World News

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.

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.

BELGIUM: Paul Kenny, a sustainable energy expert and former special advisor to the Irish government, has been named as the new director general of the European Heat Pump Association (EHPA).

BELGIUM: Eurovent’s Air Conditioners  Product Group has released a new recommendation on the rating points for air-to-air process and IT cooling.

HONG KONG: Customs officers have intercepted a shipment of refrigerant being smuggled from Hong Kong to the USA.

GERMANY: LG Electronics is establishing a new 930m2 Air Solution R&D lab in Frankfurt, Germany, focusing primarily on developing high-efficiency HVAC solutions for Europe’s varied local climates.

SWEDEN: The second quarter of 2024 has seen continued weak sales of heat pumps on the Swedish market with a decline of 50%. 

GERMANY: The German air conditioning and refrigeration industry has hit out at the illegal sales of split AC systems in appliance stores and online.

SPAIN: The authorities in Spain have arrested six people for selling flammable hydrocarbon refrigerants online as replacements for F-gases.

USA: The US Department of Commerce has ruled that imports of certain blend refrigerants from Turkey, Malaysia and China have been circumventing anti-dumping duties imposed in 2016.

MEXICO: Danfoss has inaugurated a new 40,000m² compressor, sensor and heat exchanger manufacturing plant at its Monterrey campus.

USA: US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers have warned the public travelling across the border from Mexico not to bring in HFC refrigerant. 

JAPAN/POLAND: Panasonic has entered into an agreement to purchase Polish refrigeration equipment manufacturer Area Cooling Solutions Sp zoo.

EUROPE: Prices of the high GWP refrigerants R410A, R134a and R404A experienced significant price increases across the supply chain in the first quarter of this year.

MALAYSIA: Daikin Malaysia has launched an initiative to collect refrigerant  from installers in a recovery and recycling initiative.

BAHRAIN: The Kingdom of Bahrain has followed its Gulf neighbour, the United Arab Emirates, in signing up to the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol.

BELGIUM: The European Partnership for Energy and the Environment (EPEE) has published a detailed guide to the F-gas regulation revision 2024/573. 

USA: A New York City supermarket chain has agreed to pay a $400,000 penalty for leaking 19 tonnes of R22 and R404A refrigerant over a three-year period. 

SWEDEN/NETHERLANDS: Nordic Climate Group has expanded its operations into the Netherlands with the acquisitions of Dutch installers Compair Airconditioning BV and T&S Klimaattechniek BV.

SWEDEN/NETHERLANDS: Swegon has acquired the Dutch indoor climate technology company HC Groep.

USA/CANADA/AUSTRALIA/NEW ZEALAND: Daikin has been beset by a number of product recalls this month on Daikin and associated brand products in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

ITALY: Expanding its European presence, Haier HVAC Europe has signed a distribution agreement with Kokotas Klimatismos in Greece and agreed a partnership with Dutch supplier Rexel Netherlands.

GERMANY: With 947 exhibitors booked for October’s Chillventa exhibition, the organiser is expecting another visitor attendance of over 30,000.

USA: Home Depot, the USA’s largest home improvement retailer, has been issued with a $1.6m fine for selling R134a refrigerant.