The efficient use of energy, or lack thereof, has steadily risen in priority for businesses, factories and organisations around the world looking to limit costs, work more efficiently and create a greener environment.

Enter T4B Ltd, a local company servicing the building, engineering and manufacturing sectors through an extensive range of highly specialised engineering products, innovative technologies as well as quality assured building products. The company is also a leader in energy efficiency audits, serving to help companies contain their bottom line, meet environmental targets and create a win-win situation for all.

Sharing further detail about T4B’s offering, and how, in practice, it serves the Malta’s industrial sectors, Managing Director Patrick Spiteri Staines sits down with WhosWho.mt.

In your own words, what is T4B Services and what does it stand for?

T4B Services was set up as a separate subsidiary in 2008 within the Attard & Co. Industrial Group. Following the expansion and diversification of the Industrial Group from its inception in 1994, it was felt that a separate and focused company would best serve the needs of our clients in the building and industrial sector.  

Hence, T4B was set up with a mandate to provide technology for buildings, resulting in the name T4B.

The focus on the transfer of technology, rather than just products, was an underlying motive that still holds valid till today. T4B provides quality assured building materials, measurement and surveying solutions, as well equipment and supplies for the industrial market.

T4B Services has gained many years of experience in the building and industrial sector, which it is leveraging to provide professional engineering services based on energy efficiency consultancy. All businesses across all sectors would benefit from more efficient energy systems, especially in the current climate. With this in mind, could you share with our readers which businesses/clients, exactly, T4B is best positioned to service?

Energy is fundamental for all enterprises to operate. Hence, the efficient use of energy determines the bottom line. In many cases we see massive opportunities to reduce energy use through both passive and active means.

Passive would be the use of thermally insulating solutions for buildings of which we have many quality options both for new build as well as for retrofitting.

On the other hand, active would be energy efficiency solutions to existing equipment such as adiabatic precooling for chillers or high efficiency variable speed pumps. These solutions reduce the energy use of a building or industry without compromising the output and in many cases improving the output also.

So, T4B is ideally suited to offer building owners, domestic, commercial and Industrial thermal insulation solutions for their building envelope. In addition, industrial organisations can benefit from the ever growing technology solutions that T4B has to offer, such as adiabatic pre cooling for chillers by Smartcooling, variable speed drives for motors and high efficiency IE5 motors by KSB, high efficiency compressors by Alup, heat recovery, absorption chillers and solar cooling, by Comex, adsorption cooling by Fahrenheit, PVT (Hybrid PV) providing Electrical and thermal energy by Abora and Thin Film PV solutions by Sunport.

Could you share what the process of providing consultancy or audit services from an energy efficiency perspective broadly consists of?

The energy audit and consultancy process begins with understanding the way a building or enterprise use their energy inputs. These energy inputs could be electrical, fuel, gas and even renewable energy. Getting historic information on their use and where the energy is being used within the enterprise is fundamental to understanding the energy balance and beginning to identify where savings can be made.

This data is analysed in comparison with seasonality and process output. From this in-depth analysis, possible energy-saving initiatives are identified and prioritised depending on their energy-saving potential and return on investment. The result is a clear picture of priorities for energy-saving projects that the Enterprise can begin to implement. This gives management the correct perspective with clear tangible benefits both environmental and economic that these energy-saving projects can achieve.  

Today, Government is pushing business leaders to take action on lowering emissions independently of any public initiatives. At the same time, the latest National Budget provides incentives for organisations to carry out energy audits and invest in Energy Efficiency solutions. Do you feel that this tone at the top is pushing the business community to prioritise energy efficiency?

It is important that the Government helps in motivating Enterprises in investing in Energy Efficiency and Renewables. This has been the push even from EU and is now becoming even more important in the light of Global warming and environmental disasters. The grants and schemes that are being rolled out help with overcoming the inertia that exists but more needs to be done.

The Government needs to think out of the box and provide initiatives that are oriented to the characteristics of our island state and not just copy what is happening in mainland Europe. Our unique situation as a small island state in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea creates difficulties that need to be addressed appropriately in order for the local business community to become even more efficient in their energy use as well as capitalise on the available resources which are the sun and the sea. Only in doing this can Malta become sustainable economically and environmentally for the benefit of all the Maltese and foreign residents sharing this small island.    

With the exponential rising costs of doing business, do you believe it has never been more important for businesses to ensure that they are not incurring unnecessary costs in their day-to-day operations?

Costs are always rising and controlling costs is paramount for economic sustainability. Removing wasted energy is a very healthy way to make companies more profitable and guarantee better results. Very often, enterprises are so engrossed in the day-to-day operational problems that they focus mainly on generating output. Thus, very often they do not have the time to study their energy use. Energy audits or energy consultancy can provide them with a very useful tool to achieve this without having to overload existing resources.

In the same vein, with the cost of doing business on the rise, how would you respond to concerns about investing in more efficient energy systems at such uncertain times for the economy and while many companies are setting their budgets for the next year?

The objective is stability both economic and environmental. These may seem opposing, but they are not, in fact, they overlap when one looks at energy efficiency and renewables. Investing in lowering cost is always important when output is limited and the economic situation that we are in leads to this. Waste of resources, energy being one of them, is detrimental and even more so in an unstable economic environment. Hence it follows that investments in energy-saving projects with short ROI would benefit the Enterprise both in the short and in the long term. Lower energy use leads to less use of fossil fuels, combating global warming and a better environment ultimately.

How does T4B stand out from its competitors in terms of the service it provides and the value-added it provides its clients?

T4B prides itself in offering valid and proven solutions that deliver as expected. In fact, we try to be very conservative when we are estimating savings so that the actual situation would be better than that envisaged initially. This leads to satisfied customers and repeat business. Professionality in all we do is the hallmark of T4B and we continually strive to better our service to our clients in all sectors.