coolab

Building a Green World Together

Published on : 4/20/20
  • Sodexo joined hands with Nokia Shanghai Bell to launch the "Coolab" laboratory energy conservation project.

    For Nokia, a leading global provider of innovative solutions including mobile networks, health solutions and media technologies, "energy conservation and emission reduction" has always been an important part of its corporate strategy. Nokia Shanghai Bell has dozens of laboratories across the country, and more than half of Nokia’s energy is used in in these laboratories. As such, if the overall energy consumption of the laboratory is reduced, it will bring Nokia closer to achieving their goal of energy conservation and cost reduction, and also help Nokia strengthen its commitment to environmentally sustainable development.

    Working together for a common purpose  

    For Sodexo, a global leader in quality of life services, environmental protection is not only our corporate responsibility, but also an important part of our sustainable development strategy. In order to fulfill our values at an executive level, more mutual understanding and joint efforts are required. As Nokia's long-term partner, Sodexo has a firsthand insight into Nokia's energy conservation and emission reduction needs that are based on daily close communication with on-site teams.

    In April 2019, Sodexo joined hands with Nokia Shanghai Bell to launch the "Coolab" laboratory energy conservation project. The aims of this project are to improve laboratory energy efficiency and reduce energy waste through a series of operational optimization and technological transformation means. Additionally, the project aims to create an energy-saving culture and an efficient and sustainable laboratory environment throughout the company.

    Expertise + Technology + Cooperation = Goal Achievement

    Sodexo’s expert team, on-site team worked together with the client to select 23 laboratories to adopt the "Coolab" laboratory energy conservation project through scientific evaluations and screening mechanisms.

    The early stages of the project

    Firstly, a project management committee was established, which consisted of three teams; the Nokia Real Estate team, the Sodexo team and specific team leaders of each laboratory.

    Li Xiuxin, mobile team head of Sodexo service platform FM department, led the team to guide the development of collectable and measurable results and verification methods. Coupled with a rich knowledge and experience of the industry and professional business capabilities, the team were able to determine the baseline of the project, and the project’s energy saving objectives of 1 million euros in costs.

    Sodexo’s team of experts cooperated with the Sodexo on-site team to conduct on-site investigations of 23 selected Nokia laboratories with precision and expertise to discover energy saving opportunities, formulate specific action plans and phased objectives, and track the specific implementation of the scheme in combination with the actual situation of each laboratory.

    Implementing the project

    Establish energy-saving awareness: Share energy-saving tips and experience through various ways; share the Coolab project through various channels and announce goals and real-time progress at the entrance of the participating laboratories.

    Optimize the operation: Turn off the light and close the door mindfully; turn off the equipment when it is not in operation; adjust the temperature and humidity settings of the laboratory; clean or replace the air filter regularly with the appropriate amount of frequency to maintain optimized use; adapt to transitioning seasons in the hardware test area where there are many people, by turning off the air conditioning and opening the windows to benefit from fresh, outdoor air.

    Improve technology: establish separate cold and hot aisles to avoid cross influences that can interfere with cooling effects; install ventilation panels on cabinets to avoid the short circuit of air flow for air conditioners installed on ceilings; redirect air flow to eliminate hot spots, if laboratory conditions permit; cover windows with heat insulation film; install a plate heat exchanger with Free Cooling systems to improve energy efficiency in winter; upgrade to LED lighting and install timed light switches that automatically turn off lights after one hour or have motion sensor switches; redistribute UPS load to improve load rate which, in turn, improves energy efficiency.

    Additionally, Sodexo FM team assists our client with negotiating with third parties, such as property owners, to reduce the price per unit of energy consumption. The team spares no effort in working, even outside of the scope of their responsibilities, in order to achieve their goals.

    Using these methods, the team first conquered the Hangzhou laboratories, which had the largest energy-saving goals, and then expanded their experience to other laboratories as a shining example.

    Actual progress of the project

    October 2019 – the project reached its target savings of 1 million euros

    December 2019 – the project exceeded 1.3 million euros in energy savings

    The project has been able to progress successfully due to a multitude of reasons, such as: the management of professional facilities that enabled us to fully meet the daily needs of customers; the advantages of long-term customer service relationships which allowed us to have a deeper insight into clients; and the support of the expert team, which predicted customer needs according to the actual behavior of customers and provided flexible customized services in turn.

    Significant results and far-reaching impact

    According to Jacky Wang, National Account Director of Sodexo, "Sodexo not only has professional on-site services, but also has the flexibility to customize personalized services for customers' needs, which is our advantage and value."

    "We have achieved amazing results together," said Mr. Wei Xiaan, Head of Real Estate of Nokia China, commenting on the Coolab project. "The values and professionalism of Sodexo team members impressed our team. The challenges of the whole project need to be met with great resilience and ability. I'm glad that we have achieved the goal together. "

    Sodexo's technical team has contributed the technical means for the actual implementation of the project from a professional perspective, and has refined the objectives step by step. Compared with allocating a large budget to set up projects for energy conservation and emission reduction goals, this way of refining energy conservation goals based on daily services ensured customer investment was minimal. Compared with the large-scale investment on equipment improvement, the Coolab project achieves the goal of energy conservation and emission reduction through softer and more flexible ways such as changing user behavior, equipment operation and commissioning, the improvement of energy conservation awareness, and even negotiating with partners or third parties.

    "Based on the success of the first phase, the project team is planning the second phase of Coolab. In the future, we will continue to actively explore the needs of customers and create more value for customers with our advantages in project management and energy management," Richard Li , Segment Director of Corporate Services of Sodexo said.