Innovation

Our discussions of innovation began with the interview of Mark Crampton, a Territory Manager at Gunn and Pegelow. Gunn and Pegelow is an HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning) manufacturing company, based in Illinois and founded in 1954. With a focus towards high-efficiency equipment and excellence in sustainability and efficiency, Gunn and Pegelow has a commitment to supplying high-tier HVAC goods and services to customers all across the United States.

The innovation in question is through a partner of G&P by the name of Multi Manufacturing, which produces a heat pump used for multi-family buildings. Gunn and Pegelow works with Multi Manufacturing to strive towards decarbonization in their products, and to help integrate their sustainability goals into their business practices. With current HVAC systems, there are difficulties with working to heat up homes through the winter, and typical ventilation systems require burning fossil fuels in order to keep everything warm. Multi Manufacturing products solve this problem, by allowing them to run a heat pump into multi-family units through up to -4°F (-20°C) temperatures before requiring any external heating. Without any gas firing or other fossil fuels, this heat transfer system is capable of being fully self-sufficient on its own in warmer climate areas. Not only can it be used in places all across the states to save money by being a much more economical solution to heating, but the tool also decreases carbon emissions by eliminating external heating requirements for buildings everywhere.

Inspiration

Gunn & Pegelow has had a major focus put towards sustainability throughout its business practices. The company believes that success comes from a multitude of factors, such as supplying the highest efficiency equipment, top tier service levels with applicational knowledge of their products, and consistent growth in opportunities to make sure they’re always not only meeting consumer needs, but exceeding them and breaking the barrier of innovation. Alongside these core values is their strive towards sustainability; the company always has a focus towards improving the sustainability of all buildings they work with, at a value that even tenants who weren’t involved in its construction can recognize.

With the focus towards sustainability came Multi Manufacturing, another company that works in manufacturing HVAC equipment in the US. The president of Gunn and Pegelow, Kevin McLaughlin, saw Multi MFG’s products at a convention known as ASHRE - the American Society of Heating and Refrigeration Engineers. After learning more about their product, it was an instant decision to partner with them. From Mark Crampton’s perspective, being able to say “you don’t have to run all those gas pipings to heat your building” at the end of construction is not only a major financial incentive, but the ability to help in any way they can with efficiency in construction is a major inspiration as to why they took on partnering with Multi MFG. With not only Multi Manufacturing but also their products in every facet of the business, Gunn and Pegelow is always looking out for ways to bring sustainable innovation to the forefront of their business practices.

Overall impact

As the motivation is derived from the possibility of introducing a new product to the market and generating revenues, this innovation aligns with the nationwide emphasis on decarbonization with mandates all across the United States, where the shift away from using fossil fuels for heating buildings is a significant trend. While contributing to environmental sustainability, the company took advantage of emerging innovations to maximize its share of market demand.

In the short term, the company is capable of having greater market growth due to partnering with innovation-focused technologies, such as those supplied by Multi Manufacturing. Sustainability is at the forefront of marketing due to major trends in decarbonization, and because of this Gunn and Pegelow are able to see a great increase in their sales demand. On the long term of this is where sustainability begins to bloom; buildings across the United States can see major benefits from reducing carbon emissions in heating, and using innovative HVAC equipment in construction can set a greater precedence for sustainable buildings and infrastructure in the future.

Business benefit

When it comes to the first and most obvious benefit to the business, selling this product enables Gunn and Pegelow to make a profit off of quality products. They first identified a specific market; multi-family housing and assisted living communities in the middle to Southern United States were a key demographic where they could use the heat pump system. The heat pump system innovation took away the heavy reliance of carbon fuels to heat buildings, which gives construction companies using their products a major advantage to building longevity and maintenance. The fact that the heat pump is quite economical leads to substantial expense reduction for building owners, and because of this something that is typically very major in sustainability impact has lead to a great increase in overall sales incentives.

Not only is the pump itself profitable to sell for the business, but there are also several tax incentives, both from companies and the government, for buildings to be constructed with systems like this heat pump to reduce carbon emissions.

Social and environmental benefit

What allows this innovation to stand out is its ability to reduce the fossil fuels that are normally needed to heat a building. This self contained heating system saves the energy and resources it would take to run gas pipes into each individual living unit.

This innovation is a good starting point to working with the decarbonization mandates that some states are imposing. It paves the path for communities to transition from natural gas usage to electric. Gunn & Pegelow reap the benefits of the product in sales, the environment benefits from the reduction of carbon emissions, and consumers also have incentives to use the innovation. Companies that use this heating system receive tax incentives. Multifamily buildings and nursing homes save money by using the product. The system does not require buildings to have supplemental heating and there is no need to run extra gas pipes as well as any maintenance on them.

Interview

Mark Crampton, Territory Manager