Newsletter Issue 4/2014
July 2014
REHVA Community News
New REHVA responsive website
REHVA has launched a new redesign responsive website. The new website provides an optimal viewing experience. The navigation is now easier with a minimum resizing and scrolling across wide range of portable devices (iPAD, iPhone, Smartphone and Android Tablet). All the REHVA Guidebooks and reports are now available in a PDF format. Visit REHVA's Guidebooks Shop to purchase your eGuidebook on your portable devices!
International Societies Form Indoor Environmental Quality – Global Alliance
A newly formed alliance seeks to serve as a global source for information, guidance and knowledge on indoor environmental quality.
A memorandum of understanding creating the Indoor Environment Quality Global Alliance was signed Sunday, June 29, at ASHRAE’s 2014 Annual Conference in Seattle, Wash. Groups joining the Alliance are the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA), Air Infiltration and Ventilation Centre (AIVC), the Air & Waste Management Association (A&WMA), the Indoor Air Quality Association (IAQA), the Federation of European Heating and Air Conditioning Associations (REHVA) and the American Society of Heating Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE).
The Alliance will provide guidance on the definition of acceptable indoor environmental quality, with an emphasis on thermal conditions and indoor air pollution, to ensure that the knowledge gathered from indoor environmental quality (IEQ) research is promulgated to and implemented by IEQ practitioners and regulatory bodies worldwide.
The mission of the alliance IEQ-GA is to provide an acceptable indoor environmental quality (thermal environment-indoor air quality-lighting-acoustic) to occupants in buildings and places of work around the world and to make sure the knowledge from research on IEQ gets implemented in practice.
The establishment of the Alliance is supported by the World Health Organization and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, who will cooperate with the Alliance in the future.
More information can be found at www.ieq-ga.net
REHVA Journal issues
The June issue is available online by clicking here.
The September issue of the REHVA Journal (5/2014) will focus on Heat Pumps and renovations –The editor of this issue is Olli Seppänen (oseppanen(at)rehva.eu)
The November issue of the REHVA Journal (6/2014) will focus on Innovative HVAC solutions for high performance buildings - The editor of this issue is Stefano P. Corgnati (stefano.corgnati(at)polito.it)
To read all the 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 REHVA Journals, please visit the REHVA Journal section in the REHVA website. Register online to get your free copy of the REHVA Journal!
EU Policy News
The Commission announces unambitious and non-binding 30% energy savings target for 2030
Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger held a press conference on July 23rd to present the European Commission Communication on Energy Efficiency, which sets a non-binding 2030 energy savings target of 30 %.
The Communication on Energy Efficiency is the last building block in the 2030 climate package. The 30% energy efficiency target is 10% less than proposed in the initial Policy Framework document in February 2014. REHVA published a position paper in March 2014 demanding binding energy targets with specific targets for the building sector. Obviously the European Commission’s ambitions on energy efficiency have dropped even more since then. Following the announcement, stakeholder organisations, industry representatives, NGOs as well as MEPs strongly criticised the decision of the Commission.
Journalists asked in the press conference why the Commission did not opt for a more ambitious target. The Commissioner pointed out that efficiency requires renovations of buildings or homes, as well as investments in innovation for utilities or products. “The 30% target has a decent chance to get support in the European Council,” Oettinger said, suggesting that a higher target would likely be refused by the member states. EURACTIVE reports that ahead of the European Commission's announcement, France’s energy minister was reported to support the 30% figure as a compromise, together with Germany.
The Commission released jointly with the Communication also the assessment on the EU’s 2020 targets showing that the EU will fail to reach its goals on saving energy and improving energy efficiency, because of inefficient level of implementation in the member states. The EU currently forecast to achieve energy savings of 18-19%. Therefore an ambitious and binding energy efficiency target set by the European Commission against its member states’ interest would be a key for achieving energy savings, and for Europe’s energy security and independency from Russia.
Energy Efficiency in buildings will hopefully feature high on the political agenda for the next Commission. President-elect Juncker has at least expressed strong support in his Political Guidelines for the next European Commission stating that “I would like to significantly enhance energy efficiency beyond the 2020 objective, notably when it comes to buildings”.
EU Project News
iSERV final report published
The iSERVcmb project was closed in April this year and now the final Public Report was launched. The report provides an excellent overview about the work done in the last 3 year summarizing the key outcomes and future exploitation of the project results. Some highlights from the report:
iSERVcmb has produced a unique set of insights and findings into the power demands and energy consumption of HVAC systems and components in operational buildings in EU Member States, along with insights into how to reduce this energy consumption.
The project recruited 330 buildings, comprising 2 831 HVAC systems, 7 685 HVAC components, 2 230 Meters, 11 173 Spaces, 72 Activity types and 1 551 638 m2 of floor area, from 20 EU Member States during the 2011 to 2014 project period.
Applying the iSERVcmb process to these operational buildings helped achieve savings of up to 33% in a building’s total electrical energy use – often for little capital outlay. Across all the buildings on the iSERVcmb database, the actual or projected annual energy savings were around 9% on average.
