Mechanical engineer

When Aymeric Novel packed his little car in La Rochelle, France and headed for Kausala in Finland he knew what he wanted. He was eager to gain experience and obtain knowledge about the latest indoor ventilation technology and Halton was the perfect place to learn. The small rural town of Kausala will be Aymeric’s homebase for the next 5 months.

Aymeric and his supervisor Mika Ruponen, Manager in Research and Solution Development at Halton Oy, Kausala Plant discussed the targets for his training period as follows:
 

Trainees at Halton
 

‘Halton has a long tradition of hosting international students and trainees,’ explains Mika Ruponen, Manager in Research and Solution Development at the Kausala Plant. ‘We cooperate with technical universities in Germany and France and have had students working on their final thesis at Halton. We also have graduate engineers from UK who often come and work for us for periods of 2-5 weeks. During that time they get to know the process behind the product. They work in the production plant as well as in the R&D laboratory where they make measurements and they also learn about quality control.’

‘From experience we know that contact and cooperation with the international trainees have been both useful and fun for Halton employees. Working together has provided an insight into the different cultures and has always been a great learning experience,’ Mika says and adds smilingly, ‘We hope the trainees have felt the same way. Later some of them have even become our business partners.’

Learning about the latest solutions
 

Aymeric Novel, 24 years, finalized his first degree in mechanical engineering and started to wonder what kind of job he would like to do. ‘I’ve always been interested in environmental matters and I strongly feel that it’s up to my generation to do something,’ he says.

Aymeric’s environmental thinking led him to Canada to study sustainable building. ‘I learned about reducing energy consumption and continued my studies back in France at the University of La Rochelle, majoring in building science. Students in my class come from different backgrounds but we all share the same strong mission: finding new, sustainable solutions for designing and maintaining buildings,’ explains Aymeric and his eyes reveal his passion for the subject.

Contact to Finland

‘My teacher at the university knew Risto Kosonen from Halton and that’s how the initial contact was made,’ remembers Aymeric. Mika comments that the first aspects they consider when they receive a request for a training site, are the skills of the applicant, and of course the availability of a project, which make the training process a real win-win-situation.

Aymeric’s research project deals with ventilation devices and its operation in heating mode. For the first two weeks he works at the production unit in order to get to know the manufacturing process. The rest of the training period is dedicated to the research project.

How do buildings perform?

‘It seems that the man in the street doesn’t have the slightest idea how buildings perform,’ claims Aymeric and Mika fully agrees, stating that not everyone knows the relation between the temperature and humidity content of the air, not to mention for example the thermal bridge.

‘It is easy to make decisions when one is building a new building. There are more choices in technology and energy consumption and other values can be calculated. Based on the data it is rather easy to decide, which solution is the most environmentally friendly,’ says Mika. ‘However, in old buildings a lot of energy is needed for the renovations. In my opinion, one should not change a system that works; the change is always more expensive.’

Aymeric tells that in France only, 400 000 apartments have to be renovated every year. ‘The buildings account for about 30 per cent of the greenhouse gases. But we have to remember that one of the easiest ways of reducing CO2 emissions is to separate garbage,’ says Aymeric, giving a practical tip that could be adopted in every household.

Sustainable attitude

Mika and Aymeric agree that sometimes a man-made solution is even better in terms of environment than a natural one. One example is the use of man-made fabrics compared to the use of cotton which is a result of very intensive cultivation.

‘A sustainable attitude is needed in the future.’ says Aymeric and points out that the limitations of the availability of clean water bear the threat of war. ‘If people from different sciences work together to find new solutions we are able to change many things,’ describes Aymeric the attitude of the young generation.

‘Enjoy the life in Finland’

Halton provides the trainees with a small flat in Kausala. ‘People are very friendly and helpful and they also speak English. I’m used to travelling, so getting started here has not been a problem at all,’ says Aymeric. He drove his own car from France to Kausala, so getting around in village and surroundings is easy despite the lack of regular public transport.

‘I’m definitely making an effort to adapt here. I’d like to learn some Finnish too,’ says Aymeric. In addition to achieving conclusive and practical results in his project he also wants to enjoy the life in Finland.

No doubt that he will make new friends with his warm and open personality, not only at work but also while pursuing his hobbies. Aymeric’s interests are sports which include martial arts, hiking and climbing, as well as music.

www.halton.com