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Submission themes

‘Eye on 2030’ is the 2022 year’s editions. The 14th REHVA HVAC World Congress CLIMA 2022 challenges advances in technologies for the smart energy transition, digitization, circularity and well-being. How can we create circular buildings, fully heated, cooled and powered by renewable energy? How can we design human-centered  indoor environments while mastering life-cycle costs? The focus is on buildings and their energy, comfort and indoor climate systems. It also includes their integration into infrastructures for energy, health, data and education.

Energy

CLIMA 2022 considers fossil-free energy use in the built environment of vital importance. Development of building services systems using heat, cold and electricity from renewable resources is accelerating, creating a need for flexibility and therefore for energy storage and inter-building energy exchanges. Following this there is also a need for innovative HVAC products and for performance optimization via improved design, operation and maintenance of the various integrated mechanical and electrical sub-systems. This typically includes reduction and balancing of the energy demands for heating, cooling and ventilation. While this is not exactly trivial in new buildings, it poses huge technical, social, economic and political challenges for existing buildings. Obviously the solutions will vary across countries. Exchanging experiences and learning from each other are the main objectives of CLIMA 2022. This is not limited to the technical aspects, but also includes economic, cultural, juridical and organizational aspects. The overall energy system is becoming more dynamic and is influenced by additional actors with non-traditional roles. When homes become small energy plants, or when large building complexes start to exchange energy, or when smart data companies control energy consumption, then the government, grid operators, energy companies, financial institutions and our sector need to respond.

CLIMA 2022 has received original contributions that introduce, share, broaden and improve scientific and practical knowledge and experiences in these areas:

1.1 Renewable and smart energy solutions for buildings and sites: Energy Storage; Energy Exchange; Energy Flexibility; Renewable Energy Production;
1.2 Design of Innovative HVAC systems for optimized operational performances: High performance HVAC systems and components; Smart technologies; Optimized control; Optimized maintenance; Data-driven operation; Digital twins;
1.3 Reduction and balancing of building energy demand: Energy transition; Technological breakthroughs in insulation; ventilation; solar shading; Systemic innovations;
1.4 Legislation, business models and shifting responsibilities: New legislation; public-private partnerships; market initiatives; new business models; new actors on the energy market

Digitization

CLIMA 2022 considers digital solutions that encourage the energy transition in the built environment as a very important theme. Solutions are expected in the areas of (predictive) digital twinning, data-driven smart buildings, data management, and continuous commissioning. Nowadays digital solutions must be capable of handling a wide variety of HVAC systems and even be self-learning in detecting trends and process anomalies. Stand-alone (add-on) or embedded solutions are possible, but system architectures must include large scale deployment (wired and wireless solutions, IoT, cloud solutions, blockchain technologies). Monitoring strategies are needed that also bridge the gap between Building Automation and Control Systems (BACS) and Building Information Modeling (BIM), and enable lifetime-cost control using system and building-contextual data. Large-scale monitoring of energy, comfort and life-cycle cost performances at an affordable cost level are needed in support of business cases and policies. Finally, the recent COVID pandemic has triggered research on digital-focused design, monitoring and control of ventilation systems, in relation to overall comfort and health. This includes AI algorithms for fault detection and diagnosis, pattern recognition and anomaly detection.

CLIMA 2022 has received original contributions on digital solutions supporting the building upgrading process and building (energy) management.

2.1 Building Management Systems for Energy, Carbon, Comfort and Cost Performance: Performance monitoring; Digital Twins; Data-Driven Smart Buildings; Time-series data; Multi-objective optimization; Continuous commissioning; Building automation
2.2 Design for Automation: From BIM Models to BACS: BIM for Building Services; Building Automation and Control Systems (BACS)
2.3 Digitization in HVAC control & Health Monitoring: Ventilation strategies; Health and comfort monitoring; Pattern recognition; AI algorithms; Fault detection and diagnosis
2.4 Digitization for integration & Building upgrading: IoT and Industrial IoT; Cloud solutions for Building Management Systems; Edge computing; Local networks

Health & Comfort

The achievement of health and comfort of people in the built environment, whether at home, at work, at school, or enjoying free time, is a complex subject that involves physics, behaviour, physiology, energy conservation, climate change, architecture, engineering and technology. The way people feel, experience and behave in their environment is related to the quality of their environment, described by the thermal, air, lighting and sound qualities, but also to the ability of the buildings and systems to respond to people’s changing needs and preferences and the ability of people to respond to new buildings and systems. As shown by the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, building systems have to provide a resilient environment not only on the long term (as climate change is evolving) but also in the short term (for example during a pandemic). CLIMA 2022 challenges advances in intelligent interfaces and interaction between building, indoor climate systems and humans and welcomes contributions seeking to new approaches to health & comfort in relation to low-energy buildings and energy-efficient retrofit.

