The pandemic impacted every industry across the world, and the HVACR segment was no exception. The HVACR industry saw a total shift with increased awareness of Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) and ventilation and improved energy-efficiency targets. This, indeed, created demand and opportunities in the sector. The Italian HVACR market saw a similar effect, said Sam Peli, General Manager of Sales EMEA, Seeley International.

Elaborating, Salah El Deeb, Area Sales Manager, Castel, said: “The Italian market for HVAC and, in particular, refrigeration has seen, in the past five years, an annual growth of around three per cent.” Confirming the trend, Marco Buoni, HVACR Industry Expert, Centro Studi Galileo (CSG) and former director of Air conditioning and Refrigeration European Association (AREA), said that IAQ solutions and refrigerators in retail and hospitals, in particular, saw increasing demand during the last few years, as the pandemic hit Europe. In fact, refrigeration demand for supermarkets grew around 20%.

However, the scenario was not all optimistic, as 2020 witnessed a general slowdown in turnover, with more or less significant percentage losses depending on the types of products and sizes. Gessica Perani, Marketing and Communication Manager, Errecom, explains: “For the direct expansion sectors, market surveys revealed a negative trend for most types of products, such as a seven per cent decrease in value and a negative two per cent in quantity for mono-split; a negative four in value and negative three in quantity for multi-splits; -15% in value and -12% in quantity for VRF systems. Roof-top air conditioners were also in the negative territory compared to previous years. They lost 22% in value and 18% in quantity.”

Amidst this were a few bright spots. As Buoni points out, “Most sectors requiring centralised air conditioning saw a surge in demand for efficient air filtration during the COVID pandemic, including hospitals, transportation, education, supermarkets and government spaces.” Echoing this, the team at ISCLEANAIR speaks of how the pandemic spurred demand for specific sectors with overall climate control requirements across verticals, with a growing emphasis on real Indoor Air Quality (IAQ). It speaks of how there was an increase in focus on applying improved ventilation solutions and efficiency.

Irrespective of a slump or spurt in demand, almost all sectors suffered disruption through restrictions and staff absence, but perhaps the most profound was delays and difficulties in sourcing components from global markets due to the disrupted logistics industry.

Indeed, Buoni feels that infrastructural requirements have been more of a challenge than availability of innovative products. “New products have been developed to meet the sustainability and efficiency goals for retrofitting as more than 50% of buildings in Italy are older than 25 years,” he says. “We still see this demand continuing, especially in schools, because most children are not vaccinated and cannot be vaccinated. There is a lot of work going on even now, after three years of COVID onset.” 

The after-effects

Today, the storm has subsided, but the country continues to implement a number of facility guidelines for ensuring healthy, ambient and sustainable public spaces. Andrea Pagan, Application Manager – Ventilation and Systems, Carel Industries, says: “Mechanical ventilation has become a fundamental requirement for new facilities for residential environments. Adding these systems means new constructions are easier, but it is also possible in existing buildings, even if it involves adaptation works that affect internal activities.”

Buoni elaborates: “Energy efficiency and health became the main objective of government building guidelines. They are more focused on energy saving while improving building ventilation. As per these requirements, all new buildings need to have mechanical ventilation systems, renewable energy components and energy efficiency certifications.”

Buoni says the general trend is that new and retrofit projects are highly concentrating on higher air filtration and ventilation and air quality solutions. The focus on IAQ is not a unilateral decision of building owners, though, he says, adding that they are doing so to meet the requirement and criterion for government subsidies.

While countries the world over started focusing on IAQ, there were different levels of adoption. Italy chose to emphasise on IAQ especially in the healthcare and education sectors, Peli says. “This resulted in air filters and purifiers gaining popularity,” he adds. El Deeb adds that subsequently, the general airside business, refrigerated logistics, supermarkets and the healthcare sector benefited from the pandemic.

Adapting to change

Businesses worldwide had to adapt to new methodologies in a stringent atmosphere of low volumes. Indeed, the filtering and conditioning of the external air before entering the spaces occupied by people is more straightforward. There are ventilation and conditioning systems, or where these technological solutions are standard elements in the design of buildings. The ISCLEANAIR team highlights a change in customer demand and a change in operation and planning among HVAC manufacturers and distributors. In Italy and Russia, air-handling unit (AHU) sales benefitted from the increase in the demand for ventilation due to COVID-19.

Awareness was vital during the pandemic. Perani says ventilation and sanitisation of air conditioning units became the new front of the battle against the virus across Italy for all intents and purposes. “The indoor units of air conditioning systems, if properly sanitised and cleaned, can be useful tools to improve the Indoor Air Quality of homes, offices, schools and hospitals.” Perani says.

Italian HVACR innovation in this time included new air filtration systems, automatic ventilation integration, ultraviolet and other air cleaning solutions, IoT-based machine monitoring, and carbon dioxide level detectors/trigger vents, Buoni says. “In schools, specifically, there are CO₂ detectors and automatic ventilation systems to check the concentration and trigger ventilation,” he adds.

Improving efficiency at the same time

While ventilation occupied mind-space during the pandemic, there was awareness on not taking the foot off the pedal when it came to energy efficiency, especially as studies emerged of IAQ interventions, including allowing less recirculated air, meaning a 30% increase in energy use in buildings. Peli explains that most buildings were largely under-occupied during the first COVID outbreak, and existing HVAC capacity was still enough even with reduced air recirculation (or no air recirculation at all). “With occupancy rates bouncing back to pre-COVID levels, it has become increasingly evident that installed capacity might not be enough to cope with the new fresh air approach – or if it is able to, power consumption would sky-rocket,” he adds. This will make emission targets way more challenging to be achieved, unless target indoor temperatures can be reviewed or more efficient fresh air technologies become widely adopted.

