World News

EUROPE: The European Partnership for Energy and the Environment (EPEE) has called on the European Commission to recognise the strategic importance of the RACHP industry.

BELGIUM: A new group promoting the adoption of “natural” refrigerants has petitioned the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) to restrict the use of PFAS within the European HVACR sector.

USA: Parts Town Unlimited, the OEM foodservice equipment and HVAC parts distributor, has reported a record annual revenue of $2.5bn in 2024.

CHINA: German fan and motor manufacturer EBM‑Papst is pressing ahead with the €30m expansion of its Chinese plant in Xi'an.

EUROPE: Significant price increases of around 20% were witnessed in high GWP refrigerants in the final quarter of 2024, compared to 2023.

USA: Hoshizaki America, the US subsidiary of the Japanese commercial refrigeration equipment manufacturer, has won a patents case claiming infringements of US patents on its crescent cuber ice machines.

JAPAN: Mitsubishi Electric is looking to use biomass plastics in its air conditioners and other home appliances.

GERMANY: GEA has installed a new high-temperature heat pump using pentane refrigerant (R601) for a Belgian sugar producer.

UK: Heat pump “guru” Graham Hendra has joined Haier as European heat pump development officer.

USA: Chemours saw sales of its Opteon brand HFO refrigerants and lower GWP HFC/HFO blends grow 14% in 2024 to $810m.

BELGIUM: The European heat pump sector has declared itself down but far from out after sales figures show an average 23% drop in 2024.

USA: Carrier Ventures, the investment arm of the Carrier Global Corporation, is backing ZutaCore, a California-based innovator of two-phase direct-to-chip liquid cooling technology for data centres. 

POLAND: Polish authorities have intercepted 500kg of a non-specified refrigerant contained in tanks under a truck.

UK: Latest research conducted by UK market research company BSRIA has exposed the volatility of the European air conditioning market in 2024.

FINLAND: The dates and agendas for the evaluations of the impact of fluorinated gases under proposed new European PFAS restrictions have now been published by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA).

GERMANY/UAE: Allied Heat Exchange AG (A-HEAT) is to build a 37,000m2 heat exchanger production facility for its German subsidiary brand, Güntner, in the Jebel Ali Free Zone (JAFZA).

ITALY/SPAIN: Commercial refrigeration equipment manufacturer Epta has acquired the Spanish contracting company SET Refrigeración SL.

USA: Two men have been convicted for separate instances of smuggling R22 refrigerant into the USA from Mexico.

USA: REHVA, the Federation of European Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning Associations, took advantage of this week’s ASHRAE winter meeting to renew its partnership with the US-based organisation.

BELGIUM: The European manufacturers' group Eurovent is calling for the recognition of the HVACR sector in the EU’s Clean Industrial Deal and related policies, to preserve the industry's competitiveness.

SWEDEN/USA: Swegon has signed an agreement to acquire American Geothermal, a US manufacturer of heat pumps and chillers for the concrete industry and commercial HVAC sectors.

CHINA: Figures claiming that China’s emissions of high GWP refrigerants now represent more than 20% of the global total have been described as untenable by the Environmental Investigation Agency.

USA: US heating, air conditioning and refrigeration distributors enjoyed a 14.2% increase in sales in December, according to latest figures from industry association HARDI.

USA: CoolSys, the US HVACR contracting group, is assisting US retailers in removing and recycling Redbox kiosks following the closure of the DVD rental company.

USA: Carrier recorded sales of $22.5bn in 2024, a 19% increase on 2023, including organic sales growth of 3% and a 16% impact from acquisitions and divestitures. 

POLAND: A warning issued by the police in Poland has exposed the level of ignorance of refrigerants and the F-gas regulations that exists in some European member states.

JAPAN: The Osaka Metro is trialling an open-fronted “station waiting booth” that can be heated or cooled using airflow control technology from Panasonic.