CLIMA 2022 has received original contributions that introduce, share, broaden and improve scientific and practical knowledge and experiences in these areas:

3.1 Ventilation (to reduce infectious diseases): Design criteria; Guidelines; Ventilation strategies; Cleaning air; Airborne transmission
3.2 Indoor Environmental Quality for well-being in energy-efficient & retrofitted buildings: humidity problems; build-up of pollutants; design and maintenance of HVAC-systems; occupant preferences;
3.3 Thermal comfort in energy-efficient buildings & retrofitted buildings: Overheating, thermal comfort; Occupant preferences
3.4 Resilience and climate change: environmental risk factors; human behaviour and adaptation; healthy, comfortable and energy-efficient buildings; human-system interaction; Future standards & regulations

Circularity

As a result of a growing population worldwide and the need for comfortable and healthy indoor environments, a massive building challenge lies ahead with the development of new building projects as well as the need to upgrade the existing building stock. To ensure a future-proof, sustainable economy for future generations,  the reduction of the use of primary resources is essential. Circularity aims at closing and connecting material, water and energy flows while eliminating waste and reducing the demand for primary resources. The HVAC sector has a particularly high potential to contribute to circularity. Cycling energy, air and water flows is its core business. Components are frequently subject to upgrades and change. The retention and reuse of valuable materials and components offer business opportunities. However, the associated benefits have not yet translated into a large-scale market breakthrough. The sector needs a clear vision on how to achieve circularity goals, based on innovative strategies and an integrated approach with regard to circular design, product technology, business models, and management.

CLIMA 2022 considers circularity as a primary challenge for the coming decade. We have received contributions that initiate, share, and improve scientific and practical knowledge and best practice examples in the aforementioned areas.

4.1 Circular Design: Design for Disassembly; Product Life-Cycle Strategies; Product Functionality; Building Design; Environmental Impact Assessment of Circular Components
4.2 Product Technology: Biological, Technical and Critical Materials; Component Reuse and Remanufacturing; Circular Maintenance; Product and Material Tracking; Standards and Regulations
4.3 Business Models: Value Proposition; Total Cost of Ownership; Total Benefits of Ownership; Legal and Safety Aspects; New Ownership Models; Product Service Strategies
4.4 Management: Supply Chain Management; Reverse Logistics; Stakeholder Engagement; Producer Responsibility; Company Operation, Facilities and Resources; Policy

Learning & Education

The European targets around the energy transition in the built environment are huge.  To realize the transition towards an energy-efficient, circular, digitized and healthy built environment, an upscaling of solutions is urgently needed. Dissemination of technical innovations and proven knowledge and approaches is needed. The building services sector is essential for realizing this transition: next to delivering the workforce for designing, placing and maintaining all energy and indoor climate equipment in buildings and neighborhoods, the sector also acts as innovator and is the axis between the construction, energy, IT and health sectors, integrating knowledge from these fields. Rapid changes in energy and HVAC engineering techniques and systems and in contracts and processes make it necessary to accelerate the uptake of knowledge in these areas. This means that continuous professional development of the current workforce and  the education of new employees is necessary. There is a growing need for in-company, sectoral and cross-sectoral learning communities.

CLIMA 2022 considers advances in learning & education as being essential to the sector and has received original contributions demonstrating novel approaches and good practices in developing learning communities and curricula to attract and educate young professionals as well as train experienced practitioners digitally and on the job.

5.1 Learning communities: Experiences and challenges in integrating research, education and practice; Novel concepts for faster and more efficient learning on the job; Replicability and potential for up-scaling; Maintenance of learning communities
5.2 Digital education: Massive open online courses; Integration of alternative educational concepts such as flipped-classroom & blended learning; Digital support for learning on the job; Digital education for young professionals; Digital education for experts;
5.3 Development of curricula: Gateways between vocational and higher education; Knowledge integration & cross sectoral curricula; Gateways between operation and design; Sectoral developments; Role of living-labs.
5.4 Business models for learning & Education: Financing structures and organization; Impact on practice; Value for companies and employees; Demographic changes

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