomic growth, booming retail sector, and expansion of services in health care and IT are pushing India to the top of the leader board for air conditioning with annual industry growth trending at 20%. No wonder India is capturing the attention of air-conditioner manufacturers and their suppliers. Tapping into this demand are the major global players. They gathered here for ACREX, the In-dian trade fair for air conditioning and refrigeration. An estimated 45,000 visitors viewed displays of 500 exhibitors, Feb. 23 – 25.

The influence of the IT industry was a good example of India’s powerhouse status in air conditioning. Indian IT is projected to become a $225 billion industry by 2020, and IT applications require sophisticated AC applications.

Rittal, headquartered in Germany, was among companies dis-playing data center cooling solutions. Its Liquid Cooling Package, the TopTherm LCP inline, received an ACREX innovation award. The product is designed to sit within a bayed enclosure suite. Hot air is extracted from the room or warm aisle at the rear of the unit, cooled and then blown out into the cold aisle. The product achieves maximum performance and efficiency in conjunction with Rittal cold aisle containment. A raised floor is not necessary.

Climaveneta, an Italian-based manufacturer, introduced to the visitors the concept of “Green Data Centre.”

“Exponential growth in data exchange is increasing the heat load per square meter of all data centers,” said Nicola Gardin, the company’s area manager. “But data centers can still be green while meeting new standards for improved performance.”

Climaveneta bases its approach on actual data center heat load requirements. “We match the right configuration with the need,” said Gardin. Climaveneta has a hot and cold aisle solution for low density zones: compartmentalization that prevents hot and cold air from mixing in the upper section of the racks for me-dium density, and compartmentalization with localized cooling to manage hot spots in high density zones.

Bry-Air, founded in the U.S., showed its formed Honeycomb media for gas phase filtration. According to the company, the desiccant-based matrix removes ultralow concentrations of gases from the supply air to control corrosion-causing gases like hydrogen sulphide, sulphur dioxide, bromine and oxides of nitrogen and chlorine, meeting requirements for data centers, which are often located near high-density traffic zones, sewer drains, landfills and process industries emanating such gases.

Trane is active in India. The company showcased its chiller rental, adiabatic cooling services and controls capabilities. Trane’s rental chiller is designed to provide immediate or long-term solutions.

To reach out to building owners and facility managers, Trane displayed its new adiabatic cooling capability that improves system efficiency and reliability by decreasing the temperature of the air entering the coil. Also displayed was the Tracer range of controllers for a complete approach to building automation.

“Our services and controls capabilities can be applied in a wide variety of facilities, including health care, industrial, lodging, retail and educational buildings,” said Rajesh Sikka, Trane India business leader.

Tecumseh Products exhibited its dc compressors, designed specifically for battery cooling applications in India’s telecom-munications market.

“We see many niche market opportunities in India,” said Mike

ACREX 2012 HighlightsData Centers, Health Care

India Boom Drives AC Needs

Left: Prana, a Sanskrit word meaning energy, breath, and life force, provided a living example of how office spaces can be self sustainable. The building produces on-site energy to offset the energy requirements, illustrating that a comprehensive approach toward sustainability is within reach through integrated systems for high energy performance, recycling and appropriate materials selection. Right: Mike Noelke and APS Ghandi explained how Tecumseh’s solution for cooling telecom tower batteries saves energy.

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INDUSTRY NEWS This article was published in ASHRAE Journal, April 2012. Copyright 2012 American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Inc. Posted at www.ashrae.org. This article may not be copied and/or distributed electronically or in paper form without permission

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Noelke, the company’s executive vice president for global sales. Roughly 300,000 telecommunication towers are in India,

a number expected to grow to more than 400,000 in the next five years. With nearly 60% of their energy consumption from diesel sets, reductions in energy use can have a major impact on reducing air pollution. Tecumseh’s new product, the first of its kind manufactured in India and suited for the T3 ambient temperature range of up to 55°C (131°F) often seen in India and the Middle East, features a highly efficient THK reciprocating compressor specially fitted with a brushless motor and an ad-ditional controller for converting dc power to three-phase power. The product has both fixed speed and variable speed capability.

