Technical Solutions for Commercial Buidings

One of the most significant costs in industrial and commercial buildings is energy. Industrial manufacturing is a machine-intensive operation and all machines require power to operate. 

Our Vision

• Cobeal's aim is to provide cost-efficient, energy-efficient and low/zero carbon technologies for heating and cooling.

Key Findings

• Low/zero-carbon and energy-efficient heating and cooling technologies for buildings have the potential to reduce CO2 emissions by up to 2 gigatonnes (Gt) and save 710 million tonnes of oil equivalent (Mtoe) of energy by 2050. Cobeal offers most of these technologies - which include solar thermal, combined heat and power (CHP), heat pumps and thermal energy storage.
• Cobeal offers a wide variety of standardized environmental packages, tailored to individual decision makers' needs, and works with you to identify performance targets and energy and CO2 savings at the time of design or purchase. 
• Cobeal's environmental engineers have participated on technical working groups that include stakeholders from all areas to ensure that energy-efficient and low-carbon technology priorities are aligned with environmental policies. 
• Cobeal is current in its knowledge of quantitative measures and qualitative actions that define the global pathway for heating and cooling technology deployment to 2050. The model is a bottom-up model that uses cost optimization to identify least-cost mixes of energy technologies and solutions to meet energy demand. 

Status of heating and cooling technologies today

• Active solar thermal (AST) can provide space and water heating, as well as cooling needs. 
• Combined heat and power systems are a mature and useful transitional technology, while micro-CHP, biomass CHP and even fuel cell systems (using CO2-free hydrogen) may emerge as important abatement options. 
• Heat pumps for cooling and space and water heating are mature, highly efficient technologies that take advantage of renewable energy. 
• Thermal storage includes sensible (hot water, underground storage) and latent ('phase change' ice storage, micro-encapsulated phase-change materials) and thermo-chemical storage. Thermal storage can maximize the energy savings and energy efficiency potential of other technologies, facilitate the use of renewables and waste heat, and improve flexibility, helping to minimize the overall system cost. 
• Note: Heat pumps, active solar thermal and CHP can all be installed in almost all building types to provide space and water heating. For cooling, active solar thermal and CHP require thermally driven chillers, while heat pumps are the standard for standalone space cooling today. 
• Cobeal offers heat pumps and CHP systems in a range of sizes from as small as 1 kW up to MW scale and are very modular. 
• In larger buildings multiple units can be installed to improve operational flexibility, allow optimal operation for efficiency and provide an element of redundancy/back-up. 
• Active solar thermal systems are modular and different permutations of solar collector area and thermal energy storage are possible that mean systems can meet a wide range of demands. 
• Many criteria must be taken into account in the complex process of choosing heating and cooling technologies, including: 
  • annual heating profile for water and/or space heating, and annual cooling profile; 
  • relative timing of thermal and electric loads; 
  • space constraints;
  • emission regulations; 
  • utility costs for electricity, and availability and prices of other fuels; 
  • initial cost and the cost of financing;
  • the seasonal efficiency of the equipment; 
  • complexity of installation and operation; 
  • reputation of the manufacturer; 
  • architect/engineer/builder/installer's knowledge of available technologies and models. 

• Cobeal includes sustainability measures for the entire construction project and its site - from design through construction. The aim is to make buildings more efficient, reduce waste, and have a positive impact on health, safety and community welfare. 
• Cobeal offers LEED Certification services and Building Commissioning. 
• For more information on Cobeal's services and areas of expertise, visit: The Whole Building.