Member Spotlight - Olympic International

B2E is excited to continue our interview series with members who are active in pursuing electrification on the front lines. 

Meet Jay Jagpal, Principal and Co-Owner of Olympic International, a mechanical equipment and mechanical systems provider that is celebrating its 60th anniversary next year. Olympic is a leading supplier of HVAC equipment, parts, and service for commercial and institutional projects in Western Canada. Their extensive team of highly specialized mechanical sales engineers brings a depth of HVAC engineering and application experience to their projects. Jay and the Olympic team (as seen in the featured image) have been B2E members since October 2021. 

Jay is a senior engineering salesperson who is an expert in designing low-carbon systems that meet architectural, performance, and energy efficiency requirements. He and his team ensure that equipment is properly designed, installed, and commissioned by working with contractors involved in each project so that owners get a system that functions as intended.  

Here’s what Jay has to say about building electrification... 

Why did you become a B2E member?  

We became a B2E member because our company has been focusing on electrification for the last seven years. We've been part of creating high-performance, fully electric buildings and working with manufacturers to bring the right technologies for it. When B2E was formed, we saw a group that we can really share our experiences with. By contributing our systems and product knowledge, we can help further the industry as a whole and be a partner in it. We help to educate other stakeholders, advise and consult with them using our knowledge from working with many types of buildings and multiple solutions. 

Can you describe the impact that the B2E community has had on your organization? 

B2E has offered a forum for knowledge sharing. We have a better understanding of what is important for the industry and what's important for different stakeholders. We can take that knowledge back to educate our team internally, as well as our customers. It's been helpful for what we've already been doing, and insightful to what other stakeholders are asking for. 

I sit on two B2E subcommittees to share and receive insights on technology and training. My hope is that sharing our perspective and what I’ve learned in the past 12 years can help shape what the future looks like.   

Tell us about any exciting building electrification projects that you're currently working on. 

We’re excited about a lot of projects. We have many new construction projects underway. We’re also working on renovations and office retrofits; electrification of existing buildings, especially domestic hot water. There are also some exciting institutional projects, electrification in healthcare and universities. 

We are also working with a few other B2E members to create a best practice guide to enable electrification retrofits in commercial buildings. We have a set amount of building stock out there, but how do we approach it? We’re creating a systemized approach to elevate the starting point for designers. Currently, every consultant is starting from the ground up and learning along the way. The intention is to have an elevated starting point and prove that technological solutions already exist and have been implemented. That’s where we come in, our value is in experience with products and solutions for many building types. We know what works and can help to educate the industry, then we hope that with the higher starting point we can leapfrog into even better solutions. 

One trend we're seeing right now is integrating decarbonization into the capital planning cycle. Organizations looking at equipment and trying to figure out how to electrify these systems towards the end of equipment life. Do you see your organization has a role to play in educating your customers on future needs? 

Absolutely. I think that an equipment-to-equipment approach may not be the right approach in today's environment. To electrify, it’s not as simple as plug one in, plug one out. We’re thinking of electrical infrastructure on site, and a much more integrated replacement approach is needed than a like-for-like replacement. We try to put ourselves in the owner’s shoes and suggest solutions with the least amount of roadblocks. 

Do you find that manufacturers are supplying more intelligent equipment and smarter solutions or is it something that you have to drive in that industry? 

Given our current market conditions, it’s something we have to drive right now. We happen to be in an environment where electrification is front and centre and we're bringing together solutions together to make it happen. We often work with manufacturers to put together solutions that don’t come in a complete package. We're helping pull together solutions instead of waiting for manufacturers to provide a cookie cutter approach – they just aren’t there yet. Right now, we bridge the gap by filling in the missing pieces.  

This is why I wanted to join B2E. We’re seeing what the missing pieces are and figuring out how we can help address them to get more electrification implemented. 

Have you seen any exciting or innovative technologies coming through the pipeline that are going to make electrification easier or better? 

I think that thermal storage is going to be a piece of the puzzle. It is becoming more apparent that we need to manage peaks and I think this will help. These integrated solutions are becoming more feasible and are likely to help enable more electrification. If service upgrades are avoided and surcharges for peak demand are managed, the business case improves. Technologies with phase change materials store 5x-10x more energy. I am starting to see more manufacturers coming out with new technologies, I see promising applications for heating and domestic hot water.  

 What about cooling loads? 

There are now two peak loads: heating and cooling. The heating load is reducing because building envelopes are getting tighter. Windows are better and less heat is escaping. Domestic hot water and cooling are turning into the two dominant loads, which is where I think the thermal storage can fit in.  

It really sounds like you fill this incredible gap where there isn’t a plug-in solution for everything. Your organization plays a role where you bring together multiple solutions, figure out how they're going to work together, and then offer that up to the customer. 

Yes. We typically offer three or four solutions because we have the portfolio products that we can pick from. I'm not attached to any specific solutions but offer the pros and cons to all of them to the client. That's something unique that we do at our company compared to other suppliers. We have such a wide range that we can see what's going to work best for the customer. 

Is there anything else that you wanted to add?  

I want to thank all the B2E team members and committees for organising this and keeping it alive. I think that the willingness for everybody to share information and as a collective kind of and those articles floating around is remarkable. It's a great example of a collective group moving things forward. 

For more information follow Olympic International on LinkedIn here, connect with Jay here.