“These new specialized compressors are affirmation of Tecum-seh’s commitment to provide high quality, efficient products to customers in India and the surrounding region,” said Jim Connor, company president and CEO. “This is just the beginning of our initiative to launch innovative and value-added products in the Indian market,” said R. Ravi, managing director of Tecumseh Products India. “Our goal is to soon have an expanded offer-ing of high efficiency dc solutions for many telecom, solar and mobile applications.”

Comfort applications are where another U.S. company, EVAPCO, sees growth opportunities for evaporative cooling systems. Large parts of India have relatively low wet-bulb temperatures. In other parts of India, evaporative cooling can

be used in combination with conventional systems to deliver high quality, cost effective air-conditioning solutions.

“We are seeing great demand for our lines of certified cooling towers and closed circuit coolers,” said Nicholas Torres, sales manager for EVAPCO Asia/Pacific. “The combination of low water usage, low energy consumption, low chemical usage and lower sound levels is what the Indian market is demanding.”

Another sector leading the air-conditioning boom is health care. It is expected to become a $240 billion industry by 2020. Prefabricated ducting systems with antimicrobial technology from the Italian manufacturer ALP serves that expanding market.

“From operating theaters to clean rooms, from analysis laborato-ries to food processing rooms, air is responsible for the transport of microbes, elements of risk for health that cause infections, intoxica-tions, alterations of results,” said Vikram Murthy, the company’s India representative. “Air quality in protected rooms is an absolute priority. With greater demand from IT and health care, we see this in India.” According to Murthy, ALP is in the process of setting up qualified ALP Ductshops in India. “To maintain quality, we need to ensure there is construction according to the ALP guidelines. Otherwise, we lose our advantage of a high quality solution.”

ACREX, held annually, moves to Mumbai in 2013 with de-tails at www.acrex.org.in. ACREX is organized by ISHRAE, a technical society associated with ASHRAE. ASHRAE con-ducted eight Learning Institute courses at ACREX.

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ATLANTA—Energy use is one of the highest operating costs for building own-ers. It is also the most controllable. To help owners reduce their energy costs, a new building labeling program is avail-able from ASHRAE that not only rates buildings according to the in-operation energy use but also provides owners with suggested measures that can improve energy efficiency.

The Building Energy Quotient (bEQ) program assigns to buildings an energy usage quotient based on completion of an in-operation assessment that includes an ASHRAE Level I Energy Audit.

“bEQ lets a commercial building owner zero in on opportunities to lower build-ing operating cost and make informed decisions to increase value,” said Tom Phoenix, P.E., a consulting engineer in

Greensboro, N.C., who chairs the bEQ committee. “The ultimate goal of the program is to encourage more energy efficient buildings and give owners more control over rising energy costs.”

The key component of the program is the in-operation assessment and the ASHRAE Level I Energy Audit, which serves as the industry standard for de-termining a building’s energy use and producing an actionable plan to improve building performance. To meet bEQ’s

requirements, the assessment must be performed by an ASHRAE-certif ied Building Energy Assessment Profes-sional who will:

• Perform a walk-through survey to be-come familiar with building construction, equipment, operation and maintenance.

• Meet with the owner and operator to learn of special problems or planned improvements and operation or mainte-nance issues.

• Complete a space function analysis and determine whether efficiency may be affected by functions that differ from the original functional intent of the building.

• Identify low-cost/no-cost changes to the facility or to operations and mainte-nance procedures that will result from these changes with their approximate savings.

• Provide a summary of special prob-lems or needs including possible revi-sions to operations and maintenance procedures.

• Recommend potential capital im-

bEQ RatingsHelp OwnersSave Energy

bEQ label shows a building’s performance.

