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CSR is moving up the business agenda
esponsible business practices, such as delivering positive environmental or social impacts, tend to be very good for business, particularly in increasingly demanding supply chains. Nowhere is this more so than in the engineering services sector. For many engineering services contractors the main opportunity is to win work but for everyone, it's a wider opportunity to boost the profile of the sector at large. In partnership with the Considerate Constructors Scheme (CCS), the ECA (Electrical Contractors’ Association) recently conducted a 'Corporate Social Responsibility in Electrotechnical' survey during April and May this year. The aim was to find the extent to which ECA members, and the supply chain, are currently engaged with CSR, and the activity they are involved with.
R Contractor engagement
ECA’s Director of Business and External Affairs, Paul Reeve CEnv, stresses the growing importance of Corporate Social Responsibility in today’s business environment, and highlights the findings of a recent ECA survey.
Overall, some 88 per cent of businesses with a turnover of £5m or higher said they engaged with CSR. While almost two-thirds of firms (65 per cent) with a turnover up to one million indicated that they undertook CSR activity. Businesses responding to the survey said that they believed the top three CSR issues were as follows: the environment (63 per cent), occupational health and safety (55 per cent), and employee welfare (55 per cent). The main part of the ‘environmental’ component linked to reducing carbon emissions.
Business benefits of CSR
Significantly, the survey found that almost half of buyer documents (48 per cent) seen by responding contractors with a turnover above £1 million ask about CSR engagement, and only one in four (24 per cent) said that no buyer document they had encountered had mentioned CSR. In addition, over half of responding businesses with turnover above £5m ask their own supply chain about CSR policy and activity.
Over one in two survey respondents (51 per cent) say that engagement with corporate social responsibility helps to 'improve staff retention and recruitment'. In addition, some two-thirds of respondents (67 per cent) highlighted 'improved customer or client relationships' as another business benefit of CSR work.
While 'positive media coverage' (41 per cent), 'cost savings' (30 per cent) and the 'ability to manage risk in the supply chain' (28 per cent), were also listed as significant benefits of CSR engagement.
‘ Businesses
responding to the survey said that they believed the top three CSR issues were as follows: the environment (63 per cent), occupational health and safety (55 per cent), and employee welfare (55 per cent). The main part of the ‘environmental’ component linked to reducing carbon emissions.
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An increasingly important management topic
Over half of respondents (53 per cent) said they expect the importance of CSR to their organisation to grow in the next five to 10 years. Indeed, the majority of businesses with turnover over £1m who that said they don’t currently manage CSR stated that they would consider doing so in the near future.
These findings highlight the increasingly important role of CSR in helping a business to win contracts, retain and recruit staff, improve relationships with clients, and achieve process changes and cost savings. Positively, many businesses now place a major business emphasis on ethical and responsible business practices.
Our survey shows that companies who communicate effectively with their key stakeholders on how they are delivering social and environmental value are seeing direct and indirect benefits to their businesses, and that they believe that CSR will become even more important in future.
The ECA has a preferential arrangement with the Considerate Constructors Scheme, which allows ECA members to receive a discount on registration with the voluntary scheme. In addition, a CSR policy template is available on the ECA website to help small to medium sized companies to start engaging with CSR.
nce upon a time, one motor type powered all heating, ventilation and air condition applications – the squirrel cage induction motor. But in a quest to find more efficient and versatile ways to control HVAC applications, alternative motor types have emerged. So which motor type is right for your application?
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Electronically commutated motors (ECM)
ECMs are combined with a brushless controller onto the fan assembly. However, if one component fails, the entire unit – including fan, motor and controller – must be replaced. ECM fans have a poor harmonic signature, typically do not come with building management system (BMS) fieldbus protocols and cannot catch spinning loads, a requirement for data centres.
ECMs are only available in low powers, so several units must be combined into a fan array to reach the desired power. However, this adds components into the system, thereby increasing the probability of failure. If a unit fails, increasing the speed to maintain the flow will take more power, which quite often will not be available from the rating of the installed unit – thus specific fan power requirements will not be maintained. A fan array is also typically heavier than a traditional installation due to the large number of items in the system.
Synchronous reluctance motors (SynRM)
While the high efficiency offered by ECMs may be suitable for some applications, it is essential that the right motor technology is selected if unforeseen problems with harmonics, catching spinning loads and power dip ride-through, etc, are to be avoided.
The cost-effective synchronous reluctance motor (SynRM), controlled by a variable speed drive, offers the same efficiencies as ECMs but brings advantages such as improved harmonic mitigation, reduced noise, seamless power dip ride- through, fieldbus connectivity, built-in control features to enhance the application, accurate speed control and ease of retrofit.
SynRMs are also the same physical size as traditional induction motors, making them an ideal option for retrofit.
Permanent magnet (PM) motors
The losses and absence of heat due to current in the rotor means the PM motor is considered to be a more efficient alternative to induction motors in HVAC applications. However, PM motors can be difficult to handle (they magnetise themselves to any ferrous surface), have non-standard motor shapes and fixing dimensions and generate dangerous back EMF voltages when freewheeling. This latter challenge means that the common practice of opening a motor isolator to perform maintenance is no longer adequate. The fan shaft needs to be locked in place to avoid electric shock.
Induction motors (IM)
Induction motor technology is well understood, the motors are easy to control and to repair and they have become more efficient over time. As the building regulations change, induction motors, however, struggle to achieve specific fan powers in selected cases. uTo help you decide which motor is right for you, ABB has produced a series of eBooks. Sign up for your copies at:
http://web.abb-update.com/HVAC_30Challenges_Signup
INDUSTRY COMMENT BSEE Ask the Expert
HVAC applications: why choosing the right motor matters
By Andy Preston, UK Drives
Product Manager, ABB Limited.
www.eca.co.uk BUILDING SERVICES & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEER OCTOBER 2017 9
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