Increased demand in energy, environment and sustainability

Instalco’s technical consulting company Intec has specialist expertise for calculations within energy, environ ment and sustainability, and offers services such as environmental certification and energy coordination within construction. In an assignment for Ica, Intec coordinated the environmental building certification during the construction of a new grocery store.

When Ica was building a new Ica Supermarket in Leksand with an associated pharmacy, Intec played a central role in the area of sustainability. In addition to coordinating the environmental building certification, the assignment included performing extensive indoor climate simulations and a complete climate declaration at the design stage, showing the building’s CO footprint.

"We are receiving more and more assignments of this type and are noticing an increased demand among customers for these kinds of services, such as different types of sustainability calculations and energy investigations within construction," says Linnéa Leppänen, Section Manager for Energy and Sustainable Construction at Intec.

"In this assignment, we performed climate simulations to establish the conditions for heating, cooling, and ventilation to achieve an optimal indoor climate in the store year-round, while simultaneously being energy-efficient. For example, we simulated daylight and solar heat as a basis for making the right window choices and sun shading, as well as determining which heat sources are needed. We also performed an extensive energy balance calculation, which was somewhat special as heat can be recovered from the food refrigeration in a store of this kind to meet the heating needs of the building."

The result of Intec’s assignment for Ica was that the new store received Miljöbyggnad Silver certification.

Increased requirements driving demand
Linnéa Leppänen believes that the trend is clear within the sustainability area and that more and more requirements and regulations are emerging that require even more calculations, declarations and reporting of climate impact within the construction sector. And this is something that benefits Intec, which is now preparing for a further increase in demand.

Reuse is also a rapidly growing element within sustainability. Intec has long worked in this field as a service, guiding customers on what opportunities exist and how they can create modern functions with a mix of old and new material that provides a lower carbon footprint than using new material only. So far, most customers choose to buy new as it is usually cheaper than recycling. However, reuse is increasing steadily.

Climate calculations in the offering nstalco also notes in its contracting assignments that customers are increasingly requesting advice on matters such as life cycle cost, reduced environmental impact and environmental performance. In these projects as well, it is becoming increasingly common for Instalco to offer climate calculations, from the production stage to operation.

Climate calculations
In an ongoing project, the Instalco company PoB:s Elektriska is performing electrical installations on behalf of NCC and Uppsalahem. The Takryttaren project, with 175 newly built apartments in Uppsala, is estimated to yield 40 percent lower climate emissions compared to a normal building project of a similar type and size.

"In this project, the environmental aspect has been absolutely central for the customer; we have had to report the environmental footprint for products and installations at a completely new level, enabling us to identify ways to reduce CO2 emissions. The climate calculation has been a part that is at least as important as the cost calculation," says Anders Eriksson, CEO of PoB:s Elektriska.