Norwegian engineers cut power usage by a quarter in the luxury hotel St. Regis in Beijing.
Hotels in the Chinese capital has four times as high energy consumption per guest as a comparable Norwegian hotel, and China has much to gain from energy efficiency. Current price is higher than in Norway, while a typical Chinese monthly salary is 3,000 NOK.
- In real terms, energy prices are very high in China, says Tor Olsen, CTO of AF Gruppen.
Saves two million
AF conducted a two-part project for the Beijing hotel St. Regis, from January to August this 2011. The Norwegian engineers to optimize both energy usage and advise on the potential for further energy savings in the future.
The Norwegian technology company was boldly enough to give the Chinese a guarantee that they would be able to reduce energy consumption by at least ten percent. And they managed. When all the recommended measures are implemented, engineers can record a reduction of 25 percent. The equivalent of two million NOK in annual savings for the Beijing hotel, not exactly small change on the Chinese scale.
The measures introduced included the improved management of ventilation and cooling.
- Have something to contribute in China
AF, which has established an office in Shanghai, believes there is a large and growing market for engineering services in China.
- For us it is easy to get good profitability of such projects. And the environmental impact per NOK is greater when the money used in China than in Norway, says Tor Olsen.
- It may sound strange that the Norwegian engineers to teach something to the Chinese engineers, they are after all very skilled in many fields. But I think we are better at seeing relationships across different subjects. At hotels, they often have very many employees - they have for example one that works with the warmth and one who works with refrigeration. We see interdisciplinarity in this and get people to work together, explains Tor Olsen.
Innovation Norway opened the doors
Innovation Norway has a strong focus on energy and environment sector in China, partly through his work with Norwegian Energy and Environment Consortium (NEEC). NEEC promote business cooperation in energy and environmental technologies between Norway and China. Innovation Norway has together with Norad also funded the three-year initiative Energy Management Program, which focuses on the development of energy efficiency projects in the Chinese construction and heavy industry.
- Innovation Norway has been a door opener spring, says Tor Olsen.
- They have really given us many good contacts, and they have been very good to work with stakeholders and authorities. There are huge cultural differences between Norway and China, and different ways of doing business. Innovation Norway's Energy Management Program has been a very positive support for us, and I think actually we had gone into this project without Innovation Norway, summarizes Olsen.
PICTURE: Technical Director Tor Olsen (left) in the AF Energy & Environmental Engineering and hotel manager, Norwegian Yngvar Stray.
