For the home and lifestyle industry in Essen, SHK+E ESSEN is the definitive event that galvanizes the entire professional community when it rolls around every March. The 2024 edition performed well, welcoming around 30,000 trade visitors and expanding its focus to include not just sanitation, heating, and air conditioning, but also electrics. For business owners as well as homeowners, energy efficiency is gaining priority, hence the move to couple the sectors under one roof. With over 330 exhibitors from 16 countries, the trade fair presented numerous innovations. Central themes included heat pumps, hybrid heat pump systems, and efficient installation solutions, which exemplify the tangible pivot towards sustainable and technologically advanced heating solutions. This year, the event also featured a rich program of specialist forums and dedicated areas that tackled topics such as artificial intelligence, drinking water hygiene, and the implications of the Building Energy Act. One of the standout aspects of SHK+E ESSEN 2024 was the newly integrated ""E"" for electrics, emphasizing the critical role of electrical engineering in modern home and lifestyle sectors. Key focus areas included battery storage, photovoltaics, wall boxes, and inverters. This inclusion is particularly pertinent given the increasing importance of integrating electrical solutions with traditional HVAC systems to enhance energy efficiency. Markus Staudt, Managing Director of the Federal Association of the German Heating Industry, emphasized the significance of the event in light of recent legislative changes. With the Building Energy Act, the industry and end consumers now finally have planning security. The law allows for a wide range of heating technology solutions. SHK+E offered an ideal platform for the western German HVAC trade to find out about the range of solutions and related topics such as the new funding framework as well as understand how these legislative guidelines can be translated into practical, installed heating systems.