May 2020
With this in mind, the Federal Ministry of the Interior, for Building and Homeland classified the entire HVAC and Water industry and service providers as part of the Critical Infrastructure (KRITIS) at the end of March 2020. This means that the Federal Government considers the industry, wholesale trade and skilled trades in the sanitary, heating and air-conditioning sector to be fundamentally among the system-relevant institutions in Germany. It also expressly designates the services that are necessary to maintain the respective critical structures, such as water and energy supply.
With its products and services, the industry ensures, among other things, the supply of energy, water and fresh air in hospitals, old people's homes and other public facilities or, for example, emergency service operations in residential buildings. In the light of the Corona pandemic at the end of March, the VdZ (Association of the German Central Heating Industry) – Forum for Energy Efficiency in Building Services Engineering e. V. (Forum für Energieeffizienz in der Gebäudetechnik e. V.) had appealed to the German government and demanded that the entire sector be classified.
Further reading:
#ISH21
Tags
- Heating & thermal climate
- Water & supply
- Air conditioning & ventilation