What is your role as HVAC Business Development Manager?
Michel Reynaerts: “My job is to constantly scour the HVAC market in search of new opportunities and products and to develop them. Cebeo wants to offer customers HVAC solutions and not simply resell products. My role is to promote these solutions to the best of my ability. I feel that my experience and knowledge of HVAC products are a big plus in that sense. Communications aimed at the customer will not suffice; technical support and assistance must be in place as well. This happens through close collaboration with the country’s HVAC specialist, André Coppens from Cebeo. As you can see, Cebeo is working on developing a genuine HVAC strategy.”
How can HVAC provide value-added for professionals?
M.R.: “This is how I see it: an installer who does an electrical installation for his end customer can significantly increase his revenues by finding out what this same customer thinks about the possibility of ventilation, heating and air conditioning. And, as we have already said, he can rely on Cebeo to provide the necessary assistance in terms of products and systems. In that sense, HVAC is an important market and the installer must be fully aware of it.”
What are the latest new developments in HVAC?
M.R.: “It is clear that renewable energy systems (RESs) represent an important step forward. In practical terms, these systems extract heat or energy from sunlight and transform it into energy that can be used immediately for domestic hot water or electricity. Although these systems demand a larger investment than traditional ones, government subsidies combined with a decrease in energy consumption make it possible to recoup the investment in only five to eight years. The financial benefit will increase public awareness of the advantage of these RESs.”
What systems are you referring to specifically?
M.R.: “There are two types: photovoltaic cell systems and heat pumps. Heat pumps extract heat from the environment and transfer it to domestic hot water. The heat can be extracted from the interior or exterior environment, the soil, and even underground water. The COF (Coefficient of Performance) varies between 3 and 6 depending on the system. This means that the system provides between 3 and 6 kWh of energy for each kWh it uses. A heat pump water heater that holds 290 liters of water and uses the heat from the interior environment therefore translates into savings of about 500 liters of fuel oil per year.”
