BASE Touts Benefits of Cooling as a Service for Australia

By Nicholas Cooper, Aug 12, 2020, 10:51 2 minute reading

The Swiss agency cites demand for cooling and strong HVAC infrastructure.

Thomas Motmans of BASE.

The Swiss-based Basel Agency for Sustainable Energy (BASE), leader of the CaaS Initiative, has touted the benefits of its cooling-as-a-service (CaaS) model for Australia, citing demand for cooling and a strong HVAC infrastructure.

The CaaS Initiative promotes a cooling-as-a-service servitization model, where end users of cooling equipment pay for cooling on a pay-per-use basis, instead of investing in equipment upfront.

More information about the CaaS Initiative and its business models are available on its website.

The Initiative currently supports projects in Asia, Latin America and Africa, but “cooling as a service is a really promising solution for Australia,” according to Thomas Motmans, Sustainable Energy Finance Specialist at BASE. “There is large demand for cooling, strongly capable cooling solution providers, and a strong financial sector.”

Motmans discussed CaaS at ATMOsphere Australia, an online event hosted by shecco (publisher of this website), on July 28.

The CaaS Initiative encourages HVAC providers to offer units of cooling as a service, which support the installation of efficient technology to maximize profits for the provider, while lowering CO2 emissions through reduced energy consumption, Motmans noted.

It also encourages robust preventative maintenance and spurs the development of more efficient cooling by removing the burden of investment from the end user.

free CaaS Global E-Summit on the pay-for-service business model will take place online on December 1, from 8:30 am to 7 pm CET.

CaaS in New Zealand?

New Zealand may also be suited for CaaS. But a major barrier to adopting efficient cooling there is “the low cost of power in New Zealand relative to the rest of the world” according to another speaker at the conference, Vince Audino, Managing Director and Co-Founder of Fonko, a New Zealand-based contractor.

“In comparison to other markets, return on investment for any type of energy saving technologies is considerably longer here than it is in other places,” Audino added.

However, even in regions with low energy prices, CaaS stimulates general investment in more energy efficient technology.

“The total cost of ownership of cooling systems is most effectively reduced by installing the most efficient system,” said Motmans.

But it is also reduced “by optimizing the preventive maintenance offered to the systems, and by applying system thinking, such as by adding components like thermal energy storage or passive cooling to reduce the load.”

Cooling as a service is a really promising solution for Australia” - Thomas Motmans

By Nicholas Cooper

Aug 12, 2020, 10:51




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