SES Expert Bernd Heinz Schlinghoff in JLSS

Our long-term plan to gradually renovate our old buildings includes five stages:
1- Building-renovation work that includes repartitioning large rooms and replacing old toilets and washrooms.
2- Changing old wooden or metal windows and replacing them with double glazed aluminum windows.
3- Installing solar water heating panels.
4- Improving energy efficiency of central heating systems.
5- Installing UPS systems for providing battery lighting during power cuts to reduce the use of power generators.
These steps are aimed at improving the standard of life for our boarding students, making our building environmentally friendly, and reducing our enormous expenditure on diesel and electricity bills.
As the building that houses the three boarding homes for vocational students has been renovated, all its old windows were replaced with double glazed aluminum windows, and it was fitted with solar water heating panels, it was time to invite an expert from Germany to help improve the energy efficiency of our central heating systems.
We brought this need to SES (Senior Expert Services) in Germany who regularly provide the necessary experts that our school needs. They responded to our request by sending SES central heating expert Mr. Bern Heinz Schlinghoff who arrived to our school on Sunday 2 May 2010.
Mr. Schlinghoff, who is a very friendly and pleasant person with an excellent command of English, turned out to be just the right person we needed. He is a very highly qualified professional in his field with a life-time experience and most advanced knowhow of the modern technologies available in his field.
He spent the first day going around our buildings and checking our central heating systems. He worked out a whole plan of what needs to be done to reduce energy waste of up to 25%. His next step was to go to Zahle and Beirut to find if the necessary parts are available locally.
His trip was successful and he was able to get all the parts needed for implementing his plan for the first building. The following days he spent training Mr. George Shawool of our maintenance department, to do a sample job of every type of work he needs to do.
Mr. Schlinghoff prepared a plan for the whole school of the necessary steps that need to be taken to improve energy efficiency. This included improving the insulation of pipes and burners, installing temperature sensors and pumps for hot water systems, replacing the radiator faucets with modern thermostatically controlled valves, installing and operating valves to control which parts of our buildings are heated during which hours, and replacing energy inefficient systems with modern efficient alternatives. He supervised and directed the work of Mr. Shawool giving him the necessary advice and technical know how to do a perfect job.
He returned to Germany on Friday 14 May, but he will also continue to monitor the implementation of the work by email in order to help us improve the efficiency of all our old systems.
We express our most sincere gratitude to Mr. Schlinghoff for the amazing work he did for our school, for his wonderful friendship and kindness, and for his willingness to continue to support us even from Germany. We especially thank SES for sending us such a highly qualified professional who is also a wonderful person. His work will save us enormous amounts of money in the future and will help us be more environmentally friendly.