"New horizons"

In this, AIRAH's Centenary year, one only has to look to the past to imagine the skills HVAC&R professionals might need to develop for the future. Sean McGowan explores the industry's challenges and opportunities with some of our leading minds.

​This article appears in Ecolibrium, March 2020

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​Just think of the advances our industry has made over the past century.
 
Indeed, you only need to look back a decade or so to see how quickly HVAC&R has evolved – as have the built environments in which so much of our work is integral.
 
From better understanding of the data our systems generate to the leading role HVAC professionals can have in the design teams of the future, there’s little doubt that to stay still in our industry is to go backwards.
 
We put a call out to some of the industry’s best and brightest to gain their insights into what it will take to stay on top of your game as a HVAC&R professional in the years and decades to come.

THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY

According to Bruce Precious, F.AIRAH, principal consultant at Six Capitals Consulting, it is becoming increasingly important that HVAC professionals understand the notion of the circular economy.
 
“The circular economy responds to the problems of resource use and depletion,” Precious says. 

The concept of the circular economy is based on three principles: design out the waste and pollution, keep products and materials already in use, and regenerate natural systems. 

Future sustainable cities will work with the materials that are already in circulation, avoiding the further destruction of the natural environment due to resource extraction and processing.

“Currently, we run largely linear economies – the take, make and dispose model – which are unsustainable and damaging to our environment,” explains Precious.
 
To put this in perspective, it is estimated that 92 billion tonnes of materials were extracted globally last year, with only 8.7 billion tonnes cycled back. Meanwhile, 32.6 billion tonnes of materials were collected as waste, with the majority of this stream lost to landfill, incinerated, wasted at mining operations or being unregistered waste fractions.
 
“As professionals in the HVAC&R industries, we need to explore how systems can be designed without waste,” Precious says, “and continue to explore how these systems can use less energy, last longer and be reused, refurbished or recycled at end of life.”
 
An evolving concept, the circular economy is already receiving support from governments, at which level it is forming part of a strategy to eliminate the problems of waste.
 
Precious says as an industry, we need to design for optimum efficiency, then select components that are recycled or even reused content. Designing for disassembly so that systems and materials can be recovered effectively will also be important.
 
Says Precious: “It’s interesting to consider that if we were not to dig up any more non-renewable materials, what is the best material to use for HVAC systems?”
 
Will products emerge based on rapidly renewable materials, such as sustainable fabric ducts or laminated timber products? Perhaps HVAC systems would be leased as a service in the future, so that ownership and stewardship of materials is maintained?
 
“New business opportunities abound,” says Precious.

THE REAL MEANING OF DATA

​We already live in an era of large datasets, and that is only set to continue into the future.
 
As sensors, controllers and network infrastructure become cheaper, more readily available and better integrated into physical systems, the opportunity to extract knowledge from the data collected opens up to HVAC engineers.
 
“While advanced data analysis methods, data mining, machine learning and artificial intelligence are crucial methods that support the human in analysing and understanding datasets that would otherwise be inaccessible because of their size, knowing what measurements we feed them is equally important,” says Dr Massimo Fiorentini, Affil.AIRAH.
 
Fiorentini is a senior research fellow at the University of Wollongong’s Sustainable Building Research Centre (SBRC).
 
Selecting the appropriate sensors, understanding the acquisition chain and the impact of the measurement resolutions and frequency, as well as the importance of appropriate signal processing, are all crucial to ensuring the knowledge we extract from data is meaningful.
 
“While this is not a new skill per se, it hasn’t been perceived as important as other novel skills,” says Fiorentini. “But it should always be part of the base knowledge of a professional working in our industry.”
 
Such skills are important to professionals designing and implementing control systems, as well as those commissioning and troubleshooting the building services operation. Data scientists who implement remote automated fault-detection, energy-benchmarking and the continuous commissioning of a portfolio of buildings must also have these skills.
 
“HVAC& systems, as with other building systems in general, are becoming more efficient but also more complex at the same time,” says Fiorentini. “This means they are more difficult to manage, and understanding their operation is key to ensuring they perform as efficiently as they can.
 
“The knowledge that comes from integrating datasets from different sources helps to identify how variables at system level affect the performance of individual equipment, allowing solutions to be identified that better orchestrates the operation of components in a complex system.”

THE BUILDING ENCLOSURE

Many new and existing buildings fail to perform as anticipated due to problems encountered either with the design or construction of the building envelope.
 
Air infiltration and exfiltration, along with unmitigated heat transfer, can lead to poor energy performance and other adverse issues. Water penetration in the form of moisture-laden air or bulk water is all too common.
 
“Surprisingly, almost every building leaks at some point during its service life, often resulting in costly damage to interior building materials,” says Jesse Clarke, M.AIRAH, building science manager at Pro Clima Australia.
 
“The issues that result from inadequate integration and continuity of water, air and thermal barriers increase ongoing operational, maintenance and repair costs. At the very least, these problems may result in occupant discomfort and tenant dissatisfaction, while at their worst they may raise liability risks for the owner.”
 
In addressing these issues and others, the specific role of the building enclosure consultant to provide specialised engineering knowledge in the building envelope has emerged.
 
“They must ensure continuity of thermal control, water control, vapour control and air control layers with respect to not compromising the fundamental building code requirements of health, safety and energy efficiency, then make sure it gets implemented in the field,” Clarke says of the profession.
 
Depending on the type of project, building enclosure consulting services can benefit any or all of the architect, contractor, property owner/manager, developer, insurer or construction law firm.
 
