For a Better Climate

Martina Metzner
15. February 2023
Besides „Wellbeing“, the „Tiny Bathroom“ is a trend theme at ISH 2023. (Photo: Messe Frankfurt / Pietro Sutera)

Under the motto "Solutions for a sustainable future", everything at ISH 2023 will revolve around innovations that aim to achieve climate protection targets and enable responsible as well as efficient use of available resources. "At the moment, we are expecting around 2,000 exhibitors. They are distributed more or less equally between the ISH Water and ISH Energy sections," explains Stefan Seitz, Head of Brand Management ISH.

Designer duo Eva Marguerre and Marcel Besau have created a new collection for Burgbad, which will premiere at ISH. (Photo: Burgbad)
ISH Water: Tiny and Sustainable Bathrooms

The largest industry meeting place for the sanitary, heating and air conditioning industry worldwide is very international. In addition to many German companies, most exhibitors come from Italy, Turkey, Spain, China, Poland, France, the Netherlands, Austria, Belgium, Sweden and Switzerland. Modern bathroom design and sustainable technology for using water as a precious resource will be the focus of the ISH Water section. In Halls 1 to 6, visitors will find products and solutions for lifestyle-oriented bathrooms, hygienic drinking water installation, time-saving installation and fastening technologies and software solutions. Among the participating suppliers will be Bette, Burgbad, Dallmer, Delabie, Ceramica Flaminia, Geberit, Hansa, Joulia, Kaldewei, Laufen, Antonio Lupi, Tece, Toto and Villeroy & Boch. 2022 was a good year for the sanitary industry, explained Jens Wischmann, Managing Director of Vereinigung Deutsche Sanitärwirtschaft e.V. (German Sanitary Industry Association), at the ISH press conference. The industry was still on a growth course, he said. He emphasized that two million bathrooms in Germany would have to be renovated in the next few years. In addition to wellbeing, he said, the "Tiny Bathroom" — that is, small bathrooms for floor plans in urban areas — was an important trend. "A bathroom has to be emotional," Wischmann said. How do colors, shapes and materials work together? The technology itself disappears behind the wall. The keyword Sustainable Bathroom in the sanitary industry, he said, was about the careful use of the resource water, sustainable materials and also efficient hot water supply. These trend themes can be seen in the Pop up my Bathroom exhibition — this time in the center of Hall 3.1, where the Atelier with workshops and panel discussions will also take place.

ISH Energy: focus on heat pumps (Photo: Messe Frankfurt / Jochen Guenther)

The products and services presented at ISH Energy in Halls 8 to 12 range from innovative heat generation with a focus on sustainable heat pump technology, modern heat distribution and delivery and systems to intelligent home and building automation, through to cooling, air-conditioning and ventilation technology with the key theme of "Air as Food". Among others, ISH was able to attract Bosch, Daikin, Danfoss, Kermi, Kiefer, LG Electronics, Mann + Hummel, ÖkoFEN, Siemens, Stiebel Eltron, Techem, Vaillant and Viessmann as exhibitors in this section. 

Germany is to achieve climate neutrality by 2045. For the building sector, the new reduction target is a good 44 percent by 2030 compared with 2020, equivalent to a reduction of around 53 million metric tons of CO2. Of course, energy efficiency also plays a part in the issue of energy price development. It was necessary to become independent of gas and oil imports in order to provide security of supply, said Wolfgang Marzin, President and CEO of Messe Frankfurt. ISH also makes its contribution to these topics — for example with heat pumps, hydrogen technology or renewable energies such as wood or biomethane. 

The German government plans to expand the number of installed heat pumps to 6 million units by 2030. According to the trade fair, some 1.1 million heat pumps are currently installed in Germany. In new construction, heat pumps have been the market leader for years. The state subsidizes the installation of heat pumps, for both old and new buildings, with up to 35 percent of the eligible costs. The topic of indoor air, firmly anchored as part of ISH, also makes an important contribution to the overriding goal of reducing CO2 emissions and saving energy. This will be highlighted under the top theme "Indoor-Air Quality" at ISH 2023.

At ISH, there will be two Talks+Tours with renowned experts on the Monday of the fair (Photo: Markus Bachmann / World-Architects)
World-Architects Talks+Tours and Guided Tours

The Talks+Tours and Guided Tours by World-Architects will again take place at ISH. On 13 March, for example, Tilla Goldberg from IF Group will give a lecture and guided tour of the trade fair under the motto "Soul Bathing", as will Alexandra Mrzigod from Werner Sobek under the motto "How can we achieve our climate goals?" On 14 March, Jana Vonofakos from Vrai will take you to the most interesting manufacturers focusing on energy efficiency. On the same day, Julia Schneider from iam interior.architects will also present a Guided Tour. On 15 March, Malte Just from Just/Burgeff Architekten will dedicate his tour to the sanitary sector. On the same day, interior designer Lien Tran will focus on "More than just a bathroom." Michael Burghaus from architekturbüro .pg1 will address "new sanitary technology and building services for sustainable architecture" in his Guided Tour on 16 March. And finally, Prof. Markus Pfeil from Pfeil & Koch ingenieurgesellschaft will lead the way to "the right products for holistic energy concepts." The Talks+Tours and Guided Tours will be held partly in English and partly in German and will start at the info counter at the Design Plus area in Hall 3.1: World-Architects Talks+Tours and Guided Tours

From Tuesday to Thursday, a total of six Guided Tours with renowned experts will be offered at ISH (Photo: Markus Bachmann / World-Architects)
Parallel to ISH 2023 in Frankfurt and one week beyond, the digital platform accompanying the industry event will be open. From 13 to 24 March 2023, ISH Digital Extension offers the opportunity to participate digitally in the trade fair. Suitable business partners can be found via AI-supported match-making. In addition, events can be viewed as on-demand video at individual times.
World's leading trade fair for HVAC and water
From 13 to 17 March 2023 on the exhibition grounds in Frankfurt am Main 
ish.messefrankfurt.com/frankfurt

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