Drives, controls and home automation: Polyclose and the R+T are also going for it!

Even - or should we say also - at Polyclose and the R+T 2024, drives and controls have been established as a main theme. This will undoubtedly be extended to home automation, as smart home solutions are becoming more important almost by the day. And what lies ahead if, for example, AI continues to advance?

There is something contradictory about it, of course. We need to move more, because structurally we sit still too much in the car and at the desk, but we're going to automate more and more. And we have to use less energy, but we are going to motorize more and more. In the Netherlands - in Belgium too? - for example, already more than half of the bicycles sold annually are electric. And it's not just "the oldies" who ride them. Schoolchildren are also increasingly cycling with electric assistance. 

The automatic control and motorization of blinds and shutters naturally offers many opportunities to save energy precisely. Invest a little energy to save more energy! Properly protecting windows and possibly doors with blinds helps in both summer and winter. After all, there is less need for cooling in summer - cooling costs a lot of energy - and less need for heating in winter. All common knowledge. 

Now it's just a matter of getting that message across to end users. An important task for everyone in the industry: manufacturers and suppliers, sun protection specialists and industry associations. But the construction industry is also important. There are still architects who do not take solar shading into account, sometimes because they find solar shading only disruptive to the facade image... And the government also has a task. Laws and regulations must be changed so that the full role of solar shading for energy savings can be fully exploited. In any case, Polyclose and the R+T will be no slouch.