Edward Yusko

Sustainability considerations now permeate the entire property value chain

CONSTRUCTION WEEK (Middle East) – by Medea Nocentini July 09, 2024

With growing sustainability concerns and heightened scrutiny over various sectors’ contributions to climate change, the property sector’s impact is under the spotlight. As the largest asset class globally, with a market size exceeding $338 trillion in 2022, the property sector’s status quo is being re-evaluated through the lens of sustainability.

Sustainability considerations now permeate the entire property value chain, affecting designers, developers, property managers, regulators, residents, and tenants.  Currently, 43% of global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions stem from the real estate sector, with building operations accounting for approximately 70% and construction contributing the remaining 30%.

Investors are increasingly prioritising sustainable practices, recognising both the potential value and profitability in properties managed with a focus on sustainability. Among these investors, 63% are exploring the adoption of building and IoT sensors, while 62% are investigating automated energy management as well as sustainability monitoring and reporting.

Innovative approaches to sustainability in the property sector

The sustainability shift within the property sector is compelling, driven by cutting-edge solutions in material sciences, 3D printing, water management and energy efficiency. As the third-largest contributor to CO2 emissions, the potential for a net-zero paradigm shift in property development is significant, promising climate-conscious developments that enhance efficiency and affordability.

Beyond material choices, there is a clear move towards sustainability in building amenities and central HVAC systems. Lighting and other energy-efficient systems are being integrated from the early stages of the value chain.

Initiatives like the UAE’s Al Sa’fat and Pearl rating systems, Saudi Arabia’s evolving national building codes, and the Africa Green Building Finance Initiative emphasise the need to incorporate sustainability into decision-making processes.

On the water management side, Ireland’s HT Materials Science, with Saudi Aramco as one of their clients in the GCC region, develops advanced heat transfer fluids, focusing on enhancing the efficiency of cooling and heating systems.

Their primary product, Maxwell™, is a nanofluid additive that improves thermal performance by up to 15%, leading to lower energy consumption and reduced carbon emissions.

Maxwell™ can be integrated into existing systems without significant modifications, making it suitable for a range of applications including commercial buildings and data centers.

The shift towards sustainability in the property sector is not just a response to environmental concerns but a comprehensive strategy to enhance efficiency, profitability, and affordability.

By embracing innovative materials, advanced manufacturing techniques, and energy-efficient practices, the property sector can significantly reduce its carbon footprint while meeting the growing demand for sustainable and affordable living spaces.

Calling all real estate managers, factory operators, hospitals and data centers: This new heat transfer fluid can take 15% off your energy bill

Posted on June 28, 2024 by Karin Kloosterman in Green Tech and Gadgets, Technology

Dublin based HT Materials Science (HTMS) has developed a breakthrough energy savings solution called Maxwell that can slash operating costs, increase system capacity in new and existing builds and offer carbon credits.

Water is the universal heat transfer fluid for commercial and industrial HVAC systems. While water is plentiful and cheap there are additives to water which can improve its thermal capacity and that’s the elegant and planet-smart idea from Irish-Italian company HT Materials Science based in Dublin, Ireland.

HTMS has developed a heat transfer fluid branded Maxwell to increase the thermal capacity of water –– allowing it to store up to 20% more energy than water alone. At only a 2% additive to water, Maxwell can provide up to a 20% increase in performance and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in no small way.

HT Materials Science was founded in 2018 to develop a heat transfer fluid for commercial and industrial HVAC markets. Among its investors are Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures, which led a €15M Series A round in 2021, and Barclays Bank, via its Sustainable Impact Capital portfolio.

HT Materials Science CEO Tom Grizzetti tells Green Prophet: “There has certainly been development activity in heat transfer fluids over the last decade-plus. However, the combination of product stability, proven performance and client engagement has been elusive.

“With Maxwell, a multi-patented product, we bring to market a solution that was developed to satisfy both the science and the business sides of the equation. These efforts have resulted in a stable product with provable performance and ultimately significant client engagement,” he adds.

Maxwell is an engineered suspension of sub-micron aluminum oxide particles in a base fluid of water or water/glycol (that last part is significant since it means Maxwell can be used in systems that use either water or glycol as their base fluid)—resulting in reduced energy use, emissions, maintenance and costs; and an increase in system capacity.

