On March 12^th, 2024, representatives from the building cooling and ventilation associated industry together with architects, and consultants gathered for the 9^th meeting of the Advisory Board of Practitioners (ABoP). This board, led since the beginning of 2024 by venticool (and initially run in conjunction with Annex 80 from 2021 to 2023), was founded to put results of scientific research into action by establishing strong ties to practitioners and to include their practical experience and feedback in future research projects.

23 participants attended the meeting which focused on the “Environmental impact of ventilative cooling/ventilation”. Following a short introduction & welcome speech by Hilde Breesch (KU Leuven Belgium), there were 2 presentations by experts. The first presentation by Jannick Roth (WindowMaster, Denmark) focused on “Life cycle assessment: A design element for ventilation system selection”. Yanaika Decorte (Ghent University, Belgium) then presented “Life Cycle Assessment: Exhaust and Balanced Ventilation – Flemish single-family case study.”

Following the 2 presentations, the participants were split into 3 break-out sessions to discuss the questions which follow:

1. How important (0-10) is the environmental impact for your company (compared to energy, IEQ, etc.) now and in the future (next 10 years)?
2. Do you apply LCA analysis in your HVAC design or product assessment? (Why? Why not? For which products?)
3. If you apply LCA analysis, what KPIs are you using? Which thresholds? Which phases/stages do you consider?

Overall, there was a general agreement on the increasing importance of the environmental impact now and in the future. However, the participants noted that energy and IEQ should remain of equal importance. It appears that industry nowadays apply LCA analysis in the HVAC design or product assessment and the representatives present agreed there is a strong need for reliable data and a global standard providing this data. The participants also highlighted the importance of Environmental Product Declarations and underlined the lack of recycle and re-use in the LCA analysis. CO2 equivalent appears to be a valid KPI for comparison.

Next meetings

• Meeting #10: September 2024 (Exact date & time soon to be announced)
• Meeting topic: “Hybrid cooling: how to design and operate?”
• Presentations from: Peter Holzer (Institute of Building Research & Innovation, Austria) & Ongun Berk Kazanci (IEA Annex 87 Operating Agent/Technical University of Denmark, Denmark)

If you are interested to join the board, please contact Maria Kapsalaki.