Despite having existed in many parts of the world for some years, the profession is only just emerging here in Australia. Consequently, their involvement will likely be confined to commercial projects in the short term.
 
But Clarke says the high-rise multi-residential sector would gain enormously from the input of highly qualified building enclosure consultants.
 
“Clients in low-rise residential housing are unlikely to have the funds to employ these people on a one-off basis,” he says. “But progressive developers and volume builders could go a long way in employing these people to standardise their design details to achieve great outcomes.
 
“Building envelope commissioning is the big missing piece of the puzzle.

​STAY FUTURE-READY WITH
​THESE SKILLS:

• Be a lateral thinker; usually there is no one, single answer to a problem

• Communicate great ideas with compelling introductions and storytelling

• Be business-savvy; the profession is changing

• Have a passion for a better built environment

• Get a handle of IT and how it relates to HVAC&R equipment

• Seek training in new refrigerants, sustainable rating schemes and more

• Consider the circular economy

• Evolve beyond your area of expertise

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​REFRIGERANTS OF THE FUTURE

In the past, the refrigerants used by our industry were largely non-toxic, non-flammable and relatively low pressure. But in recent years, we have discovered just how destructive these substances have been to our environment.
 
As a consequence, the shift to natural refrigerants has gained in momentum.
 
“All of the current options available are either flammable, high-pressure or toxic,” says Chris Fontana, M.AIRAH, owner of Process Cooling Solutions in Hobart.
 
“But we will be seeing more of these refrigerants and systems in the future as Australia follows the trends from Europe.”
 
He says it is critical that those using future refrigerants seek the training required.
 
“There are currently training modules being offered as part of the national apprenticeship training package to educate apprentices on flammable refrigerants, and outline some of the safety concerns around CO2,” he says.

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GET RID OF THE SILO

One of the problems commonly identified in the HVAC and construction industries is the siloing of professions in the design team.
 
“HVAC professionals are well-educated and skilled, but are sometimes unwilling to engage with other members of the design team – those with differing skills and priorities – which is essential for the successful completion of increasingly complex projects,” says Alan Obrart, L.AIRAH, director and engineer at Obrart & Co.
 
Obrart says it’s critical that there is a full connection and contribution between all members of a multidisciplinary design team, including the client.
 
“To be successful, full integration and coordination with the facade team is essential, as is end-user requirements for spaces within the building,” he says.
 
“But we have to break out of the HVAC silo and fully engage with the facade, structural and end-user requirements to provide a successful, cost-effective design that will provide users of the building spaces that are healthy, comfortable, sustainable and efficient.”
 
To this end, Obrart would like to see HVAC professionals are fully across all sustainability rating schemes including WELL, Green Star and NABERS – as well as current NCC/BCA mandatory requirements.
 
“These are the drivers for building design,” he says, “and are vital to the role HVAC contributes.”
 
He also recommends that younger professionals seeking a long career in an industry that is forever changing look beyond just the HVAC field.
 
“All too often I see HVAC professionals avoiding detailed discussion and providing vital input into the associated professional areas because they see this as not being their business,” says Obrart.
 
“But it is. Don’t practise outside of our professional area, but we must provide input where appropriate to the other professionals in the design team and not hide behind our own jargon.”
 
By upskilling in areas essential to the total building design, installation and operations – including hydraulics, fire, electrical, communications and digital controls – HVAC professionals will be able to add more value to the design process.
 
“Build skills in associated services,” Obrart says, “so that you can be a useful partner in the essential coordinated design process, which is vital to the ongoing operations of the building.”

SOLVE THE RIGHT PROBLEM

As in the past, it’s likely that many of society’s current ills will only be solved by applying both analytical and creative thinking. Consequently, employers are increasingly attracted to candidates and graduates who display a diversity of skill, interests and thinking.
 
For instance, employers are likely to find a graduate who has studied engineering and something else – be it architecture, music, art, law or another language – a more attractive employee than one that has not.
 
“The starting point of solving problems is to solve the right problem,” says Jeffrey Robinson, M.AIRAH, Aurecon’s technical director, built environment.
 
He says developing skills in design thinking so as to ensure staff ask the right questions is paramount. And like Obrart, he says one of the biggest barriers to coming up with creative answers to problems is siloed reductionist thinking.
 
“To develop creative and sustainable solutions, we need to bring together the best ideas of creative thinkers, and get multiple benefits from each piece of construction.
 
“We train our staff in the integrated design process where we bring multidisciplinary teams together for short, intense workshops where we have the right people with the right tools, and we test many integrated designs in a short period of time at the start of a project.”
 
For instance, Robinson asks how an HVAC engineer should go about designing a zero- carbon building.
 
The answer?
 
“Not by starting with what size the HVAC system should be, and where to locate the plant, ducts, pipes and controls,” he says.
 
Rather, Robinson says the HVAC engineer should first seek to influence a lot of other decisions such as the orientation of the building, the area and type of glass, and how well the windows are shaded.
 
“By working with other design disciplines, you end up with a well-insulated, airtight building that is comfortable to occupy and requires less energy to heat, cool and ventilate,” he says.

LESSONS, CHALLENGES, OPPORTUNITIES

As evidenced by the future-casting above, the evolution of the built environment, and the role of the HVAC&R professional in shaping it, will be an ever important one in the years and decades ahead.
 
Only by considering the lessons of the past, the challenges of our present and the opportunities of the future can we ensure that the HVAC&R industries remain in a leading role in the design and construction of a better built environment to benefit – and not hinder – future generations.

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AIRAH invites you to make your own prediction on where the HVAC&R industry is heading over the next 100 years. Click here to get involved.