Entry Details

Organization:FortyGuard
Login ID:jay.sadiq@fortyguard.com
Category applied for:DISTRICT COOLING CONSULTANT OF THE YEAR
Submission date:28-Oct-2024
Submission Entry:
1.) What systemic transformation are you able to report in your organisation as a specialised District Cooling consultant?
  1. Is your sense of responsibility towards sustainable development radiating beyond the specific area of focus of your organisation? (Sustainable development includes energy efficiency, water use optimisation, better Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ), etc.)
  2. Have you established or strengthened your company policy towards addressing the bigger picture (of helping in the effort to limiting global rise in temperature, etc.) and working in an interconnected manner with other stakeholders?
(16)

Answer: FortyGuard is committed to providing innovative cooling solutions and we are focused on achieving transformative impacts on sustainable development. We address the urban heat crisis, which heightens public health risks, energy costs, and productivity losses. By providing precise temperature data, we help cities map heat patterns and implement strategies to protect vulnerable populations and enhance climate resilience globally.

Our sense of responsibility extends well beyond cooling infrastructure; we aim to positively influence the entire urban landscape by incorporating sustainability measures that resonate across the community. Our policy framework is aligned with international sustainability targets and emphasizes collaborations with city planners, environmental agencies, and technology partners. This allows us to contribute to broader systemic changes, positioning district cooling as a sustainable, scalable solution for densely populated areas.

2.) Given that District Cooling is reported as being fundamentally highly energy efficient compared to conventional air conditioning systems, especially in large-scale applications, how has the goal of 1.5 degrees C additionally impacted your District Cooling plant designs? What specific design or equipment/controls selection changes have you incorporated in your designs to support the 1.5 goal? (17)

Answer: At FortyGuard, our AI-powered solutions are designed with the global goal of limiting temperature rises to 1.5°C in mind, specifically by targeting urban heat reduction. Our products, such as the Temperature Operating System (tOS) and advanced analytics dashboards, address urban temperature management by helping cities manage and reduce their local heat footprint. This approach is aligned with the principles of district cooling, where efficient cooling strategies serve as an effective alternative to conventional energy-intensive cooling systems.

Our real-time data and predictive analytics, which are available at up to a 10-meter resolution, enable city planners and facility managers to optimize cooling applications by identifying high-temperature zones and advising on cooling intensity based on predictive heat load models. We also integrate machine learning algorithms that optimize energy output for cooling needs by analyzing past temperature data, heat absorption factors, and localized climate conditions. This allows urban planners to reduce unnecessary energy expenditure, in effect supporting the 1.5°C goal by minimizing carbon emissions and reducing peak energy demands.

In terms of equipment and controls, we enable optimized asset placement and retrofitting strategies, which allow municipalities and enterprises to implement efficient district cooling applications, such as increased shading and reflective surface use, where heat exposure is highest. By integrating these solutions with urban heat management practices, FortyGuard contributes directly to the broader sustainable development agenda, paving the way for a scalable impact on the climate.

3.) What ESG and energy-efficiency goals have you adopted as mandatory? How do you work around restrictive client budgets to ensure greater energy efficiency? What do you never compromise on when it comes to specifying? What mechanisms do you have in place to subvert design vetoes in the name of value engineering? (18)

Answer: Our core focus is on mitigating urban heat through AI-driven temperature analytics, which directly supports sustainability by reducing energy consumption and cooling demand in cities.
When clients face budget constraints, we provide scalable solutions that fit their financial capacity without compromising on key aspects such as data integrity, environmental impact, and user accessibility. To support cost-effective implementation, we offer a free test for our dashboard, allowing clients to access essential features before purchasing. This flexibility encourages understanding of the adoption even when budgets are limited.

We emphasize the importance of accurate data and predictive tools for optimal decision-making. By demonstrating the long-term ROI and sustainability benefits of our tools, we help clients see beyond short-term savings, minimizing instances where critical environmental aspects are downplayed for cost reasons.

4.) When it comes to energy efficiency, how do you evaluate certification of products? (19)

Answer: We prioritize certifications that reflect the quality and accuracy of predictive insights, as these ensure that our technology delivers meaningful, energy-efficient solutions across urban climate solutions.

By integrating certified, efficient technologies into our analytics, we ensure our solutions support broader sustainability goals while maintaining high accuracy and quality standards.

5.) Please describe your site supervision activities - the range and depth of your involvement. (20)

Answer: Although we operate as a software-driven company without on-site physical activities, we ensure comprehensive support and quality assurance through virtual supervision. Our activities include remote monitoring, data validation, and system optimization, all of which contribute to the effective deployment of our urban temperature management solutions.
We actively engage with clients throughout the project lifecycle, from the initial setup to continuous performance evaluation. Using real-time dashboards and remote diagnostics, we monitor temperature data and validate insights to ensure they align with our urban cooling objectives. Through regular virtual check-ins and analytics reviews, we help clients interpret the data, address emerging needs, and adjust parameters if needed. This approach allows us to offer hands-on support in a virtual capacity, maintaining the quality and effectiveness of our solutions while minimizing on-site requirements.

6.) What is the nature of your involvement during the Cx & handover phase? (21)

Answer: By ensuring that our software solutions integrate seamlessly with clients' systems and are primed for optimal performance. Throughout this phase, we collaborate closely with client teams to perform final system checks, validate data flows, and verify that analytics outputs meet agreed-upon objectives. This includes
configuring dashboards, and ensuring the AI-driven insights align with urban planning or sustainability goals.

Our support team remains accessible during this period to address any last-minute queries or adjustments, ensuring a smooth transition. By the time the handover is complete, clients are confident in leveraging FortyGuard’s solutions to enhance urban cooling strategies effectively and sustainably.

