'I'm considering having my house charged by my Tesla'

Theo Smulders, director Celsius Benelux

I see a dog. Not my favorite pet. I'm more into hamsters. But this one is beautiful. A kind of Arctic dog-like sled wolf, but different. And he is sleeping, good boy, don't wake up Bello. And I see the ceiling. And now my laces. And what should I eat tonight? And, ah, there it is! Theo Smulders, director-owner of Celsius Benelux.

Building automation, that is what they do here at Celsius. And Theo Smulders is busy with it. Very busy. Hence the waiting time. Although, busy, yes, but rather driven. You see, Theo has a vision. On construction processes in general, on building maintenance in particular, on building automation in the very particular, and on efficiency and savings – energy savings, mind you – in the very, very, very particular. Right, Theo?

“You can view it in terms of a hierarchy, but also as coherence. We live in a time when we simply can no longer continue in the old way. In many respects, that is, but let me limit myself to my professional territory: construction processes and building automation. What you notice is that a turning point is underway, a transition from old thinking to new thinking. From thinking in terms of risks to thinking in terms of opportunities, freely, outside the entrenched frameworks.”

“My generation has a somewhat harder time with that than today’s youth. I personally consider it a prerequisite for progress. In that respect, the current zeitgeist aligns seamlessly with my ambitions. Which, incidentally, are based not only on visionary but also on personal motives.”

Tell

“I have known poverty. Bitter poverty. When I was 11 years old my father died. He had his own installation company, you know one of those companies where, as the boss, he always showed everyone how to do things. A hard worker. My mother was left with little to nothing. Those were difficult times, a lot of love, yes, but also a lot of misery. After my studies, I solemnly resolved never to let that happen to me again.

So there was only one thing to do: get rich!

“No no, my decision was about preventing poverty and what that entails. Not so much money itself. It's about making sure you stay out of the danger zone, but also about challenge, fun, satisfaction, progress and everything that goes with it. And to allow as little stress as possible into your life. Happiness is made up of a complex of factors.”

I think it is a driving force that has motivated you throughout your entire career

"Of course. From my time at Honeywell, where I was also involved in control technology and climate control, to today here at Celsius Benelux, my own company. I was able to start with that thanks to Gert Jan Vink, financier, farmer, Willie Wortel and also a good friend. Wonderful guy, invented, among other things, the cattle-delivering machine. That thing went all over the world, isn't it cool?”

 Celsius was a success story from the start?

“In the 20 years that Celsius has existed, it has of course not all been yippee. The crisis of recent years has also had its effects on us, but we have come out of it well. We have placed our activities in various companies and partnerships with which we cover the entire life cycle of buildings and are able to innovate in a targeted manner.”

 How should I see such a life cycle?

“In my vision, I assume six phases that must be gone through with regard to the construction, management, and maintenance of a building: Design, Build, Finance, Maintain, Operate, and Energy. In principle, we can deliver added value in five of those fields. However, in the current situation, it works as follows: a number of specialized companies are responsible for the construction – and thus for a large part of the total budget – after which a baseline measurement is taken one year after completion, and maintenance for the next 30 years subsequently falls into the hands of a party that rejects, replaces, and changes just about everything. Naturally, the costs of this rise as the building ages. A monumental waste.”

“A trend we wholeheartedly welcome, and which is gaining increasing traction, is bringing the maintenance aspect forward into the start-up phase and thus entrusting it to the right parties sooner. Clients realize that they lack sufficient technical knowledge, yet they still want to be relieved of the burden. Hence. We can play a substantial and, above all, cost-saving role in this regard. Innovation on the construction site after the fact faces many limitations and is consequently usually quite disruptive. We therefore strongly advocate for innovation in the start-up phase. We are set up for this and – noblesse oblige – we already have a number of impressive achievements to our name in that phase.”

In terms of cost savings?

“On that of efficiency and energy saving, to be precise. Efficiency speaks fairly for itself and is inherent to building automation. In combination with the second, energy saving, we are talking about a major future-oriented challenge. Before I give some examples, let me briefly walk you through my thoughts.”