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Largest Geothermal SystemMUNCIE, Ind.—Ball State has started the second and final phase of converting the university to a geothermal ground-source heat pump system—the largest project of its kind in the United States.

The conversion, started in 2009 to replace the coal boilers, now provides heating and cooling to nearly half the campus. This phase of the project will be dedicated in March.

When the system is complete in 2014, the shift from fossil fuels to a renewable energy source will reduce the university’s carbon footprint by nearly half while saving $2 million a year in operating costs.

Ball State is installing a vertical, closed-loop district system that uses only fresh water. Phase 2 includes installation of 780 of the remaining 1,800 boreholes in a field on the south area of campus. It will also include a new District Energy Station South containing two 2,500 ton heat pump chillers and a hot water loop around the south portion of campus. The

system will then connect to all buildings on campus—eventually providing heating and cooling to 5.5 million square feet (511 000 m2).

Danfoss Relocating PlantBALTIMORE—Danfoss has an-nounced it will relocate its industrial

refrigeration final assembly and ware-house operations from Mexico to Mor-rison, Tenn., later this year. The move is part of a strategy to re-engineer the supply chain to a new flexible operation with final assembly of products closer to the market. The relocation will occur during 2012.

Industry Roundup

provements and provide an estimate of potential costs and savings.

Registrants in the bEQ program re-ceive:

• The bEQ In Operation Workbook of the complete building analysis.

• The bEQ Certificate presenting key building performance factors for opera-tions staff.

• The bEQ Dashboard illustrating the level of In Operation performance.

• The bEQ Plaque showing the building rating for public display.

bEQ was introduced two years ago as a pilot program with the intent of providing an easily understood scale to convey a building’s energy use in comparison to similar buildings and climate zones, while also providing building owners with building-specific information that highlights potential energy saving opportunities. The rat-ing is based on the building and how it is operated.

For more information, visit www.buildingenergyquotient.com.

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VANCOUVER, Wash.—A report from the New Buildings Institute (NBI) identi-fies 99 commercial buildings that are net zero energy, net zero energy capable or NZEBs under construction. It reports that:

• The number and diversity of com-mercial NZEBs are growing, and can be found in most climate zones.

• The technologies as well as the design and construction practices used

to create these buildings are readily available today.

• The type of NZEBs are evolving from small demonstration buildings to include K – 12 schools, offices, uni-versity buildings, recreation centers, assembly halls and more.

• Modeling studies indicate addition-al costs of 3% to 18% for energy effi-ciency features, depending on building type, size, climate and other variables.

“The really good news is extremely energy eff icient buildings are being demonstrated in a multitude of climates and across building types,” said Dave Hewitt, NBI executive director. “This is certainly a good sign for the future of zero energy buildings.”

The report is available at www. newbuildings.org/zero-energy.

Daikin McQuay Expanding BrandMINNEAPOLIS—Building profes-sionals will be seeing a lot more of the Daikin McQuay brand as McQuay International formally expands the name to the majority of its applied products and services to reflect the shared innovation and help the industry associate Daikin with applied solutions and applications.

Don Winter, vice president of mar-keting at McQuay, said the company has been slowly making the change to Daikin McQuay since 2009. The brand-ing change reflects Daikin’s footprint in the global, commercial HVAC equip-ment space.

Personal Office Space ShrinkingLONDON—Data released by CoreNet Global shows the average allocation of office space per worker in North America will fall to 151 ft2 (14 m2) by 2017 from 225 ft2 (21 m2) in 2010. The data is based on a February 2012 survey of 465 global managers of cor-porate real estate.

CoreNet says the main reason for the decline is the increase in collab-orative workspaces in companies that are stressing “smaller but smarter” workspaces. Other reasons include the adoption of open floor plans that don’t designate personal spaces.

Commercial NZEBs: Number, Diversity Growing

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