Same temperature, less energy

Consider that heating and cooling are attributed to almost half of our planet’s energy consumption, and about 40% of carbon dioxide and equivalent carbon emissions.

Among HT Material Science’s first industrial clients is the German based alumina producer Almatis. By installing Maxwell into the plant’s cooling system, HTMS increased the system capacity by up to 20% while increasing operational output.

HT Materials Science is on a mission looking to expand throughout the Middle East as countries like the UAE and Saudi Arabia develop manufacturing and technology parks to keep production facilities like electric cars close to home.

Maxwell is a pretty neat fluid that will be a game changer for carbon accounting globally.

Dublin-based start-up HT Materials Science has joined the Amazon Sustainability Accelerator, aiming to expand its retrofit solution for heating and cooling systems

Dimitris Mavrokefalidis
Energy Live News
05/29/2024 10:30 AM

Dublin‘s HT Materials Science has been selected to participate in the Amazon Sustainability Accelerator, joining 15 other European start-ups in the initiative’s third edition. The accelerator offers a four-week programme designed to empower start-ups addressing global sustainability challenges.

HT Materials Science, founded in 2018, has developed a retrofit solution that enhances heating and cooling systems’ efficiency.  This technology, named Maxwell heat transfer fluids, can be integrated into existing commercial and industrial systems, delivering significant energy savings of up to 15% while reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

The expanded accelerator programme, a partnership between Amazon, EIT Climate-KIC and Founders Intelligence, aims to support entrepreneurs in scaling their sustainable solutions.

Thomas Grizzetti, Chief Executive Officer of HT Materials Science, said: “Between 1990 and 2020, energy used for cooling tripled and will continue to increase as global economies expand and temperatures rise.”

Zak Watts, Amazon’s International Director of Sustainability said: “The scope of businesses involved means we can support even more entrepreneurs to reach their potential.  “Not to mention the one of a kind opportunity to test their technology directly with parts of Amazon’s business.”

Copyright © 2024 Energy Live News Ltd

Nanofluids offer quick, low-cost ways to improve performance without system upgrades or replacements, manufacturers say, with even newer innovations on the horizon.

March 14, 2024 (Facilities Dive News, Joe Burns reporting) –

Space heating, cooling and ventilation represent more than half of the total fuel consumption in the U.S. commercial sector. Among these, space heating is the largest segment, at 32%, followed by ventilation at 11% and cooling at 9%, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

In part due to HVAC systems’ large energy demands, these systems require careful consideration in maintenance, operating and capital expenditure budgets. They often require more maintenance attention — and use more energy — as they age due to issues like dirty coils, corrosion in refrigerant loops and heat exchanger oil fouling. The latter problem can lead to efficiency losses, maintenance costs resulting from the removal of fouling deposits or the replacement of corroded or plugged equipment. More concerning, perhaps, is that oil fouling can require planned or unplanned system shutdowns, according to research by Hassan Al-Haj Ibrahim of the Arab University for Science and Technology. To improve the life cycle of heating and cooling systems, reduce oil fouling problems and improve efficiency, some building operators are looking to new chemical and material science technology additives like nanofluids.

Certain additives have the potential to significantly improve HVAC output. Research in Energy Reports found that using aluminum oxide nanofluid can enhance heat transfer and improve air conditioner system performance by approximately 22%. Because such additives are implemented through noninvasive treatments, they could offer building operators a cost-effective alternative to replacing existing HVAC systems or implementing building automation systems to improve performance.

Where U.S. buildings are using HVAC nanofluids
HT Materials Science offers an aluminum oxide nanofluid product named Maxwell for commercial and industrial thermal systems. The nanoparticles “are only 2% by volume of a typical system, so it’s not a dump and replace. It’s a pure additive, and, generally speaking, no [capital expenditure] is required,” HT Materials Science CEO Tom Grizzetti said in an interview.

The company projects a 10% to 15% increase in energy efficiency across the additive’s more than 10 year life cycle, with those improvements degrading less than 1% in that time, Grizzetti said. HTMS focuses on a two- to four-year payback period, depending on utilization, for its customers, he added.

“We’d like to focus on commercial and industrial because you need [high] utilization,” Grizzetti said. “If you don’t use it, you don’t save.” Large-scale office buildings with district cooling or other “larger infrastructure projects” like an airport are among the use cases he suggests.

