Cities and buildings

Hailiang Business Hotel in Zhuji, China, has installed six 65kW (18.5TR) CO₂ (R744) heat pump units to replace its R22 heat pumps, resulting in 50% energy savings.

Daikin VRV 5 series heat pump air conditioners are contributing to the low carbon footprint of a new commercial office complex in Grenoble.

ATMOsphere announced the release of the “North American Guide to Natural Refrigerants in Ice Arenas,” including information on ammonia systems.

Roche Pharma Viet Nam, a division of Swiss multinational healthcare company Roche, has chosen six propane (R290)-based chillers to meet the cooling needs at its new facility located in Sang Pharma Warehouse, Long An Province, Viet Nam, in what is thought to be the first such project in the country.

In Ghana, 17,436MWh of energy and 14,445 metric tons of CO₂ emissions have been saved thanks to the ECOFRIDGES GO program, which incentivizes customers to swap out end-of-life fridges for R600a models that cut electricity costs.

Automatic Heating, an Australian provider of heating and cooling systems to the commercial HVAC market, has installed 11 CO₂ (R744) heat pumps from Japanese manufacturer ITOMIC at six local Nightingale Housing carbon-neutral apartment buildings, resulting in estimated operational savings for tenants.

St. Olav Hospital in Trondheim, Norway, retrofitted the numerous cold rooms for its laboratory, on-site hotel and canteen with a CO₂ (R744) installation, complete with advanced controls and variable frequency drives (VFDs) to optimize energy efficiency and enhance system accuracy.

Automatic Heating, an Australian provider of heating and cooling systems to the commercial HVAC market, expects continued adoption of CO₂ (R744) heat pumps in the local market, having already installed more than 100 units from Japanese manufacturer ITOMIC into various commercial and residential (apartment building) projects in Australia with resulting COPs of up to 4.2.

The Columbus Blue Jackets, which joined the National Hockey League (NHL) in 2000, will become the first NHL team to skate on ice produced by a transcritical CO₂ (R744)-based ice rink refrigeration system.

The 11th Ozone2Climate (O2C) Technology Roadshow and Industry Roundtable was jointly organized by the Foreign Environmental Cooperation Center, Ministry of Ecology and Environment, China(FECO/MEE) and the China Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Industry Association (CRAA), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), as part of the 33rd International Exhibition for Refrigeration, Air Conditioning, Heating and Ventilation, Frozen Food Processing, Packaging and Storage (CRH 2022), one of the three most influential annual exhibitions in the world, and the largest of its kind in the Asia-Pacific region. The event was held in Chongqing, China from 1 – 3 August 2022.

Daikin Europe has launched smaller capacity versions of its Altherma R32 Monobloc heat pump.

Daikin has recently been involved in the commissioning of three water-cooled R1234ze chiller units at CERN, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research and home of the Large Hadron Collider.

A study of two air-to-water reversible CO2 (R744) heat pumps with ejectors at a Swiss shopping center led to improved system performance at a subsequent installation, according to an article by Jonas Schönenberger, Head of Research and Development at Swiss engineering consultancy Frigo-Consulting.

Cimco Refrigeration, a Toronto-based refrigeration contractor, recently partnered with Canadian environmental and engineering consultancy Pinchin to create an ammonia/NH₃ (R717)-based “fifth-generation” district heating and cooling system in Canada.

Toshiba has announced the launch of its new SHRM Advance VRF air conditioning system, specifically designed to be safely used with the lower GWP A2L refrigerant R32.

PHNIX brings to the global stage R290 HeatMaster Series, which has many advantages such as low GWP, zero ozone layer damage and high efficiency, aiming to bring a more economical water heating solution to commercial projects and reduce carbon emission and curb global warming.

The global HVAC-R market was valued at $193.6 billion in 2021 and is projected to reach $257.9 billion in 2027, following a CAGR of 5% during the forecast period 2022-2027. The growth in the global HVAC-R market is expected to be driven by increasing population and rapid urbanization, drastic change in weather conditions, and emerging innovation in HVAC-R.

Israeli heat-exchanger manufacturer Lordan Coils has developed a cold-climate propane (R290) residential heat-pump water heater (HPWH), using 5mm (0.2in) MicroGroove copper tubes to achieve a low charge.

An ice rink in Pirkkala, southwestern Finland, has reduced its annual energy consumption from 500MWh to 350MWh, a saving of 30%, by replacing an old R404 system with a new CO₂ (R744) rack with two-stage heat recovery.

An ammonia heat pump from German manufacturer GEA is being used in a project using the water in an abandoned coal mine to supply a 6MW district heating network.