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Exactly one year ago, I looked into the crystal ball to spot the main trends and themes for 2024. Not surprisingly, ‘sustainability’ was a keyword, but the topic has rapidly grown in importance since. When looking towards 2025, I expect us to find the topic expand even further, and we, in the industry of heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), need to catch up with some utterly fast-paced developments.
Saving energy – hotter than ever
Energy efficiency is probably the part of the ongoing sustainability work that seems most familiar to many, this because it has been part of the HVAC equation for decades. But with ever increasing legislative requirements as well as growing concerns about future energy prices, we need to look for additional ways to improve. In our experts’ blogs we have analysed this from many perspectives, from how to optimise defrosting in air-to-air heat exchangers, how to ensure smarter heat pump operations, how to enjoy the benefits of climate ceilings from an energy perspective and how to use building information modeling (BIM) to facilitate energy savings.
Booming interest in embodied carbon
The topic of embodied carbon has been on the agenda for a quite some time, and at Swegon, we have been working for with Environmental Product Declarations (EPD’s) alongside the launch of our RE:3 concept – short for reduce, reuse and revitalize. But, during 2024, the market interest in circularity has grown beyond our expectations, and there are a number of new perspectives to take in as an HVAC professional. First we need to understand the logic behind embodied carbon as a key sustainability factor, then we need to get the strategy clear for our ways of working. In terms of reducing the carbon footprint of the materials needed to manufacture HVAC products, the transition to new refrigerants has gained a lot of attention, but there are also interesting initiatives on other ends, from using ‘low-carb’ steel in acoustic products to conceptual work on wooden air handling units.
Reduced embodied carbon footprint – the next steps
With that said, alternative materials is just the beginning. What can revolutionise the way we think of technical installations, moving from a linear to a circular mode of operation, is s shift of our focus to the products already installed. By refurbishing an air handling unit in the field, and prolonging it’s operational life span, we can reduce carbon emissions by 75%, or more. This in comparison to replacing the old with a new unit. In other cases, it may be more relevant to ship the unit back to the factory for a re-fresh, and then find it a new home in another building – this will be equally interesting, but places a whole new set of demands on business models and supply chain operations.
Learning new ways – while passing on existing best practises
Our industry faces a great transition, for which a lot of new knowledge needs to be disseminated and absorbed. However, we must not lose sight of the purpose of buildings, the good old-fashioned HVAC skills and best practices. For instance, there is still a huge energy saving potential in basic things such as switching to mechanical ventilation with energy recuperation in existing buildings. That creates a remarkable difference compared to relying on opening windows. Not only in terms of energy savings, but also for additional benefits of a healthier and more productive indoor climate. In fact, our health really depends on it, since the indoor climate also affects sleep and recuperation. Furthermore, there is still much we can do in terms of flexibility and optimisation in designing HVAC systems in a clever way, to simply make our buildings work better – we can work smarter across the board, from skyscrapers to wine cellars.
Where will we be in one year?
For 2025, as an industry, we need to continue to build on well-proven best practices, but we also need to add new knowledge and implement new solutions in areas such as sustainability and AI developments. I believe we will see a transformation in how we think of technical installations. There is likely a shift from a mindset focused on hardware and short-term savings, to an approach centered to the value of the many services provided over a building’s lifecycle. Not only will this be focused on money, but also on carbon dioxide equivalents - and ideally on the well-being of the people inside. To repeat the credo of Swegon – this is what’s needed to Feel good inside.
