People, Planet, Profit

HVAC as an industry was never considered as crucial for whatever reasons except for initial years of its innovation. However, this is changing slowly & surely & for multiple reasons. With ICE automobile moving to EV / Hybrids & lighting going LED, their share of fossil fuel burnt, has gone down substantially & while that of HVAC has gone up, with rising demand, especially from developing nations. This has made the sector's carbon footprint, an elephant in the room. Apart from adding to carbon footprint, it also impacts to other crucial areas namely Indoor Air Quality & Fire-Life Safety pertaining to HVAC.

HVAC industry can tackle these challenges in following ways:

Efficiency -

As per current estimates, the HVAC consumes almost 1/3rd power that’s being generated by burning fossil fuels & this is an alarming situation. Hence all the efforts are now on, to make HVAC highly energy efficient – be in its design, application of technologically advanced equipment, or in its operation with IoT- AI combination.

Thus, efficiency metric makes a direct impact on the sustainability quotient of any facility.

Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) -

Post COVID people have suddenly realized the importance of indoor air quality. Right to clean air, concepts like DALY (Disability Adjusted Life in Years) especially in “built environment” will soon be in public discourse, even in developing countries like India. HVAC plays a pivotal role with its ability to provide clean air & much can be achieved with up-skilling of our resources, by making them aware of the IAQ challenges & its solutions.

Fire & Life safety -

As has been seen, in many instances of fire, whether commercial or residential, one of the common cases of fire is HVAC. Best installation practices of HVAC systems with smoke dilution-containment strategies aided by right selection of products can greatly enhance the fire and life safety, within the built environment.

Above three areas, are the most compelling reasons to relook at the way, we treat HVAC.

In my opinion, this sector, without doubt, presents a unique opportunity, to contribute to the sustainability mission by making industry aware & reskilling & up-skilling, its on-field human capital.