In November 2022, Jan Holm (Product and Project Director at OJ Electronics) was nominated as (the successor of Frank Grundholm) as the newest member of the Eurovent Board of Directors. As part of our ‘The Board Perspective’ series, we obtained his view on his ambitions at the Eurovent Board, and the Environmental Product Declaration and its impact on the HVACR industry and markets.

Jan Holm has been involved in the Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) sector for more the 30 years. He started as a refrigeration technician and later on became an engineer in the HVAC business while optimising systems to make sure they perform their best and drive down energy use. In the past 15 years, he has been involved in HVAC product marketing where he developed and  professionalised product/project management teams. One of his main tasks is to meet the challenge of improving the system energy efficiency and reduce the environmental footprint, a task that ultimately motivates him. As part of our ‘The Board Perspective’, Eurovent managed to interview the newly elected Board member and ask him interesting questions about the Environmental Product Declaration and its impact on the HVACR markets.

What are your ambitions as the newest member of the Eurovent Board?

I like to be a part of the team that is pushing the green transition in Europe within the HVAC industry, and believe I can use my competences best in this matter as member of the Eurovent Board. I am happy to have this opportunity and I am looking forward to making Eurovent a strong and important player to the benefit of the HVAC market.

What does the Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) really constitute and what impact does it have on the HVACR industry?

The Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) is today in my opinion the best and easiest way to systematically assess a physical product’s CO₂ footprint to produce the product and all materials, as well as transportation used for it. I see that it becomes more and more used in Europe and the trend drives manufacturers to develop specific product EPD’s. This is a big task/challenge moving forward especially if countries that may have different requirements for the EPD.

In your view, how are manufacturers handling the declaration and will it have a major impact on the HVACR markets?

Today, manufacturers are working on developing their own EPD and in some countries, generic EPD’s are being prepared. These generic EPD’s come with a C0₂ penalty to motivate manufacturers to developing their own specific EPD. In the future, I expect all producers of ventilation systems to have specific EPD’s and for some buildings, the CO₂ footprint will be a competing element or a qualifier.

All this is of course a part of the green plan to reduce our CO₂ emission, and I don’t see any countries slowing down on this ambition. I hope we succeed in harmonising EPD’s across Europe and help make this a success, and moreover, make sure we have good transparency and make it manageable for manufacturers to handle and use the best solutions in lowering the future buildings’ CO₂ footprint.