FINVAC – The Finnish Association of HVAC Societies

REHVA Journal – February 2012

FINVAC is a joint organization in Finland, in which four national societies of HVAC organizations (SuLVI, VSF, LIVI, SIY) participates. The societies are professional and technical societies devoted to promoting the arts and sciences of heating, ventilating, air-conditioning and allied technologies and to inform and arrange training activities in this field.

FINVAC cooperate with several organizations, with SCANVAC in the Nordic countries, with REHVA in Europe and with ASHRAE in USA.

SiruLönnqvist

REHVA Fellow

Head of Secretariat, FINVAC, Finland

siru.lonnqvist@finvac.org

FINVAC members

Suomen LVI-Liitto, SuLVIry

SuLVI is established 1930. It is the national “umbrella” of 33 local HVAC societies in Finland. The number of personal members in these local societies is about 5 000. SuLVI, together with HVAC branch associations (industry, contracting…) publishes a Finnish language HVAC Journal “Talotekniikka” with 8 issues/year.

VVS Föreningeni Finland rf (VSF)

VSF is established 1936. It is the society for the Swedish speaking Finns in the HVAC-branch, with some 650 personal members. VSF publishes their own HVAC Journal “VVS värme- ochsanitetsteknikern”, with 5 issues/year in Swedish.

Lämpöinsinööriyhdistys LIVI

LIVI is established 1959. It is a corporate member of “RIL” and a society for engineers M.Sc.(Tech) working in the area of HVAC engineering. The parent organization RIL, founded in 1934, is an organization for civil engineers with Master of Science degree and university students of civil engineering. RIL supports the development of building, urban planning and environmental technology and acts to preserve solid and durable building and maintenance traditions. The number of personal members in LIVI is about 240.

Sisäilmayhdistysry (SIY)

SIY is established 1990 and is also known as FiSIAQ according to the English language name. FiSIAQ is a non-profit organization whose purpose is to disseminate research results into practice in the construction and real estate sector. FiSIAQ carries out in Finland many activities similar to those of ISIAQ. FiSIAQ has a contact network of over 9 000 individuals interested in IAQ issues. Over 150 companies, Finnish and international, support their work. FiSIAQ’s main products are the “Sisäilmauutiset” newsletterwith 4 issues/year in Finnish language, the annual Indoor climate seminar and the Classification of Indoor Climate. During its existence, FiSIAQ has published several reports and guidelines, the proceedings of two international conferences and one textbook. Internationally, FiSIAQ is known as an organizer of international conferences: Indoor Air ´93, Healthy Buildings 2000, and, together with a few other Finnish organizations, Clima 2007 WellBeing Indoors and Roomvent 2007 conferences.

FISE – Qualification of Professionals in Building, HVAC and Real Estate Sector in Finland

FISE recognizes qualifications in building planning as well in site supervision and management based on law and complementary building act and code. Moreover, it has been included in the system a voluntary recognition of market-driven construction and built property professionals` qualifications.

FISE covers approximately 40 professions and has recognized over 7 400 competencies. There are 18 stakeholder organizations in FISE, including SuLVI, VSF and RIL. SuLVI is in charge of the secretariat in HVAC qualifications, including for example ventilation designers, foreman of water supply and sewage installations of buildings and issuers of energy performance certificates. Qualification is recognized for seven years at a time. Recognition may be withdrawn with reason, before the validity expires.

FISE recognizes qualifications based on 25 qualification committees, named by FISE's board of directors, and handled by 8 secretaries. Meetings are held at least twice a year. Two hundred experts are doing mostly voluntary work in the committees in eight secretary organizations.

Promoting the use of REHVA publications

FINVAC has arranged translations of two REHVA Guidebooks into Finnish, namely GB 1 (Displacement ventilation), GB 7 (Low temperature heating and high temperature cooling). GB 12 (Solar shading) is also available in Finnish, translated jointly by SuLVI and Aurinkosuojausry (the Finnish member of ES-SO). Negotiations and campaigns are ongoing in order to increase the use of GBs (and supporting material such as PowerPoint presentations prepared by REHVA) for educational purposes at universities.

REHVA Dictionary terms have been translated into Finnish with support of FINVAC in several phases. The most recent action, carried out by a product group among LIVI members in 2011, increased the number of Finnish language terms by 2 000 new ones into more than 11 600, leaving just some 700 words without translation. In addition, of some 250 additional terms were suggested, most of these deal with energy performance of buildings.

Collaboration

A few examples of collaboration between FINVAC, its member organizations and other organizations have been presented earlier in the text. Here just a couple of others, showing the variety of joint activities from permanent forums to half-day joint seminars:

·         FINVAC member organizations are active in a collaboration forum focusing on issues related to energy performance of buildings. In the Finnish HVAC energy forum the manufacturers, designers and contractors prepare common position papers and arrange contacts with MEPs and national decision-makers.

·         FINVAC arranged in 2011, together with RIL, a seminar targeted to Finnish HVAC professionals and civil engineers, about technical EU legislation and REHVA’s main activities.