“In 2024, all non-residential buildings must have at least energy label C, and in 2030, energy label O. So why shouldn't they be able to supply energy by 2050? Did you know that 40% of total energy consumption is attributable to buildings and homes? No, right? So there is enormous potential for gain there. And that can only be achieved if we manage to manipulate the three main determining factors—energy consumption, generation, and storage—in such a way that an optimum is achieved. We have already made significant progress in this area, certainly regarding the reduction of energy consumption and generation. The fact is that automation plays a crucial role in these processes. Everything is becoming intelligent. Innovation, efficiency, and savings are increasingly determined by knowledge and software, and less and less by materials.”

And now… the examples!

"Alright then. Let me start with JuBi in The Hague. The Ministries of Justice, Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations are located there. It is a huge office building, the largest in the Netherlands, which is not always fully utilized. In fact, there are often times when only a very limited number of people are working, while everything is usually running at full capacity. To substantially reduce energy use, we have developed a web-based solution that allows employees to indicate via an app when they come to work. They will then immediately receive a message informing them that they are going to a specific workplace. Everything is in working order upon arrival. Not in the unused parts of the building. After departure, the system shuts off the energy neatly again.”

Well done. Even more?

“Much more, as mentioned, this solution is part of a larger whole. We took care of the entire building management system, including the lighting and climate control technology and the complete power plant, and thus achieved enormous savings on installation costs. In addition, we were able to deliver the entire project three months ahead of schedule. There you have it, the result of efficiency and excellent cooperation with our client. I can tell you that we are very proud of this project.”

Impressive. But I actually meant, do you have more examples of these types of innovations?

"Of course. A fairly recent one, in fact. One that you could call both an application and an invention. Do you know about old-timers? No? Oh, more about hamsters… Okay, let me tell you this, the automatics on most vintage cars are hydraulic. A bit comparable to dynamic heating valves on radiators. Water is pumped around in it and, when the system is under pressure, the dynamic heating valves ensure that the water is evenly distributed. You can imagine that if such a pump cannot build up sufficient pressure for all radiators or if the valves are dirty, only part of them is heated and the radiators at the back of the series remain cold. We have managed to prevent this possible problem for an office building on the Zuidas in Amsterdam by being the first in the Netherlands to completely digitally regulate the entire building on the water side. I'll try to explain it to you. The flow of water and air is controlled hydraulically as standard. Simply put, we have replaced the valve on each radiator with a digital application that measures the flow and limits the transfer, so that 100 kPa is not needed to fill all radiators, but only 50 kPa. Add that to the reduction in failure costs that comes with this and you are talking about an energy saving of no less than 70%.”

Boy, that's quite something!

"Yes I agree. It will certainly not be the last energy-saving automation solution that we will deliver. You know, there's so much to accomplish. As long as we are willing to invest and be creative. In that context, I was recently thinking that everyone who drives an electric car, like me, does so for environmental and cost reasons. Simply put, you make money from something like that. It also works this way for buildings: invest in innovation and it will pay for itself in spades. But back to that electric car, most people plug it in at home in the evening to charge it. But why not reverse that process? And use your car to charge your house? I mean, as we're talking right now, my Tesla is slowly emptying out in the parking lot. If I charge it during the day, it has enough energy to provide my house with all the energy it needs at night. How much can that be? 5 kW? Well, if you have a few freezers and some hemp plants in the attic under the lights, there is a maximum of 20 kW, that's all. I have more than enough power left in the morning to drive to the office.”

Do you really plan to do that?

“Maybe, in principle it could be. But what I mainly want to say is that progress in building automation and energy saving is a matter of daring to think differently. Mind you, the most precious asset with regard to innovation and progress is people.”

 Hey, look, your dog is awake. It has saved a lot of energy

“Beautiful animal, isn't it? My girlfriend. She always barks loudly at me when I come home.”

 Mine too…