Text: Gerrit Tenkink, Electrical Practice
Paul de Backker is the new chairman of the trade association Building Automation of the federation for technology branches FHI. Despite the difficult time in which he takes over, he sees plenty of opportunities for this field. The installer will play an important role in this.
De Backker follows in the footsteps of his predecessor Piet van Veelen. He was already there when the initiative was launched in 2011 to give the trade association Gebouw Automatisering its own face within FHI. In daily life, De Backker works at Siemens Nederland. The motivation to pick up the gavel is clear after an hour of talking to De Backker. He sees plenty of opportunities, in which connection, collaboration and information sharing with other organizations and with members play a central role.
Possibilities
The members of the association mainly focus on utility construction and a few on residential construction. De Backker sees plenty of opportunities when it comes to energy saving, for example. “The user of a building often has more in-house than he is aware of. Think of metering of the installation, of linked systems for heating, lighting and ventilation. We just do little with all that available data. The question is how to deal with all that smart data and how to link the available information. We are increasingly becoming the prosumer with our building. With the PV panels on the roof you supply energy, but you also use energy. Smart systems make it possible to make your building as energy-neutral as possible. Why not use the parked electric cars at an office building for peak shaving? It is all possible. And in residential construction it is possible to use your electric car as battery storage, which supplies energy to your home when it is needed. In the future, the building will become an energy supplier instead of an energy user.”
Of course, corona is a threat, but it can also accelerate developments. According to De Backker, the installer has an important role in this, provided he joins in on time. “We are increasingly working from home. But a home workplace in your bedroom, that is a difficult combination. How do I get enough fresh air there and still the right temperature, but also the right lighting? And look at the utility. The office of the future will probably have fewer workstations, but larger meeting rooms. The ventilation level can be adjusted based on occupancy and air quality. And then we have not even mentioned components such as the remote control of your building, of course with the additional cyber security that must be observed. There are plenty of possibilities. There is quite a bit of work to be done.”
Connection
These are examples of what is possible, but, apart from 'the hands', De Backker sees that there is still work to be done to raise awareness among home and building owners, the facility departments and the building users. It is a point that De Backker would like to work on during his chairmanship. "All these groups are in different organizations and have their own industry organizations. Each with their own agenda and spearheads. I would like to move a little closer together, because we have a common interest: the greening and sustainability of our society and at the same time making our buildings more pleasant to live in and healthier."
Online
But are these also developments in which the electrical installer can play a role? For the smaller SME in particular, it is difficult to keep up with all the developments. After all, they have their hands full with their daily work. De Backker does see opportunities: "It is up to us, the knowledge and industry organizations, to bring that knowledge to the parties involved, including the installer. We have to actively invite people. Previously, this was done via trade fairs and seminars. Now we do it much more online. We have been forced to take major steps in this due to Covid-19. Online, workshops are a source of information. At the beginning of September, we organized a hybrid theme meeting: 25 participants in a room and the rest who are connected online and can ask questions via chat. The results are positive." For mid-November, we organized an online congress Bits, Bricks & Behaviour. Numerous topics and building types are discussed for a week. The number of registrations 3 weeks before the start is almost 300, so we are reaching a considerable target group with this information.
But in addition to the above-mentioned possibilities, we see it as one of the spearheads of the FHI that information should be easily found online. Think of information about technology: which one fits best with the situation in residential or utility construction? But also which company has experience with this and can I work with? In this way, you contribute to the digitalization of the building market as a whole and you help various parties in the construction column with providing the right information in the field of technology and fellow players in the sector.
De Backker sees plenty of opportunities when it comes to home and building automation, but connecting knowledge and presenting it in the right way and visibly are key concepts, according to him. “As I said before, I think we have an important role to play in this. Owners, managers and users of buildings are full of questions. It may not always be easy for the installer to list all those possibilities. As the FHI Building Automation trade association, we must help that installer to tell the story in a good and understandable way.”
Nederlands