Our specialist articles

"Carnot won't allow that," was a comment heard more than once at the recent ISH trade fair during discussions about renovating old buildings with air/water heat pumps. With a maximum COP of 3.5, that's the end of the line. The founder of thermodynamics – Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot – must have regularly turned in his grave when he heard that. Because he allows everything. Nowhere in his cycle does the energy source appear – only temperatures. Matthias Westermann, a planner and energy consultant, presented an installation with an impressive efficiency rating of 8: 8 kWh of heat from 1 kWh of electricity plus several thousand cubic metres of air. In short, the better the heat pump is integrated into the heating circuit, the higher the efficiency rating.

Georg Menshen GmbH & Co. KG manufactures and supplies plastic closures for bottles and bags. The planned conversion of the heating system in production halls and offices is intended to contribute to sustainability. The core of the concept is the use of waste heat from many elements in the overall system. By collecting measurement data from the heating system, the transport of thermal energy is assessed and can serve as a basis for further optimisation.

In circulating water heating systems, we use water as a storage and transport medium for heat. But how much water is actually needed, and how can we ensure the "right" amount of water in relation to the amount of heat transported, transferred or stored? In this article, we want to show that this task can be solved more easily (automatically) and more effectively (dynamically) with a thermostatic approach.

When property planning focuses not only on low construction costs but also on low operating costs, architects and planners must demonstrate their expertise. This was the objective to be achieved in the "Inclusive Living Environments" project run by Lebenshilfe in the Nuremberg region.

There is a great need for information in the HVAC industry. However, further training does not have to be packaged in a lavishly designed social evening. If the topic is the standard problem area – hydraulics – and a non-sales-oriented institution invites participants, such as a chamber of trades or the new energy communities, the training room fills up. If an experiment in the heating laboratory then confirms the theory, the audience will ask the host almost expectantly at the end: "What is your next topic?"

Frequently requested but rarely carried out professionally: hydraulic balancing may well be the most effective low-investment energy efficiency measure, but it is usually only carried out half-heartedly, especially in the renovation of old buildings, due to the various unknowns involved. A completely new method, which impresses with both its simplicity and its effectiveness, has now passed field trials for underfloor heating systems. Among other places, it was tested in the home of a church energy consultant in Lower Franconia.

When commercial cooling, heating requirements and conventionally installed equipment coincide, it is usually time to pay attention. This is because there may be considerable potential for savings in primary energy. This was the case at the SPAR supermarket in Reichraming near Steyr. The reward for this was the 'Energy Globe Award Upper Austria' at the end of last year.