An Expanding Range for Changing Times

In his welcome message on the COP 28 Presidency Website, the President-Designate H.E. Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber stressed the urgency of the discussions that will be taking place.

“At COP21 in 2015, the world agreed to limit global warming to 1.5°C compared to pre-industrial levels by 2050. To remain on target, science tells us that emissions must be halved by 2030. We only have another seven years to meet that goal. COP28 UAE is a prime opportunity to rethink, reboot, and refocus the climate agenda.”

The forthcoming UN Conference on Climate Change is being held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), from 30th November to 12th December this year and so far progress towards meeting reduced carbon emission targets has been disappointingly slow. An article by Forbes in January 2023 also stressed the vital importance of COP 28.

“There was widespread consternation at the lacklustre COP27 climate conference in Egypt at the end of 2022, and fears that a similar lack of ambition would prevail as the journey starts to COP28, to be held in the United Arab Emirates, one of the world’s biggest oil producers.

“But as the UAE starts the countdown to the next UN climate conference at the end of the year, there is a notable sense of urgency, purpose and realism – in the climate community at large, and from the next summit hosts.

“COP28 will be a significant moment because it marks the first ‘global stocktake’, a comprehensive assessment of progress against the goals of the Paris Agreement.”

Innovating for energy efficiency

An article posted by the World Economic Forum in February 2022 stated that heating and cooling technology for buildings produces approx. 15% of global carbon emissions. However, the author continues:

“The good news is that innovation already exists to increase energy efficiency and decarbonize heating, cooling and ventilation, while creating comfortable, healthy indoor spaces. If we can accelerate adoption of these technologies and scale them globally, it will move us toward the UNFCC goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 at the latest.”

Schwank has been manufacturing and supplying HVAC solutions for industry and commerce for 90 years and a major priority has always been to maximise the energy efficiency of the products we offer and the systems we install. Before concerns about carbon emissions came into being, our main motivation was to save customers as much as possible on their operating costs but also to remain true to the highest possible engineering standards.

Options for transitioning

Since our early days of pioneering developments in gas-fired infrared radiant heating, we have increased our product range to also include solutions for cooling and ventilation in the workplace. In partnership with Panasonic, we have a wide range of HVAC options to offer for business and industry, including electrically powered and hybrid heat pumps.

We have also recently introduced new state-of-the-art roof mounted air handling units with benefits I described in my previous post on LinkedIn: “With intelligent automation and highly energy-efficient operation, these solutions deliver exceptional performance and flexibility for applications across all sectors of industry and commerce.”

Flexibility is all important, because demands on business for carbon reduction in its operations must be met by technology suitable to the individual requirements of each enterprise. That has been a prime motivation in the continued expansion of the Schwank product range into new areas in recent years, delivering the HVAC systems that meet the performance and ecological objectives for all customers in all seasons.

Schwank, like other world leading companies in the HVAC sector, is focused on the environmental agenda as a major priority. We believe that technological advances such as we are making are pivotal in achieving the sustainable future being envisaged by the COP 28 Conference hosts.