On 25-26 May SLO Oy organised its traditional customer event, Electrical Spring Fair, at Kaapelitehdas, the Old Cable Factory, in Helsinki. This year's running theme throughout the event was energy efficiency as the happening was also the Finnish culmination of Sonepar Group's Energy Saving Week. A total of 1000 customers and over 70 suppliers took part in the Spring Fair.
Both mornings of this two-day event were dedicated to a leisurely perusal of the over 70 suppliers' product exhibits showcasing each supplier's latest product innovations. On the agenda after lunch was the seminar headed by SLO's Managing Director Tapio Jouhki whose presentation introduced a review into the electrical wholesale business and energy saving as well as the power saving actions that Sonepar Group and SLO have implemented.
On 16-20 May 2011 Sonepar Group observed a worldwide Energy Saving Week wherein a total of 36 countries, 160 subsidiaries and 2300 branches took part. Sonepar's objective, as the world's number one electrical wholesaler, is to assume a leadership role also in energy saving. We have now categorised our BlueWay product and service selection into four elements for our customers: renewable energy production goods, energy efficient products, energy efficient solutions and energy saving solutions. Currently SLO's selection comprises over 4000 different product choices and the selection is expanding as we speak.
Sales Director Matti Savolainen's presentation introduced SLO's activity pattern, product selection, the rhythm of making orders and logistics service concept. Product Management Manager Sami Kokkomäki spoke about the various energy saving areas to be given attention to in all projects; i.e. lighting, standby power, indoor air and building automation. SLO's customers have an opportunity to share their energy efficiency know-how by participating in "From ideas into reality" -competition. Each month SLO gives out a prize to one project in the competition and the first and main prize will be announced during the national, Motiva-organised, energy saving week on 10-16 October 2011. Purchasing and Logistics Director Esa Huttunen gave his insights of a well functioning supply chain and the meaning of trust in business operations.
LEDs and power production
First of the guest expert speakers at SLO's Spring Fair was Research Scientist Martti Paakkinen M.Sc. from Aalto University and he brought the world of LED lights research and their use to life for the captive audience. He spoke about white light's features, what it demands from light sources, colour rendering indexes, temperature, settings and drivers as well as measurement results and trends. In office conditions LED-lights now compete with T5-fluorescents. Where the LED really comes into its own is in spot lighting and they are also a good contender in street lighting as well as safety lighting. One has to bear in mind, however, that there are major differences between various light fittings. In architectural lighting LED-lights can be used more and more as the increased number of features also creates new possibilities.
Director Jukka Leskelä from Finnish Energy Industries dealt with future power production in Finland: Global use of all energy sources will increase which necessitates large-scale prompt actions to ward off climate change. Power industry is by far our most capital intensive industry at the moment. We need new output as by 2050 only the nuclear power plant now being built and the current hydropower production will still be in operation. The future of carbon-neutral energy generation is being created now. Electricity and district heating shall replace fossil fuels and consequently will diminish emissions.
The lively star-studded show by Mariska & the Big Bad Wolves rounded off the night of SLO's Spring Fair.
Gallery of photos can be found here at Finnish pages:
Wednesday, 25 May 2011
Thursday, 26 May 2011
The four categories of Sonepar Group's and SLO's energy saving