World News

CHINA/ITALY: Italian controls manufacturer Carel is installing over 1000 photovoltaic modules on the roof of its factory in Suzhou, China.

JAPAN: Daikin has achieved a top electrical award for its heavy-rare-earth-free motor for room air conditioners.

GERMANY: A new research unit looking at increasing the efficiency of heat pumps has been established at Germany’s Chemnitz University of Technology with €4m of funding from the German Research Foundation (DFG).

USA: A report claiming to have detected high levels of F-gas emissions from US refrigerant production facilities has been dismissed by one of the companies targeted as “lacking scientific integrity”.

USA: The USA has announced measures that will limit new air conditioners and heat pumps to refrigerants with a GWP of 700 and supermarket systems to a GWP of 150. 

USA: Two of the major HFC and HFO refrigerant producers, Chemours and Honeywell, have provided very different reactions to yesterday’s F-gas revision agreement.

EUROPE: Further unconfirmed details have emerged of the contents of the provisional F-gas revision agreement reached between the EU Council and Parliament today.

EUROPE:  ASERCOM, representing European refrigeration component manufacturers, has hailed the new F-gas deal as a “useful compromise”.

BELGIUM: The European Heat Pump Association (EHPA) has described today’s F-gas revision deal as creating a significant burden for industry in the short term.

EUROPE: The European Partnership for Energy and the Environment (EPEE) has expressed its disappointment with the F-gas regulation revision and says it will prolong the reliance on fossil fuels.

UK: The London-based Environmental Investigation Agency has welcomed today’s agreement on a revised European F-gas regulation, saying it will drive innovation while supporting decarbonisation goals.

EUROPE: The European Parliament and Council has reached a provisional deal which will see specific bans on the use of HFCs and HFOs and a complete phase out of HFCs by 2050.

BELIZE: The approval of the Kigali Amendment by Belize brings the number of countries to be legally bound by the agreement to phase down HFCs to 155.

USA: Trane Technologies has signed an agreement to acquire Nuvolo, a US company providing cloud-based connected workplace and enterprise asset management products and solutions.

UK: A-Gas has been authorised by Chemours as a reclaimer of the lower GWP HFC/HFO blend refrigerants R448A and R449A in the UK and Europe.

BELGIUM: Tests on an optimised CO2 version of Daikin’s Conveni-Pack refrigeration system is said to have shown 21% lower life cycle emissions compared to traditional R410A.

BELGIUM: A CO2-based energy network in Sion, Switzerland, won the Heat Pump City of the Year Award from the European Heat Pump Association (EHPA).

USA: Five people are confirmed dead after ammonia leaked from a tanker involved in a highway crash in Teutopolis, Illinois.

BELGIUM: Refrigeration, air conditioning and heat pump component manufacturers have added their voice to the need for certain “critical exemptions” from any future PFAS bans.

DENMARK: Danfoss, Google, Microsoft and Schneider Electric have joined together in an initiative to accelerate the green transition of data centres.

BELGIUM: The European heat pump industry has called for more consistent government support after initial sales figures for 2023 show a worrying decline.

SWEDEN/USA: Swedish wholesaler Beijer Ref has signed an agreement to acquire its second outlet in the USA. 

USA: Carrier has backed the US Climate Alliance’s commitment to quadruple heat pump installations across the US by 2030.

FINLAND: The European proposals to restrict the use of PFAS chemicals have received more than 5,600 comments from more than 4,400 organisations, companies and individuals.

USA: The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has agreed penalties totalling over $250,000 with two food producers for violating safety laws governing their ammonia refrigeration systems.

BELGIUM: The European Partnership for Energy and the Environment (EPEE) has requested an exemption for F-gases and fluoropolymers in any forthcoming PFAS restrictions.  

KENYA/MOLDOVA: Kenya and Moldova have become the latest countries to confirm acceptance of the Kigali Amendment.