PROFILE Systemair

COOL COLLABORATION

Systemair is a leading ventilation company with air, cool air – goes to the right place at the right time. operations in 50 countries. The South African Then it’s about looking at having the right installation; operation started manufacturing locally in 2014, for example, there’s no point in having 300 rooms producing fans, rooftops, air handling units and air-conditioned when only one is in use. accessories. Managing Director Vincent Laidet tells us Clean air has an impact on health and productivity, more about how to minimise one’s energy costs… and this applies across the board. As we spend more When building or renovating, how important is it an extremely high quality, and this comes down to not to factor in the operational costs on an installation? only the design of the building but also its operation Today more than ever before, we look at the life and maintenance. cycle costs of a building or installation. The products that we supply to the market - across residential, Most electrical costs in commercial buildings commercial and mixed-use – will have a lifespan that relate to meeting the human health and comfort varies between 10 and 20 years. When we look at the standards for buildings, how does one reduce energy electrical consumption of these products, the initial consumption and cost without compromising indoor cost, the Capex, becomes insignificant compared to environmental quality? the operating costs involved. So, when building or Reducing energy consumption doesn’t mean that we renovating, we see that energy-efficient solutions can have to reduce or compromise the indoor air quality; it play a great role in reducing these operational costs, really means that we have to adjust the system and its often up to 40 to 50%. load according to the needs. So the need doesn’t really

If you look at the ventilation industry specifically, change at all, but, say for example when looking at the you have two quite distinguishable technologies – AC- HVAC, we can look at how dynamic the system can be. operated ventilators and EC-operated ventilators. The In hotels and shopping centres, where you have a lot difference in energy consumption between the two is of people coming in and out, a very reactive system is about 40%, on the product itself. We also need to bear in needed that can understand the use of the building and mind that a product can be very efficient, but installed can predict human behavior; and adjust accordingly. into an inefficient system. These factors all need to be That is where the BMS (Building Management System) considered when designing or renovating a building. of an HVAC plays an important part, for the HVAC to What proportion of these costs relate to energy building usage forecasts, and from that we can predict consumption? the right indoor air temperature, humidity, air quality The HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) and so on. system in any building-receiving people is the largest Energy efficiency would in a sense contribute to consumer of energy, and can make up approximately 40- the indoor air quality because a system that is not 60% of the electricity bill. When looking at costs related efficient does not have the same capability to adjust to to energy consumption, the least efficient building, for the building’s use. Having the right system, products and example, might consume close to 200w/m², while an controls aims to give building owners the flexibility to energy efficient building might only consume 30w/m², reduce their electricity bill, but also boost the comfort or even be completely passive, not requiring any energy of its occupants. in order to maintain a good indoor temperature or air quality. So the difference is enormous. On paper, we How can working with Systemair be of value to the design green buildings to be efficient on the hottest design team in these respects? day in summer and on the coldest day in winter. But Systemair as a group owns all of its production facilities then there’s also the question of how good the building and researches and develops its own products according is at adapting to climate change – outdoor conditions to the current needs of the market. We invest heavily and indoor occupation. And so we start looking more into our capacity to provide the right products for today and more at a control system which can adapt the use and tomorrow’s needs, priding ourselves in being at the of the HVAC system to the building’s use; and perhaps forefront of energy efficiency. From the South African even be able to anticipate the use in order to flatten perspective, we are directly present here with our the electricity demands. recently increased manufacturing footprint and are one What are the most important interventions building of products for residential, commercial or industrial designers can make to minimise energy costs in the application, covering every letters of the word HVAC. We context of total cost of ownership? understand what energy efficiency is; we understand the When renovating, the main question is first, how can challenges of operating a building and can offer a tailorwe reduce any waste of energy; or perhaps, how can we made solution. The benefit of working with Systemair produce the least possible amount of energy to host a is having a partner for one’s complete requirements good indoor environment? So if we can benefit already - we have complete expertise over the full system and from things outdoors – the right amount of sun, the differentiate ourselves by providing the right solution right amount of fresh air coming into the building, for the each building we work with. while at the same time having controlled exposure, that is a good first step. Then there is insulating the building, so we shift towards the right amount of energy being produced and keeping it where it is useful, so that includes isolating the building from the outdoor environment and being sure that filtered air – warm and more time indoors, it’s critical that the air is of learn from its experience. We have weather forecasts, of the only companies that can supply a complete range