“Through my job, I can contribute to people’s well-being and protect the climate at the same time”
Building automation for more comfort and environmental protection: Sales Manager Michelle Luppino advises customers of Climatec, a Bosch company in the USA on how to operate their buildings more sustainably – with the nice side effect that people simply feel more comfortable there.
A raindrop named Ricky first sparked Michelle Luppino’s interest in environmental issues. Ricky the Rambunctious Raindrop has been used for more than 50 years to educate students in California about the value of water as a resource. “I’ve always thought about sustainability,” says the 40-yearold, who grew up in California and has a physics degree from UC Berkeley. Now she works at Climatec as a sales manager for the construction industry. The Bosch subsidiary is one of the largest providers of building technology and energy efficiency solutions in the U.S. “Our solutions primarily control heating, ventilation, air-conditioning, and lighting,” Luppino explains. Supported by a team of six, she advises customers on the topic of sustainability and implements solutions.
“For me, responsibility means: protecting people, values, and the environment with sustainable building technologies.”
An important lever
One focus of Luppino’s work is building automation, a solution that can significantly reduce energy consumptionin buildings. It is quite relevant, as according to a 2020 U.N. report,¹ the global building sector is responsible for nearly 40 percent of global carbon emissions. And Luppino knows: “More than half of these emissions come from building operations – mainly due to lighting and heating and cooling systems.” Fault detection and diagnostics (FDD) technology alone can reduce the energy consumption of buildings by an average of around 9 percent a year.² Sensors, monitoring systems, and algorithms are used to detect or predict malfunctions or failures in building technology at an early stage.
Data is key
Together with her customers, Luppino chooses the solutions that will be implemented. Generally, though, she manages construction projects for hospitals, administrative buildings, or educational institutions. One thing is certain: the market is huge. In 2023, Bosch estimated the market volume for building automation in North America at about $17 billion. Furthermore, the company expects annual growth of 4–5 percent until 2028. Climatec does not manufacture its own products, but is one of the largest independent single-source integrators of critical building systems in North America. “We draw on solutions from a wide range of manufacturers,” Luppino says. The projects usually revolve around the installation of a central control system that automatically regulates heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC). “ Modern computers can perform these tasks better than humans,” Luppino says.
In the past, it was often the case that a setting was made once on the HVAC system and then never changed again. Thanks to automation, much more is possible. “For example, ventilation can be controlled according to planned absences. The same applies to heating and cooling. It prevents the unnecessary consumption of energy,” says Luppino. For this to happen, data from the various systems in the building needs to be collected and evaluated. “This results in algorithms that improve building operation,” Michelle says. Last but not least, building automation makes people feel better because, aside from energy savings, it makes the interior of a building more pleasant. For Luppino, that is one of the main motivators. “We spend a lot of time indoors. Through my job, I can contribute to people’s well-being and protect the climate at the same time.”
¹ UNITED NATIONS ENVIRONMENT PROGRAMME & GLOBAL ALLIANCE FOR BUILDINGS AND CONSTRUCTION: 2020 GLOBAL STATUS REPORT FOR BUILDINGS AND CONSTRUCTION
² PROVING THE BUSINESS CASE FOR BUILDING ANALYTICS. LAWRENCE BERKELEY NATIONAL LABORATORY