7.) In the past one year, has any District Cooling plant designed by you secured a Green Building certification? If yes under which rating system and to what level of certification? (22)

Answer: While we haven't designed or secured Green Building certifications for district cooling plants, our temperature mapping and analytics tools help cities and developers meet sustainability criteria and inform climate adaptation strategies. By providing granular temperature insights, we support informed decisions that contribute to environmental certifications, especially in urban areas prioritizing energy efficiency and climate resilience.

8.) What is your involvement throughout the lifecycle of a project? What specific measures have you taken to visit a project you worked on to audit performance and learn from shortcomings, so you can apply more robust measures in future projects? (If access to project is difficult after the Defects Liability Period to carry out an evaluation, what steps, if any, have you taken to persuade and be able to gain entry?) (23)

Answer: At FortyGuard, our involvement throughout the lifecycle of a project extends from early data collection to long-term performance monitoring. During the initial stages, we collaborate closely with urban planners, engineers, and city managers to provide detailed temperature data and analytics that inform decision-making.

Post-deployment, we monitor real-time temperature data through our dashboards and APIs, allowing for ongoing assessments of project performance. Although we don't physically visit project sites, our cloud-based solution continuously tracks temperature changes and provides feedback to clients. If needed, we work with clients to update and adjust cooling strategies based on real-time data.

We encourage clients to maintain long-term data-sharing agreements. This enables us to perform remote audits, identify potential issues, and implement improvements in future iterations. Our commitment to learning from every project ensures that we continue refining our products to meet evolving urban cooling needs.

9.) What design measures and development strategies do you, as a standard practice, recommend to optimise the cost of District Cooling and in order to make it more appealing for building owners? (24)

Answer: By providing hyper-local temperature data with 100m² precision, we enable building owners to implement targeted, data-driven cooling measures that minimize energy usage and maximize efficiency. Our technology helps identify key heat-prone areas, allowing for precise intervention and reducing the overall need for extensive cooling infrastructure.
To make cooling strategies more appealing to building owners, we recommend integrating our predictive analytics tools to forecast cooling demands more accurately and optimize resource allocation. Additionally, by leveraging our cloud-based system, building owners can monitor real-time temperature fluctuations and adjust cooling systems dynamically, further reducing operational costs.

10.) How are you contributing to increase the penetration of District Cooling in the region? Be as specific as possible. (25)

Answer: By utilizing hyper-local temperature mapping and analytics, we provide municipalities, developers, and urban planners with data-driven insights that support more efficient cooling infrastructure.

Our system helps highlight urban heat islands and areas in need of intervention, making it easier for stakeholders to implement district cooling where it's most effective. We collaborate with local governments, private sectors, and green building initiatives to advocate for sustainable urban cooling measures. Through strategic partnerships and showcasing the cost-efficiency of targeted cooling solutions, we demonstrate the long-term benefits of temperature management.

By offering scalable solutions, we aim to facilitate district cooling integration in both existing and new developments, promoting sustainability in urban environments.

11.) Please describe your corporate policies for employee motivation and retention - in terms of rewards, etc.? And what is your retention profile? Clients often insist on specific CVs of the consultant’s team to work on a project. Are you facing this issue as a norm, or are you able to assign a team of your choosing to a project? Does employee-churn have an impact on satisfying clients’ expectations? (26)

Answer: We emphasize continuous learning through workshops, certifications, and mentorship programs, ensuring that employees grow alongside the company. We also recognize and reward high performance through bonuses, public recognition, and career advancement opportunities.

We ensure that the most qualified individuals are allocated to projects based on expertise rather than client-specific demands. This approach minimizes the impact of employee turnover and ensures that client expectations are consistently met.

12.) What measures are you taking to ensure sustainable cash flow management? Please explain the key steps you are taking to achieve this, like sticking to only select clients who pay on time, or modifying your fee and payment terms and conditions in order to ensure sustainable cash flow. (27)

Answer: For new and ongoing projects, we implement clear fee structures and adjust payment terms to include milestones or phased payments, ensuring cash flow is consistent throughout the project lifecycle.

We also establish contracts that enforce timely payments, and where applicable, offer incentives for early payments. Additionally, we closely monitor our expenses and maintain a cash reserve to manage any fluctuations in cash flow, ensuring that operations are not disrupted during lean periods. This proactive approach allows us to maintain financial stability while delivering high-quality services to our clients.

13.) How can digitalisation ensure transparency in payments, ensuring timely receivables? What other mechanisms are you implementing to ensure you receive monies owed you? (28)

Answer: We provide clear, trackable, and automated payment schedules, which help both our team and clients stay on top of deadlines.

Automated reminders are sent before due dates to reduce delays, and clients can track payment statuses in real time via our digital platform. This system also helps us maintain detailed records of transactions, making it easier to resolve any disputes quickly.

We also adhere to strict contractual agreements that specify penalties for late payments. By combining these digital solutions with strong contractual enforcement, we ensure a more reliable cash flow and timely receipt of payments.

14.) Have you incorporated changes to organisational culture and behaviour that enable a sustainable development approach? Particularly speaking, what measures do you have in place to ensure ethical specification (of equipment) practices across the entire chain of command and decision-making in your organisation? (29)

Answer: We have implemented internal policies and procedures that mandate the evaluation of all technology and equipment for environmental impact, energy efficiency, and longevity. This ensures that the products we recommend or integrate into our solutions meet the highest ethical and sustainability standards. Moreover, we foster a culture of responsibility by involving multiple stakeholders, including team members from technical, operational, and business functions, in decision-making processes. This collaborative approach ensures accountability at every stage.

Supporting documents:none
References:CCAUAE2404 || jay.sadiq@fortyguard.com

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