HVAC and recycling systems customers

Despite figures that suggest Europe is within the F-gas phase down limits, concerns remain that industry is failing to switch fast enough to low GWP refrigerants.

It isn’t often that atmospheric chemists get to help save the world, but Guus Velders had his chance in October. He was attending inter­national negotiations in Kigali, Rwanda, that were seeking to phase out production and use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), extremely potent greenhouse gases commonly used in air conditioners.

The “natural” refrigerants media group Shecco has called for a far more stringent agreement on HFC refrigerant phase downs than that achieved at Kigali.

Among the more than 75 educational sessions, many are related to natural refrigerant technologies.

The first round of case studies showcasing innovations for industry leaders has been selected for ATMOsphere Japan 2017.

Export association Asocolflores replaces R22-based system with R290 in a cold storage facility for flowers, achieving energy savings of 20%.

Following evidence of massive pre-phase-down stockpiling in 2014, the supply of HFCs within the EU declined by 29% to 183.3Mt of CO₂e in 2015.

Danfoss has opened the first test chamber at its new Engineering Tomorrow Application Development Centre in Tallahassee, Florida.

Low training uptake is creating a long-term shortage of technicians trained to operate natural refrigerant systems and ultimately making it harder to deliver the EU’s f-gas phase-down, warns an upcoming European Commission report.

Didier Coulomb, director-general of the International Institute of Refrigeration (IIR), argued at COP 22 that the refrigeration and air-conditioning sector can play a greater role in addressing climate change.

The import, production, export and supply of HFCs in Europe are all falling, according to a new report from the European Environment Agency (EEA).

It is the key to successful military action – and, in many ways, to success in general – and United States Marines like me pride ourselves on it. But if you’ve spent 30 years in the military, as I have, you know that an effective plan cannot be static; operating environments change, often in surprising or unexpected ways. Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election earlier this month constitutes just such a change.

The production, import and export of fluorinated gases (F-gases) fell in the European Union last year, according to a new report published by the European Environment Agency (EEA) today. F-gases are mainly used in cooling and heating equipment. Since they have a high global warming potential, phasing down HFCs is critical to global efforts to fight climate change.

Regulation governing hydrocarbons must be adapted to encourage wider rollout of hydrocarbons for refrigeration, air conditioning and heat pump applications, according to a draft European Commission report to be published under the EU’s F-Gas Regulation on phasing down HFC use.

The outdoor plug-and-play unit, which contains 12 l of R290, is designed for small stores.

The European Commission sees current flammable refrigerant standards as a barrier to low GWP alternatives and recommends that these should be urgently addressed.

Decision XXVII/6 on potential areas of focus for the 2018 quadrennial reports of the Scientific Assessment Panel, the Environmental Effects Assessment Panel and the Technology and Economic Assessment Panel, adopted at the Twenty-Seventh Meeting of the Parties in November 2015, requests the three assessment panels to prepare quadrennial assessment reports in 2018, to submit them to the Secretariat by 31 December 2018 for consideration by the Open-ended Working Group and by the Thirty-First Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol in 2019. A synthesis report of the three Assessment Panels will be made available by 30 April 2019.

Store cuts energy consumption by 33% and saves $74,640 over 13-month period, thanks to cascade system and other improvements.

Standards, codes and legislation must be adapted to encourage wider rollout of HFC alternatives, argues an upcoming European Commission report.

A potential hydrocarbon charge increase being considered by an international standards body should create new business opportunities for manufacturers of plug ‘n’ play refrigeration systems.