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Internet of Things dominates ISH 2019
Today is the last day of ISH, the bi-annual exhibition for the combined topic of water and energy, which is on at the exhibition grounds in Frankfurt. Titled as ISH, it is the world’s leading trade fair for a range of associated topics, materials and services.
It is certainly huge and a single day’s visit, unless you are very selective and disciplined, will not allow you to see the vast range of exhibitors from all over the world spread over the large, multi-storeyed halls. An excellent app will help you to plan and find those stands that have a particular interest.
Collectively from an energy perspective the exhibition this year is less about new ground-breaking innovations; rather about the nuances and improvements on existing technologies. There does not appear to be any of the major system heating suppliers making claims about their new systems achieving a remarkable step in heat generation efficiency.
The story of the show is the efficiency that is being gained by interoperability via the Internet of Things (IOT). All manufacturers have very sleek and intuitive apps to control not only their devices but all of the associated devices in your home, including those from other manufacturers.
Many have the ability to learn your patterns of occupancy to minimise wasted energy and maximise your comfort levels when at home. Big Brother is warming you!
As a continuity from the last ISH, all of the major manufacturers continue to have products outside of and enhancing their core competencies, with nearly every company of note covering end-to-end solutions to heat and ventilate buildings.
As the NZEB [nearly zero energy building] dates for dwellings are now fully in view, the palette of ventilation systems on display was impressive. From the most basic decentralised units up to fully integrated models with whole house heat recovery, the choice is very broad.
Wall or ceiling mounted ventilation solution from Boderus
Ventilation with improved indoor air quality within the realms of NZEB will become an increasingly important topic, and it is good to see the industry react to provide solutions at all cost and complexity/efficiency points.
One of the more interesting but understated technologies/collaborations on display was a taster of a combined Panasonic/Systemair unit. Initially aimed at the commercial market the synergies will quickly trickle down to dwellings. You can expect other manufacturers to follow suite as more smaller and compact dwellings can be sufficiently heated using air.
As SEAI’s deep retrofit programme and the now almost year-old SEAI heat pump grant grows in popularity, it is evident that there is a lot of heat pump technology on the market, with most of the suppliers into Ireland having improved models on display on ISH.
New heat pump models from LG and Daikin
Several exhibitors had impressive displays with measurement technologies to monitor and record building fabric conditions, allowing remedial work to be undertaken with the benefit of accurate material performance. Kimo and Testo stood out with their wide range of devices and probes.
What was interesting too, not by their absence but by the relatively small amount of information and displays available, were solar PV and integrated storage/distribution systems for off-grid generated electricity.
Mark Shirley is the founder of leading Irish energy consultancy 2eva.ie
