May 18, 2007

Focused Business

Jain & Associates tackles only environmentally-friendly projects

DON PROCTER

CORRESPONDENT

Virtually every contract Jain & Associates Ltd. takes on these days has a green element. The extent to which the engineering consultant’s work is enviro-friendly depends on a project’s owner, but straight-up conventional electrical/mechanical jobs are a thing of the past for the Mississauga-based firm.

Jain & Associates isn’t new to the green game. During the energy crunch of the 1970s, the firm introduced innovative sustainable technology but few of its clients took it seriously. One that did was the Ontario Hydro branch office in Walkerton. Dinesh Jain installed an energy-efficient groundwater heat pump system there. The engineering firm has come a long way since.

“We try to focus on sustainability whenever we can,” explains Anish Jain, executive vice-president, of Jain. He runs the company with president Dinesh Jain, his father. With offices in Vancouver, Dubai, Jordan, New Delhi, Shanghai (SP) and Houston, the firm’s diversified green portfolio ranges from large luxury homes and art galleries to large-scale residential developments and energy-smart additions to utility company offices.

MOSHE SAFDIE ARCHITECT

The Khalsa Heritage Memorial Complex in Anandpur Sahiab, India.

RDH ARCHITECTS

Plaza2006 at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario.

ARC DESIGN INTERNATIONAL

Central Library, Sichuan University in Chengdu, China.

One notable recent project was its design using solar energy to produce air conditioning for a building in Hong Kong. The solar energy heated water that was put into an absorption chiller which produced the chilled water for cooling. “We believe it to be one of the first, if not the first, in Asia,” says Jain.

Locally, the firm recently installed a geothermal heat recovery system and rain cistern for Milton municipal hall. At Guelph Hydro’s head office it also put in a heat recovery system plus solar heating for the domestic water, variable frequency drives for all pumps to save energy usage and the firm consulted on a built-up bituminous roof with a highly-reflective membrane that is Energy Star compliant. Jain also added a photovoltaic installation to generate some electricity for the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified building.

“It may appear to some people that what we’re doing is bells and whistles but what we are actually doing are smart designs which are energy efficient and simple enough for owners and operators to understand,” Jain says. “What we find is if it gets too complex, our clients don’t use it.”

Increasingly, the engineering firm has taken “a more holistic approach” to mechanical/electrical contracts. More building owners are responding favorably, he points out. “It may not be a decision they make based on a quick payback, but it could be a social issue that drives their decision.”

For example, more clients see the merits of a rainwater cistern, even though there is no economic gain to it.

That’s the case at the Milton municipal hall where Jain didn’t have to do any arm-twisting to get the municipality’s approval for a cistern.

Indoor air quality is another important determinant in a heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) design. Building owners that don’t want to spend the money on a healthy HVAC system don’t realize the savings it can achieve: healthier, happier occupants that are more productive, explains Jain.

He says electrical/mechanical consulting engineers have no choice but to incorporate sustainable design elements into their designs in the coming years if they want to stay in business. “Sustainable design is going to become an industry standard.”

That time is coming sooner than many think.

The Ontario Building Code stipulates that by 2011 all buildings must surpass the Model National Energy Code for Buildings’ (MNECB) energy efficiency requirement by 25 per cent. The MNECB is the benchmark for energy efficiency by which designers measure their buildings.

Currently, to obtain a LEED certificate, a building must exceed the MNECB energy efficiency quotient by 25 per cent.

“In our opinion this is a huge change,” Jain points out. “To design something that is 25 per cent more efficient than an energy efficient code requires, means you have to do things above and beyond the norm.”

By 2011, buildings designed with conventional heating and cooling units on roofs will be a thing of the past. “To get 25 per cent more efficiency, generally you need an official envelope, some sort of heat recovery system.”

Consequently, more commercial buildings will have comprehensive central heat recovery systems and multi-residential buildings will feature individual heat recovery units in each suite.

The elder Jain says a few years ago, owners weren’t prepared to dish out extra bucks for heat recovery systems but many owners have had a change in heart in recent years.

The Jains say that where the market demand isn’t strong for sustainable design, it must be created.

“As engineering and architectural professionals, we have an obligation and duty to educate people,” explains the younger Jain, noting that the firm was among the first consulting engineers to bring sustainable concepts to India in 1996.

While building owners are increasingly getting the point, the younger Jain says the company’s experience is that Ontario is still behind B.C. and many of American states. “They are doing a lot more of everything on the sustainable front.”

The engineering consultant has been around for about 55 years. In 1984, the elder Jain became a partner in the firm, then known as R J. Black.

Five years later he stepped into the role of president and became the sole owner. In 1994 he changed the name to Jain & Associates.

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