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UK: Panasonic has announced a collaboration with Scottish Power’s Manchester-based heat pump installers Plug Me In to provide Panasonic Aquarea heat pumps as part of Scottish Power’s offering.

USA: The University of Missouri is developing a new type of cooling system which it claims could dramatically reduce energy demands on data centres.

USA: Carrier has reported strong Q2 2024 financial results with sales up 12% to $6.7bn compared to last year.

DENMARK: The latest solution from Danfoss is a prefabricated hydronic balancing and control solution for four-pipe heating and cooling change-over systems.

UK: The 2,687 applications to the UK government’s Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS) last month were down 10% on May.

UK: Dedicated support from the MHI Projects team has helped provide a climate control upgrade for the UK home of a leading global glass processing specialist.

UK: Baxi has announced the arrival of the Auriga HP+ R290 high-temperature air-to-water monobloc heat pump range.

GERMANY: Bosch has described its €7.4bn acquisition of the Johnson Controls-Hitachi Air Conditioning (JCH) joint venture as the biggest transaction in the company’s history, doubling its Home Comfort business.

POLAND: Customs officers in Terespol claim to have prevented seven attempts in the last month to smuggle refrigerant R134a in the LPG tanks of motor vehicles.

UK: With 27,000 certified heat pump installations in the first six months of 2024, the MCS insists that the UK is on track to see more installations than ever before.

UK: Ideal Heating has unveiled a net zero building, heated by one of the company’s own air-source heat pumps, at its headquarters site in Hull.

UK: Blackpool-based Pure Thermal has been appointed as the UK industrial heat pump partner of Finnish manufacturer Oilon.

SOUTH KOREA: Researchers from the Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER) claim to have developed a technology to decompose R134a refrigerant using an industrial waste product.

JAPAN/USA/GERMANY: Johnson Controls and Hitachi have confirmed an agreement to sell their European air conditioning joint venture business to German manufacturer Robert Bosch in an $8.1bn deal.

ITALY: Lu-Ve is to supply air coolers to the latest Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant under construction in Somerset, UK, in a €27m contract.

JAPAN: German company Robert Bosch is reported to be the leading candidate to acquire the Johnson Controls-Hitachi domestic air conditioning joint venture. 

UK: A development of 16 social homes designed and built to achieve Passivhaus standard has been constructed in Dalbeattie, Dumfries & Galloway, with the support of Baxi air-source heat pumps.

AUSTRALIA: An indirect evaporative CO2 refrigeration system which promises potential energy savings of 19% is being trialled in one of Australia's leading supermarkets.

JAPAN: Panasonic’s use of vacuum insulated glass (VIG) on new reach-in freezer upright display cases is said to offer energy savings of up to 33% compared to conventional units.

SWEDEN/ITALY: Pioneering Italian chiller manufacturer Geoclima is set to be acquired by Swedish air treatment and climate solutions company Munters. 

CANADA: The Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) has announced a multi-million-dollar retrofit of its branches in Canada to low-carbon heating and cooling systems such as heat pumps.

SPAIN: Madrid’s municipal bus company EMT has installed bus shelters with in-built cooling systems at two locations in the city. 

SWEDEN: Wholesaler Beijer Ref has revealed Q2 as its best ever quarter, with sales of SEK9,681m (€835m) and record profitability.

UK: A UK government advisory body has backed calls to make electricity cheaper by removing policy costs from electricity prices. 

ITALY: An unnamed “specialised” company from the Piedmont region of northwest Italy faces a fine of up to €150,000 for exceeding its F-gas import quota.

SPAIN: Early reports suggest a car destroyed on a street in Malaga last week was caused by an exploding refrigerant cylinder.

BELGIUM: Heat pump sales were 6.5% lower in 2023, the first fall after ten years of annual growth, threatening Europe’s 2030 climate targets.