In systems with more than a year’s data in the system an average annual saving of 18% of the electricity use were achieved.
Measured ranges of energy consumption and power demands by HVAC component and end use activity have been published by the project based on which Power Demand benchmarks were identified, which are needed for immediate diagnostic work in operational systems.
The iSERVcmb process and procedures can be applied across all EU Member States without any regional amendments, though the Benchmarks used will need some regional amendments depending on the utility type, service and component.
The REHVA Inspection TF will work together with project coordinator Ian Knight on the integration of iSERVcmb results in the upcoming REHVA Guidebook on AC Inspection.
Download “The inspection of building services through continuous monitoring and benchmarking –the iSERVcmb project” report. For more details visit the iSERVcmb website.
neZEH status was presented during the RCEPB 2014, Bucharest, 5-6 June 2014
Key technical outcomes of the Nearly Zero Energy Hotels project, work package 2 Experience and viability of nZE refurbishment projects lead by REHVA, were presented by REHVA project assistant Andrei Lițiu in the RCEPB 2014, which is the most important Romanian scientific event about energy efficiency, sustainable buildings, design, construction and renewable energy. The floor was shared with Camelia Rață, executive director of ABMEE, who presented the current status of neZEH implementation in Romania which focused on the selection of the pilot hotels. The presentations can be downloaded from the REHVA neZEH project webpage.
3ENCULT project results
The 3ENCULT project came to its end in March 2014. The project's public deliverables can be downloaded from the REHVA 3ENCULT project webpage. In a nutshell, they include threefold designed intervention: the preservation of the historical structure, user comfort and energy efficiency. (e.g. design examples, calculations, results from an extensive series of measurements created on the basis of eight Best Practice case studies).
3ENCULT bridges the gap between conservation of historic buildings and climate protection, which is not an antagonism at all: historic buildings will only survive if maintained as living space. Energy efficient retrofit is useful for structural protection as well as for comfort reasons - comfort for users and "comfort" for heritage collections. 3ENCULT demonstrates the feasibility of "Factor 4" to "Factor 10" reduction in energy demand, depending on the case and the heritage value.
International Events
FinnBuild - a showcase for the Finnish construction industry
The Finland’s largest building and building services trade fair, FinnBuild 2014, will be held at Messukeskus Helsinki, Expo & Convention Centre, on 1-3 October 2014. FinnBuild presents the best expertise, products, services and solutions for construction.
REHVA will organize with FINVAC a seminar on Thursday on 2 October on "HVAC equipment and systems in nearly zero energy buildings" - 13.00-16.30
The seminar is free to all visitors. The speakers are prominent European and Finnish experts.
More information at www.finnbuild.fi
Chillventa – the Exhibition for Energy Efficiency, Heat Pumps and Refrigeration
Trends & Innovations from the Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Sector in Nuremberg from 14–16 October 2014
Whether heat exchangers, control & instrumentation or evaporators, the industry, wholesale trade, professional associations and research meet at Chillventa to discuss the most important questions on refrigeration, air conditioning, ventilation and heat pumps. Be there and meet the experts at this leading exhibition: Chillventa opens its doors in Nuremberg, Germany from 14–16 October 2014. More information at www.chillventa.de/en/
RoomVent 2014
The 13th SCANVAC Conference RoomVent 2014 will be held in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on October 19–22, 2014. The main theme of the next RoomVent is New ventilation strategies with base in active and passive technology in building and for comfort in airplane. Registration is now open.
The international conference on Advanced HVAC & Natural Gas Technology will take place in Riga on 6-8 May. The Radisson BLU Hotel Latvija Conference Centre will host of this event. It is the region’s largest and most modern Conference and Event Centre.
Abstract (4000 characters including spaces) should be submitted to www.hvacriga2015.eu by 1 September 2014. Please view the topics online at www.hvacriga2015.eu. Contact person: Mrs Signe Barbaniska at signe.barbaniska(at)btgroup.lv
Other HVAC events
35th AIVC Conference – 4th TightVent Conference – 2nd Venticool Conference
24-25 September 2014, Poznań, Polan
More information
CCHVAC 2014 conference
29-31 October, 2014
Tianjin, China
e-nova 2014 congress
13-14 November 2014, Pinkafeld, Austria
More information
45th HVAC&R International Congress
3-5 December 2014, Belgrade, Serbia
More information
AQUATHERM Moscow
3-6 February 2015, Moscow, Russia
More information
AQUATHERM Novosibirsk
17-19 February 2015, Novosibirsk, Russia
More information
World Sustainable Energy Days
25-27 February 2015, Wels, Austria
More information
ACREX 2015
26-28 February 2015, Biec, Bangalore, India
More information
COLD CLIMATE 2015
20-23 October 2015
Dalian, China
More information
For more HVAC events please check the REHVA Events Calendar on www.rehva.eu and also www.buildup.eu