HTMS’ Maxwell product was evaluated in a summer 2023 pilot at a district cooling plant in a suburb of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The trial, which studied the nanofluid’s effects on chilled water energy use at a 55,742-square-meter educational campus, found that the additive increased the efficiency of the plant’s chillers by 13.6% and increased overall plant efficiency 9% compared with 2022, according to HTMS.

Back in the U.S., HVAC system nanofluids are also being piloted, tested and even celebrated. Phoenix, which expects to exceed last year’s record summer heat this summer, is implementing nanofluid technology to improve cooling systems in city-owned buildings.

Phoenix partnered with ECM Technologies on a $2.5 million contract to implement the company’s ThermaClear nanofluid in HVAC systems of public facilities, with the first phase treating 469 HVAC units across Phoenix fire department and police department buildings. This phase, which concluded in January 2023, treated 3,805 total tons of equipment and is estimated to have provided over 1,350 megawatt hours in annual energy savings to the departments, alongside more than $100,000 saved in annual HVAC service and repair costs, according to the Phoenix Business Journal.

Since then, the partnership has expanded to use the additives in HVAC systems at 16 public library locations, and Sky Harbor International Airport’s treatment is underway. Separately, the Phoenix Art Museum has saved more than $18,000 in annual HVAC energy costs and approximately 123 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent since treating its three 350-ton Trane water-cooled chillers with ThermaClear.

“We’re the Lipitor to the HVAC system,” David Fenton, managing director of ECM Technologies, told Facilities Dive, comparing the company’s ThermaClear product to a drug used to reduce “bad” cholesterol and other fats in the bloodstream. “We inject it into the refrigerant loop. It gravitates to the metal and displaces the oil and sludge that’s there, and then it forms a covalent bond to the metal, preventing that oil from sticking.”

In terms of savings, Fenton says the average return on investment for ThermaClear’s one-time treatment is between 12 and 36 months, with operational savings of 15% to 20% per year on average. In addition to cost savings, many companies are implementing ECM Technologies’ nanofluids to drive decarbonization efforts, Fenton noted.

“If we’re reducing electricity [use], we’re definitely having an impact on carbon reduction,” Fenton said. Other goals differ by customer, he said. “Some companies, if we can extend the life of that equipment by another 2, 3 or 4 years and defer [capital expenditures], that’s pretty significant. And then others are looking just to cut their annual operating costs or their biggest fixed cost, which is electricity.”

Other ECM Technologies customers include facilities of Arizona State University, GoDaddy, TransWestern and Morgan Stanley, Fenton said. The firm is focused on serving warmer U.S. regions like the Southwest and Sun Belt. “The most juice for the squeeze in terms of payback, and the fastest performance improvement units, are going to happen in areas where they’re running air conditioning the most,” Fenton said.

Other innovations on the horizon
Material science firms and HVAC firms are starting to work together to improve system efficiency from the outset. For example, Montana Technologies’ AirJoule dehumidification, air conditioning and atmospheric water harvesting technology will incorporate GE Vernova’s proprietary sorbent materials in a new joint venture operating under the AirJoule name, the companies announced Monday.

Researchers at the University of Texas at Dallas are developing a quick-drying polymeric desiccant that could dehumidify buildings using at least 30% less energy than conventional air-conditioning systems.

Shuang Cui, principal investigator and assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the university’s Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science, said in a Feb. 21 release that this desiccant material would be used to coat a rotating cylinder, sucking in water and then removing the absorbed moisture as the mechanism rotates and the material is exposed to low heat.

The thermo-responsive material can make air conditioning more efficient by separating the dehumidification and heat removal processes and improving the most energy-consuming processes, the news release said. Unlike traditional air-conditioning systems, those utilizing the new desiccant material would not need to cool coils at low temperatures to condense moisture from the air and would likely not need to be heated to high temperatures to evaporate collected moisture, the release said.

The research is part of an interdisciplinary effort that includes other researchers from Texas A&M University, the University of Utah and private HVAC firm OxiCool. The project, which began in 2023, will continue working to optimize the thermo-responsive polymers to find out which formulas work best at absorbing moisture and drying quickly at low energy input.