More than 300 professionals from the Middle East’s heating, ventilation, air-conditioning and refrigeration (HVAC) industry gathered in Dubai to plan out the sector’s path to sustainability with global experts outlining how technological disruption can aid the region’s energy and water conservation drive.

The one-day think tank – ‘Shaping the Future of the HVAC Industry’ – was jointly organised at the Address Marina hotel by four of the biggest HVAC players who came together to tackle underlying gaps and address local market demands and pain points.

They are: actuator and valve technology pioneer Belimo; Danish water and climate business leader, Grundfos; high-performance insulation experts Kingspan; and the water-bearing building systems and technology provider Reflex.

"The industry is ready to innovate and take up a role in assisting the region’s drive towards sustainability with energy savings and improved efficiency to deliver better buildings to live and work in," remarked Hassan Younes, the president of the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning, ASHRAE, Falcon Chapter, who moderated the event.

All four of the organising parties asserted that the adoption of new digitally-driven technologies was key to ensuring sustainability and a minimal environmental impact in the region where 80 per cent of energy is consumed by buildings, and almost a third of this is down to HVAC systems, said the organisers.

Adding to the need for such a platform, Colin Bridges, the business development director at Belimo, said: "With fast growing urbanisation, finite natural resources and increasing global warming, it is clear that buildings are going to have to become smarter in every way."

"This will mean harvesting 'real time' data and its' autonomous use by building management systems to continuously maintain efficiencies. This means doing things differently, not tomorrow, but today," stated Bridges.

Live digitalised demo stations and working innovative solutions were up on display for attendees to interact and engage with.

The think tank partners pointed out that the intelligent digitisation was changing the face of the industry with integrated technology delivering optimal performance, enhanced energy efficiency, and ultimate reliability leading to lower power consumption, less system noise and overall improved environmental comfort.

The four partners said this first sustainability gathering should spur momentum for fast tracking innovation and collaboration to tackle crucial energy conservation challenges.-TradeArabia News Service