R744.com offers you a selection of the most popular articles published on the website over the last 12 months. Find out what moved the CO2 world in terms of industry and policy developments in the areas of MAC, Refrigeration, and Heating in 2009.
Refrigeration
2009 saw several European retailers and end-users committing to the use of CO
2 technology in retail refrigeration. The US on the other hand took a major step in catching up with Europe in CO
2 refrigeration, with the EPA approving the use of CO
2 as refrigerant in new retail food refrigeration and cold storage warehouse equipment.
The following R744.com articles provide an overview of policy developments and industry commitments in the area of commercial refrigeration:
Heat pumps
Following an end of 2008 recognition of heat pumps as a renewable source of energy in the European Union, manufacturers of heat pumps including CO
2 models of both small and big capacities are becoming more active on the European market. In the meantime, as of the end of October 2009, cumulative shipments of Eco Cute heat pumps running on natural refrigerant CO
2 have reached 2,027,000 units in Japan, with a new target of 10 million Eco Cute units by FY 2020 now being set.
Manufacturers of CO
2 heat pumps worldwide have been continuously improving the efficiency of systems. Water-source commercial CO
2 heat pumps for food processing applications and CO
2 air-source heat pump dryers with potential applications in lithium-ion battery drying processes and dehumidification in different chemical industrial processes made their premier at the TEPCO show in Japan.
The following selection of articles published on R744.com provides an overview of the year 2009 highlights regarding CO
2 (R744) heat pumps:
Mobile Air Conditioning
The year 2009 started and ended with discussions about a next-generation refrigerant to replace R134a. Narrowed down to two global refrigerant solutions, cross talks divided proponents of CO
2 and the chemical alternative 1234yf at key events in Austria, Switzerland, Belgium and Italy.
At the European level, the European Commission in April closed a loophole in the MAC Directive, confirming that it won't be possible after 2011 to use F-gas R134a in any new type of vehicle even if the MAC system was type-approved before 2011. Subsequently, the Commission stood firm and did not give in to the automotive industry lobby for a two-year delay in the implementation of the Directive. Despite the imminent deadline of the MAC Directive and several doubts raised over the health and environmental attributes of proposed chemical refrigerant 1234yf, German OEMs have stopped sending any clear signals to the market about which refrigerant they intend to use to comply with the European MAC Directive in time.
On the other side of the ocean, progress with regards to approving R744 in Mobile Air Conditioning (MAC) has been pending, with current work by the US EPA focusing on the effects of short-term CO
2 exposure on humans before moving forward to address its proposed ‘‘acceptable subject to use conditions’’ listing for R744 in MACs. On the other hand, the US EPA has proposed to list 1234yf as an acceptable refrigerant in motor vehicle air conditioning systems under strict use conditions that will be very costly and technically difficult to meet.
The highlights of R744 in MAC applications are reflected in the following selection of articles published on R744.com:
