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Competition to win the Emerging Leader in Energy Savings in HVACR Award has been fierce.

It received more entries than any other category (by a huge margin) proving that energy efficiency is an industry priority.

The high number of nominations made judging difficult but CCN is pleased to announce four finalists – Des Jackson, Bill Ellul, Ben Paull and Peter Dickinson.

Finalist Des Jackson is a Certified Energy Manager (CEM) and has an Advanced Diploma in Engineering (electrical strand). Since 2010 Jackson has been the energy conservation solutions advisor at Ergon Energy.

In this role he is responsible for identifying  energy efficiency opportunities and has worked with customers to implement energy saving projects that recognise the important role of HVACR. He has developed a number of energy efficiency strategies and worked on a number of business upgrades that have generated substantial kWh savings coupled with reduced lifecycle costs.

Finalist Bill Ellul is well known to CCN readers as the managing director of Rotary Heat Exchangers, his manufacturing business which produces the world's leading air to air heat recovery heat wheels which are unmatched in high energy recycling.

After completing a mechanical engineering degree at Monash University, Ellul spent more than a decade working as a scientist with the CSIRO. While there he headed up the Cogeneration Advisory Group; and was also a lecturer in mechanical engineering at Swinburne University.

In 1989 Ellul formed Ecopower Pty Ltd, one of Australia's leading and successful energy auditors and project managers in industrial and commercial applications .  

Finalist Ben Paull is the director of Cleanroom Australia. In this role he has led the development of cleanroom air handling products to specifically address the reduction of energy use in many cleanroom applications.

Due to their critical nature,   cleanrooms require 24hour operation, air flows, temperatures, pressures and humidity requirements that are exceptionally hungry. This requires a firm grasp of mechanical service design combined with extensive experience with controls logic design and operation (cleanroom specific).

Paull's vision is to significantly reduce the energy requirements of cleanroom operations utilising the company's special made air handling products in conjunction with a sustainable energy supply like solar.

Finalist Peter Dickinson is a founding employee of BuildingIQ and at 36 years of age, currently serves as the company’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO). Dickinson has nearly two decades of  experience in the commercial building energy efficiency industry, which began when he graduated from  the Australian National University with a Bachelor of Engineering.

With BuildingIQ, Dickinson has overseen its transition from lab technology to early testing, and finally international expansion. He continues to advance and improve BuildingIQ’s energy management software and has been instrumental in the development of BuildingIQ’s Measurement & Verification (M&V) module.

This category was sponsored by the Australian Refrigeration Association (ARA) which actively supports the air conditioning and refrigeration industry.