New options, old challenge in KSA for JC's Watters

The general manager advocates systems that let you see all energy consumption.

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Buddy Watters admits that just when the Johnson Controls expected to enter a quiet summer period to catch its breath, the opposite has occurred.

The US company, which offers systems that coordinate air conditioning, lighting and other areas of internal facilities, has been “fully engaged in jobs” and the seeming endless opportunities in Saudi Arabia afforded by the recent investment in construction and infrastructure.

“This Ramadan has not been quiet, it’s been a very good year [so far],” says the general manager of the Jeddah-based firm’s controls division. “This is in new business development. There have been a lot of opportunities in the Saudi market with projects like the King Abdullah Economic City and all the investment into health care and education. The Princess Noura University, for example, I think it has about 40,000 people working on it.”

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The company’s angle on new projects is to provide the best system to monitor all aspects of a buildings internal operation. Its core product is the Metasys system, an integrated platform that collects web pages of information that are published onto a single network and can be easily read and understood by users.

Thus, data including that on energy expenditure of a building’s heating, ventilation, air conditioning, lighting, IT network, and security systems can be collected and viewed through a single portal – improving the visibility of a building’s efficiency.

He explains that Metasys can help towards reducing energy and securing a LEED accreditation in three ways.

“Firstly, if you look at water efficiency, it has an ability to monitor water use and validate the reduction in water use.

“Second, there are three LEED credits for energy and atmosphere that are prerequisites for any building that wants a LEED rating. Monitoring this without Metasys is impossible, and you can also monitor the energy performance baseline and a baseline for energy reduction.

“Thirdly, there is the indoor environmental quality, which is about 15-16 points. The prerequisite is a minimum of indoor air quality, where you have to monitor the levels of CO2 in the building and also the amount of outside air let in for the right level of air freshness.”

But despite a strong flow of planned projects in the country, and thus opportunities to engage with clients and developers about energy saving products, the desire for the Saudi construction industry to be sustainable is still relatively low, he says.

“My assessment is there’s a lot of interest. In initial talks with people, everyone says ‘I am always the best [in building efficiency]’. But then sometimes they fall by the wayside and perhaps hires an engineer that knows nothing about sustainability, it is just the same people using the same slide-rule they were using in 1954.

“There have been a lot of discussions in the market place, though I don’t think many people understand it, or care too much about the benefit. So in terms of sustainability people aren’t terribly concerned and I don’t think many buildings being built today are with that in mind – perhaps about 90% of the people living there will be expats.”

The US-originated LEED ratings for buildings made up the majority of the "buzz" around sustainability, he adds, despite initiatives to develop a system more relevant to Middle Eastern climate, such as the Estidama system in Abu Dhabi.

Others have highlighted the occasional disparity of talk and action and the added obstacles to intensify focus on sustainability. At ConstructionWeek’s ‘Building Sustainability’ conference in Riyadh in June, Khaled Awad, founder of sustainable building investment firm Grenea and one of the founders of the carbon-neutral Masdar project, said the incentives for switching to energy efficiency – from the designs to tools and materials – are not visible to many Arab states and it is only an influence on the bottom line that will create a culture that aims to be sustainable.

“I’m not talking about sustainability in a tree-hugging sense but in reality,” he said in a speech. “This runs from water recycling, low or zero carbon and producing a higher quality of life for people – and the development must show it’s a higher quality of life.”

The obstacle, he said, is a lack of legislation or clear financial benefits. “You must show how all stakeholders can benefit and come onto one platform. How can we monetise this – if you can’t make money, how will it happen?”

Watters believes more education as to the longer-term benefits of energy efficiency is needed.

Partly this comes down to the timing of the meetings with clients. He says companies that aim towards installing systems that monitor and reduce energy consumption are involved “far too late” during the planning and early construction of a building – reducing the potential benefits of using technology to address energy waste.

The company’s experience in the Middle East, despite building a strong business hub for its Building Efficiency division in the area, is very different to other parts of the world.

“If you look at the market in Europe, the US, or places in Asia such as Singapore, we’ve had the relationship with architects, engineers, contractors and developers,” he explains. “When the client wants to build something they will assemble a team and we’ll be part of that team and involved early. We would be able to offer input and guide through the design decisions.

“In the Middle East, often people start construction only on the back of a handshake; things change very quickly and things are being designed almost floor by floor. This prohibits the opportunity to be involved to give valid input that they can understand and be part of. This was especially the predominant method in UAE.”

Building management systems can also play another role – monitoring the limits of internal equipment to help reduce the need for replacements. “The longer the equipment runs outside its optimum range then the more energy it is consuming,” he argues.

“Once you’ve responded to a problem with the equipment you have to go back and forth with replacements using up valuable resources.”