Last month, we had a chance to meet Khaled Bushnaq, President and CEO of Energy Management Services, who delivered a presentation at the first Facility Management Executive Forum focused on the topic of energy efficiency in existing buildings. In this interview, he talks about his pioneering journey towards sustainable energy management.
For those working in the energy efficiency business, Khaled Bushnaq is almost a legend, in a quite literal sense.
Indeed, last December, Bushnaq was named ‘2010 Legend in Energy’ by the Association of Energy Engineers (AEE), a global organisation of more than 13,000 certified energy engineering professionals worldwide spread across more than 80 countries, He was also the recipient of “Special Recognition Award” presented by the same association at the 16th World Energy Congress in Atlanta, Georgia in 1993.
But his professional achievements don’t stop there.
In 1991, Bushnaq, a Jordanian national, founded the first Middle Eastern company to provide energy management solutions, Energy Management Solutions (EMS), which has now become a reference point for the region’s fast-growing energy efficiency sector.
Bushnaq recalls the time when he decided to set up his own energy management business, apparently inspired by his UK university experience and by a book he was reading.
“I was studying Electrical Engineering in the UK in 1973, during the oil crisis. At the time, the British government’s Energy Office had launched a number of initiatives to teach students how to save energy. One of them was called SOS, which stood for ‘Switch Off Something’. I suddenly realised how little acts make a huge difference. When I went back home, the contrast was striking: in the UK they were trying to use as little energy as they could, while in my country people were just wasting resources, without being aware of that.
Years later, I read a book that changed my outlook on life. It was called Competing for the future. The author of the book argued that if you want a project to be successful, you need to be different.
I had voluntarily taken part in a Jordan-focused energy study by an American consultancy, which had proved that by adopting basic energy-saving measures, it was possible to achieve a total saving of US$100 million.
The results were impressive.
I wanted to implement the principles I had learnt through my course and the project I had worked on.
Back in the 1980s, environmental awareness, particularly in the Middle East, was very low.
Carbon emission reduction wasn’t a convincing argument.
Therefore, I decided to focus on what companies care most: financial return.
That was the only way they could possibly listen to me.
I approached the Marriott Hotel in Amman and I tried to convince them that if they had let me carry out an energy-saving plan for them, they would have saved a significant amount of money.
However, they didn’t trust me, as I didn’t have any references, given that I hadn’t carried out a similar project for any other client before.
So I decided to contact a good friend of mine, who at the time was the general manager of Pepsi Cola. I told him that I would implement an energy-saving strategy at his company for free, as long as he could write a reference letter for me on completion of the project. He agreed.
Back then, energy-saving measures were really basic: I replaced lights, used sensors, suggested energy-saving housekeeping measures.
After completing my study at Pepsi Cola, I went back to the Marriott Hotel, and I showed them the letter. This time, they accepted my proposal and I carried out an energy management study for them.
Gradually, my number of clients increased. However, when I went back to them after a while, I found out that some of them hadn’t implemented the measures I had suggested in my studies.
They told me that, although my suggestions were good, they couldn’t put them into practice due to financial constraints.
When I heard that, I decided to finance them to help my clients implement those energy-saving plans, provided that I would receive the profits generated by the measures.”
Prior to founding EMS, he established Bushnaq Engineering Establishment in Jordan. As its managing director, he led the rural electrification project, supplying electricity to over 130 villages.
In 1993, two years after EMS was launched, Bushnaq selected a Canadian energy efficiency consultancy, Econoler International, as its strategic partner owing to the company’s vast international experience in the area of energy management and requested a technology transfer.
As a result of the partnership, several projects were implemented in Jordan over the following years. EMS took advantage of its Jordanian experience to launch other operations in the region, including in the United Arab Emirates in 1996. The partnership is still in effect today with joint ventures on various projects.
The company provides environmental and sustainable consultancy to the residential, leisure, industrial and institutional sectors, in line with guidelines provided by regional energy management programmes. This includes coordinating the acquisition and installation of energy infrastructure and technology.
EMS also aims to design, implement and finance, in an integrated fashion, the export of energy efficiency projects to neighbouring countries. The company’s key areas of expertise include energy, water and environmental solutions, including smart property solutions (SPS), renewable energy, water management, gas solutions, power solutions, development of clean development mechanism (CDM). In recent years, it has also developed an Energy Value Analysis (EVA) of Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing (MEP) designs, a tool specifically designed for new projects.
The Green Buildings Regulation, to be enforced in Dubai within the next three years, represents a major business opportunity for the company.
“In a couple years, with the implementation of the Green Buildings Regulation, all buildings in Dubai, including older properties, will have to be energy-efficient. If owners don’t comply with the regulation by retrofitting the existing buildings, they will lose their tenants,” Bushnaq says.
Under Bushnaq’s leadership, EMS has delivered energy solutions to several clients in the region, including Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world, EMAAR Properties, Al Bustan Rotana Hotel, Trident Properties, Union Properties, TECOM Investments and Aramex.
The company also became the founding member of the Emirates Green Building Council (EGBC), where Bushnaq is a member of the Board of Directors and actively involved in its Executive Management Committee meetings.