Pagan says that adopting COVID regulations can lead to a considerable increase in the consumption of energy through greater ventilation, which can be estimated to be even three times more than in the past. “Stopping recirculation, using active ventilation 24/24 and by-pass of heat recovery units, interrupting DCV strategies are all actions that have an important impact but are not sustainable in the long term,” Pagan points out.

Weighing in, Peli asserts that immediate, short-term reaction has been a reduction in air recirculation and air transfer between different environments. As most buildings were un-occupied or under-occupied due to confinement measures and remote working, this strategy has been relatively successful, he says, but adds, “With businesses, offices and schools gradually returning to full occupancy, additional avenues will need to be investigated, including revisiting set-point temperatures, adopting free-cooling and more efficient retrofit systems (adiabatic systems), wider adoption of air sensors and smart controls.”

Amidst this dilemma of finding a delicate balance between energy efficiency and IAQ, Pagan points out, is the IoT revolution. The Internet of Things is revolutionising the way users approach technology across all industries, he says. The latest revision of the European Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) focuses on promoting the adoption of smart technologies, particularly through establishing a smart readiness indicator (SRI), he says. This indicator allows assessment of the ability of buildings to adapt their operations to the occupant’s needs, including optimising energy efficiency and overall performance and adapting their activity in response to signals from the grid (energy flexibility). “The SRI indicator should raise awareness among building owners and occupants of the value added by building automation and electronic monitoring of building technology systems and give occupants confidence in the actual savings that these new advanced features bring,” Pagan says. Although this definition of smart buildings refers primarily to energy issues, it is clear that smart ventilation is a crucial factor in buildings’ smart-readiness, not only to reduce energy impacts but also to provide adequate IAQ.

Government intervention

As part of the EU Recovery Plan, Italy has earmarked national resources worth Euro 30.6 billion to strengthen the Italian economy while addressing a number of structural weaknesses and pursuing significant objectives, such as the green transition and the digital transformation. The regional plan also overviews the policies to combat climate change and global warming and sustainable development, energy efficiency and circular economy. Amadeo Scarpa, Director, Italian Trade Agency (ITA), says: “European Commission assessment placed Italy as one of the top countries fighting global warming with over 25% of the total economic allocations under Italy National Plans to this cause. The achievement in terms of technology, policies and best practices in energy saving and renewable energy, in particular, are at the core of Italy’s integrated National Plan for Energy and Climate. The goal is to bring the renewable share of Italy to 30% by 2030.”

Renewable energy is a significant focus of Italy’s national plan. Currently, at 27% of the total energy generation, the renewable energy sector in the country has solar, hydroelectric and wind power generation. “Imagine utilising this renewable energy for air conditioning, refrigeration and ventilation, and pumps,” Buoni says. “This could literally negate HVAC’s environmental impact completely.”

Adding to this, Perani says that among the different government initiatives, the ‘Superbonus 110 tool’ has stood out. The Italian government developed the ambition to relaunch the building sector and react to the critical climate and environmental challenges. “This administrative order provides incentives to encourage energy efficiency, anti-seismic measures, as well as installation of photovoltaic systems, and offers a deduction rate of 110% for expenses incurred by June 30, 2022 (or by December 31, 2022, and June 30, 2023, for specific cases),” Perani says. “There are different eligibility requirements, such as the obligation to improve the energy class of buildings by at least two points.”

At the same time, IAQ has received government intervention. The Italian government witnessed severe mortalities, which made them take a strong stand on implementing key initiatives. In addition to making the vaccination available for everybody, the Istituto Superiore della Sanità (Italian National Institute of Health) issued several reports addressing HVAC requirements. The most recent revision in November 2021 includes very detailed guidelines for HVAC in both residential and work environments, primarily reflecting REHVA, AICARR (Italian HVAC Association) and ASHRAE guidelines. “The guidelines call for 24/7 ventilation in classrooms, where air purifiers are not installed,” Peli says. “Higher stress is that minimum RH levels should be maintained for viruses not to propagate. In particular, the report stresses on 40-60% RH as a good target to be maintained in the summertime.”

In addition to stringent construction and retrofit requirements for buildings, Italy is implementing policies for HVAC systems used for residential and office users. Buoni says: “The government has recently introduced new guidelines that require an indoor temperature of more than 25 degrees C. This initiative to enhance air conditioning use is more focused on energy saving, while improving building ventilation technology has been another focus.”

Driven by legislation and subsidies, which allow at times to recover the cost by 110%, new and retrofit projects are highly concentrating on energy efficiency in air filtration, ventilation and air quality solutions. Elaborating further, Buoni says: “Italy plans to phase out the use of gas boilers and replace them within the next 10- 15 years. This will give a huge momentum to efficient heating technologies with low GWP.”

 Spreading the good word around

These improvements, its manufacturing community believes, are placing Italy at an advantageous position when it comes to export potential. Italy is among the top five exporters of renewable energy, mainly components for renewable energy, to the UAE. “In total, the Italian companies have a turnover of almost EUR 23 billion, making UAE a top destination for renewables technologies,” Scarpa says.

Adding to this, Buoni says the country is a leader in HVAC technologies with many patented products with a higher environmental score. “Most of our products offer energy efficiency and help in ESG goals for the region,” he says. “Italian manufacturers have been experiencing growth in demand for innovative IAQ solutions in the region. Some notable innovations are in the air filtration and ventilation space.”

More than 3,000 Italian municipalities create renewable energy that exceeds their own household electricity needs. That means many of these households also have heating and cooling needs 100% satisfied through renewable energy. Scarpa says: “This makes Italy a great testimony partner, and this could be a win-win increase in bilateral trade in this sector. This is due to invention, trademarks and new patents on one side, and innovation research, applied manufacturing and sustainable manufacturing on the other.”