The launch of the first Vaillant Green IQ boiler was the occasion for architect Giulio Ceppi to share his vision on the topic of sustainability entering Italian homes, and for Vaillant Italia managing director Gherardo Magri to explain how the concept has been metabolised within his company.
There are over 19 million boilers in Italy. Around 70 per cent are traditional, low-efficiency models, while as many as 7 million are now obsolete — meaning extremely low efficiency and disproportionate CO2 emissions. By replacing just these last ones with the most modern condensing boilers, it would be possible to reduce CO2 emissions by 5,908 kt/year, equivalent to 7 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions from the residential sector, while each household could enjoy a saving on energy bills of between 20 and 25 per cent (elaboration by Vaillant based on data from Assotermica, Nielsen consumer panel 2015 and Acea – Associazione costruttori automobilistici europei – 2015).
These figures were released during the presentation in Milan of a brand-new condensing boiler, the first to bear the Green IQ label: "Abitare green: dalle buone intenzioni alle scelte responsabili, tendenze del comfort domestico e soluzioni immediate".
The new Vaillant EcoTec combined condensing boiler, which recently arrived in Italy, was presented in Milan as an excellent example of green technology. It is the first piece of a new line called Green IQ. At Vaillant, they speak of a synthesis of efficiency, connectivity and sustainability. It is a boiler with technical and functional features designed to improve domestic comfort and quality of life with the least possible environmental impact. Thanks to its new heat exchanger, it heats water in two stages, first pre-heating it and then delivering it at the desired temperature. The mechanism speeds up response times in the delivery of hot water, allows for considerable economic savings, and the flue gases that escape are cooler — around 40 degrees — clear proof of the shrewd use of every last bit of heat. It also connects with the user via an app to monitor consumption and improve efficiency and lifestyle.
The new Green IQ badge is thus launched in Italy as well. "Green", according to Vaillant, refers to the eco-design of the product's life cycle, responsible production, the longevity of the product itself, and greater efficiency. The word "IQ", on the other hand, represents connectivity — the intelligence needed to optimise the use of the product over the years and to ensure control and monitoring of energy consumed. With this in mind, together — Green and IQ — they combine technology and intelligence with the genuine desire to be sustainable.
This incorporation of sustainability ambitions within the project, starting from the German parent company, is reiterated by Vaillant Italia managing director Gherardo Magri: "For a company, metabolising the idea of sustainability means thinking from the very outset about a product that is green even in its production processes. It must save resources, energy, gas, water and reduce waste. Vaillant has set itself a package of ambitious objectives, and by means of our performance indicators has been monitoring the constant reduction of its environmental impact for the past five years."
"The Green IQ boiler, which has been on sale for just a few weeks," the Vaillant managing director continues, "already incorporates recycled plastic materials, and further innovations are currently under study that will bring recyclability to 100 per cent. Today we are at 85 per cent."
Given that the Green IQ-labelled boiler is the first in a line of products and has only just arrived in Italy, one wonders what reception it will receive and how long it will take before all Italian homes have fully sustainable appliances and devices. "In my view, Italians are capable of quantum leaps," Magri replies, "and the transition through which Italian homes will become sustainable can happen very quickly — but first, very slowly. I have to say that the attitude of Italians is such that if the media talk about it a great deal, if we nurture the culture whereby it is right and advantageous to behave in an environmentally responsible way, at a certain point there will be a 'click' that could take us to the top of all the world rankings. I think it can happen within five years. What I am certain of is that we will overtake countries where today the idea of sustainability is already taken for granted."
Architect and designer Giulio Ceppi, one of the founders since 1992 of the Associazione nazionale bioarchitettura, senior design consultant at Philips Design from 1998 to 2001 and now founder and director of Total Tool, has signed — among many other projects — the Autogrill Villoresi Est, an emblem of sustainable design, and a very recent energy waterfall installation for Ikea.
During the event, Giulio Ceppi dwelt on the idea of metabolism — not only of homes, but also of a cultural nature, meaning the gradual evolution towards sustainability of the many sectors of society and the economy, from designers to entrepreneurs, from boiler installers, as it happens, to homeowners.
One of the concepts you stress most is working on values. You propose designing values — or rather giving form, visibility and sensoriality to values. Alongside beauty, the emerging ones are the "right" — ethically and socially correct — and the "clean" — environmentally responsible. In what way is this dynamic similar to the metabolic one, to the workings of an organism?
There are several brilliant design examples, at different scales and in different ways — because there is no formula that always works and can be applied universally — of the effectiveness of the idea of recovering as much energy as possible, as nature does, where the concept of waste does not exist, because everything becomes something else and in turn gives rise to something new. It is no longer a matter of thinking about the individual appliance, but of reflecting on how, in truth, all the things we have at home dialogue and interact within a systemic, more organic vision. This is something architects need to learn. And so do the people who live in buildings — how to manage the whole.
In other words, the new interactive and sustainable tools also need to be learned how to use.
Of course, it is like our own metabolism. It is like learning to eat properly. Things do not work by themselves — it is a process of continual refinement.
The first smart appliances are entering Italian homes: connected, equipped with sensors, eco-efficient. At the same time, people's awareness of efficiency and savings is growing. How do you see the progressive modernisation of Italian homes — in terms of both timing and ways?
At the root of everything is understanding that if you do something today, you are not doing it only for today, because sustainability means looking ahead. It means understanding that in the years to come a system that initially costs you more will genuinely pay off — not only because it is good for the environment, but because it is also good for your wallet. Sustainability is also economic. This has been one of the obstacles for bioarchitecture: everything cost more and designers were unable to explain the returns and the long-term benefits clearly. Even today, people often still look only at what costs less, whereas we need to adopt the mindset of metabolism: just as I eat well today in order to feel well in the future and enjoy a long life, so every choice we make must be made with an eye on what lies ahead.
This applies to every segment of the supply chain discussed today — designers, manufacturers, installers.
Of course, regulations, laws, financing, incentives and banks also matter. But if it is only a technical choice, we will not resolve it. It must also be an intellectual choice.