Grundfos, the award-winning world leader in advanced pump and water application systems, took part in the Retrofit Workshop, a two-day leading event organized by the Danish Consular Office on the 5th and also sixth November 2018 at the Mohammed bin Rashid Room Centre, Dubai.

Green at heart and at the forefront of sustainability, Grundfos remained in alliance with the Danish embassy for this occasion, along with a number of renowned Danish companies, Danfoss, AVK, Kamstrup, Hempel, Rockwool, Epiito as well as Jskoncept A/S.

The seminar, which was easily organized in the very first passive autonomous house in the UAE, was participated in by Franz-Michael Skjold Mellbin, Ambassador of Denmark to the UAE; Ali Al Jassim, Ceo of Etihad ESCO, SEWA's Eng. Afra Alowais and also various other partners from SEWA. It brought together Danish distributors and experts as well as a considerable yield of greater than 90 visitors each day; in a proposal to boost dialogue on the retrofitting market in the UAE, which is an essential part of the regional and also international global green.

The event tackled on the Danish Retrofitting story and how Danish state-of-art leading solutions can add value and assist in the transition, thanks to years of experience as well as keeping CO2 emissions intact despite growth in population and economic situation. It additionally went over local development and visions for the UAE, more specifically Dubai as well as Sharjah; ESCOs, concept as well as financial models, along with retrofitting principles that consisted of products like water pump, HVAC components, smart ceiling and ventilation system, smart lightning, sustainable paint and isolation material and so on.

Explaining the importance of retrofitting pumps, Tolga Candan, Business Development Manager, Energy Optimization & Retrofitting at Grundfos Gulf Distribution, Dubai indicated that Grundfos is performing a transition from being just a pumps manufacturer to an integrated solutions partner for every client, FM, operator and ESCO. He said: Pumps are at the heart of your facilities. Day in and day out, they make your business run. But they come with a price. It may be nothing to buy it, but the price you are going to pay for it every year is massive, so basically, the price of a pump is nothing compared to its energy consumption.

This, he stated, is particularly real for retrofitting existing building supply, in the relocate to boost energy efficiency. "Energy prices are boosting. Therefore, numerous governments are introducing ecological regulations in the form of instructions to urge companies to minimize their energy consumption and enhance their CO2 footprint in order to fulfill certain targets."

To address this issue, Candan stated Grundfos carries out an Energy Check, based on ISO14414. "Being a free of charge health checkup of a facilitys pumps to date, this method helps to achieve guaranteed savings opportunities for our clients, he said.
Candan cited the Indigo Tower, one of the companys latest retrofit projects, which managed to save 80% on the pumps energy consumption, achieved a payback of 0.7 years.

The Retrofit Seminar received 100 % positive feedback from guests, who were eager to explore more of what Denmark has to offer. Some even expressed interest in visiting Denmark or having a Danish expert flown to the UAE to discuss regulations, benchmarking and changing consumer behavior. A couple of pilot projects and potential orders were agreed at the seminar, most notably the sustainable IoT lightning solutions that will be implemented in January in Sharjah; ushering in further cooperation between UAE & Denmark.