Over recent decades, radiant ceilings have become a standard solution for room air conditioning. These water based multifunctional systems, also known as radiant heating ceilings or chilled ceilings, can be found in office buildings and salesrooms, as well as in factory buildings and healthcare facilities.

At the same time, the demands placed on the sustainability of building technology equipment are constantly increasing. The topics of capacity and energy efficiency of radiant ceilings have already been discussed in the other informative documents “Capacity-boosting factors” and “Energy efficient cooling”. But what about the “grey energy” tied up in the products? And how can we prevent even the smallest changes to the room design resulting in major costs for new radiant ceiling panels?

This document addresses the following questions:

• Where is grey energy tied up in radiant ceilings?
• Where are new panels required when converting conventional ceilings?
• Which radiant ceiling systems can be used to increase flexibility?