Endress+Hauser Canada aims for net zero energy, emissions

PHOTO: Endress+Hauser, Burlington, Ont./Endress+Hauser Canada Ltd.

BURLINGTON, Ont.– Endress+Hauser Canada will build a new $28 million Customer Experience Centre on a four-acre site about 400 metres from its Burlington headquarters.

The measurement instrumentation company, which focuses on services and solutions for industrial process engineering, said the new two-storey, 47,000 sq. ft. building will emphasize sustainability with a view to achieve LEED Gold certification standard and to function on a net-zero carbon and net-zero energy basis.

The current 27,000 sq. ft. headquarters is primarily an administration building, with few customer services except for one classroom used for training purposes.

The new facility, planned for occupancy in the fall of 2020, will be a full-fledged Customer Experience Centre featuring the company’s second Process Training Unit (PTU) in Canada, as well as a calibration laboratory, an expanded workshop and a large training centre.

The PTU concept, featured in Endress+Hauser facilities globally, including Edmonton, is essentially a full-sized pilot plant.

“All of our customers and partners will be able to come in and simulate process conditions that they would find in their own plants,” says Anthony Varga, CEO and general manager, Endress+Hauser Canada Ltd.

The building will be effectively off the hydro grid. Plans to achieve net zero energy and emissions include using a reflective roof with double-sided solar panels to generate electricity during the day. At night, most electrically powered systems such as video monitors will be turned off rather than drawing even standby power and the building environment will be maintained by heat pumps supplemented by a geothermal system.

The Endress+Hauser Group is managed by a holding company based in Reinach, Switzerland, with 14,000 personnel across the globe. In 2018, the Group generated net sales of C$3.6 billion.