Global policy efforts to phase down HFCs at this week’s Montreal Protocol meeting in Kigali – alongside strong regulation in place in Europe and the United States – are creating opportunities for natural refrigerant technologies worldwide, heard participants in today’s Chillventa Congress.
Trader Joe’s has formally settled with the U.S. Department of Justice for having violated the Clean Air Act by failing to promptly repair leaks of R22, an ozone-depleting HCFC substance and potent greenhouse gas used as a coolant in refrigerators.
San Francisco-based EOS Climate has expanded its carbon-credits programme to allow supermarkets to earn carbon credits by installing newly manufactured, advanced refrigeration systems – such as natural refrigerant solutions – either as complete replacements of HCFC- or HFC-based equipment, or as installations in new facilities.
At the start of July, JRECO (the Japan Refrigerants and Environment Conservation Organization) announced which companies will receive financial support from the Japanese Ministry of the Environment (MOE) in the first round of funding for natural refrigerant projects (3-4 rounds planned),.
The United Kingdom and Germany this week (12 July) announced that they are jointly providing Thailand with a grant of 560 million baht to support the development of climate-friendly HVAC&R equipment.
Former EU Climate Action Commissioner Connie Hedegaard – the driving force behind the EU’s F-Gas Regulation – has been elected to the Danfoss board. With natural refrigerants well placed to benefit from the HFC phase-down, the appointment follows the unveiling by the Danish company of a number of new climate-friendly HVAC&R technologies.
The International Institute of Ammonia Refrigeration (IIAR) announced yesterday (20 March) that it is working on a new standard for carbon dioxide applications.
During ATMOsphere Asia 2016 in Tokyo, Japan, policy experts outlined the latest regulatory developments in Japan and other regions, such as Europe, North America and China. Training of technicians was highlighted as a key activity to support the uptake of natural refrigerants in Japan and South Asia, where countries have a tremendous opportunity to leapfrog HFCs and directly adopt long-term natural refrigerant technology.
With several policy developments in the pipeline, in 2016 China will repeatedly underline its intention to facilitate a comprehensive market shift towards natural refrigerant technology. In February, the final version of ‘The First Catalogue of Recommended Substitutes for HCFCs’ is expected to be officially issued by the Ministry of Environmental Protection. The draft document had…
The U.S. Department of Energy has released a final ruling on energy efficiency standards for refrigerated bottled or canned vending machines (BVM) – which use natural refrigerants hydrocarbons and CO2 – following a 2015 decision by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to ban R134a from use in the application from 1 January 2019.
