Two weeks ago the MAC sector was at the peak of frantic activity, with an announcement by the German carmakers reconfirming their choice of CO2, a video by DUH showing the flammability of 1234yf, the German TV reporting on the issue on prime time, Toyota announcing to move away from the chemical refrigerant, etc…

After the storm, there seems to be a bit of calm, at least in public, and I guess we will still need to wait a little bit until further announcements. 

In the meantime, R744.com has contacted several car manufacturers to get their opinion on everything that has been happening lately. And this is what we found.

• VDA Members (German industry): No comments from any individual carmaker, all their communication about this issue will be done only through the Association. Thus, it looks clear that they intend to act together, even though there are differences between the German manufacturers (BMW, Daimler, Volkswagen) and other manufacturers who are also members (GM and Ford). For the first group, the choice for CO2 seems clear. For the second group, probably the issue is not decided yet. 

• Outside the VDA: the official position is that testing is underway to make sure that they will comply with the EU Directive in 2011. So, whatever the refrigerant will be, they are ready. Given the short time left until that, and the lack of clear position so far, this appears challenging to say the least.

So, what is next? Due to its leading market position, the most relevant case is probably Toyota. According to a press release by the German NGO DUH two weeks ago, the Japanese company has decided to move away from 1234yf. To date, Toyota has not denied this information, hence implicitly confirming it. Does it mean that they will go the CO2 way? It is hard to know, but what seems clear is that the problems related to 1234yf start to appear too big for car manufacturers to assume such a risk.

The clock is still ticking, and clear decisions appear now urgent, as we move quickly into 2009. All of this in a less than favourable financial situation, with a world recession looming. It is at these difficult times when leaders show their value. Maybe the snowball effect of the new US President Obama moving into the White House in January will help solve this dead-end? 
 

by Alvaro de Ona
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Industry Facts & Rumours
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Well, October went by quickly but it has been very busy month for our website. Not only have there been some very interesting and important developments in the MAC industry, but, some significant changes have been implemented for the look and feel of the website.
R744.com is in constant development; we are always tweaking, changing, testing and offering new services. If you have read my previous blog, I already mentioned that October would be the usability month and our main focus was to make the content breathe more and keep consistency throughout all our sections. In addition, we wanted to show more importance to our partners, who are the companies and organisations driving the R744 industry. Without them, this website would not exist and we could not promote environmentally friendly solutions.

Here is a quick overview of the changes:

• Increased feature space: Our feature space is where we display the most important content for each section. We have made this space larger to increase the emphasis and improved the style to make it more user-friendly.

• Improved latest space: Each section has a space reserved to the latest changes to that section. From the beginning of the year when we decided to re-launch our website, this component was the most challenging. We wanted to show as much information as possible in this space, without overcrowding. Consequently, we went for a tabular structure that was slightly unconventional. Having tabs of different sub-sections, using a dynamic function to change the links and having a function to display more information on each item when someone places their mouse over; this was slightly going against all our usability attends. We now display icons next to items and include a brief description of its content. This was based on your recommendations who found this style from old website very usable. We also decided to get rid of tabs for this space, and rather use the right side of our website to fill with additional links to popular items.

• Listing pages: R744.com contains a lot of information; we have daily updated news, list of partners, products, publications, events, jobs, etc. In order to fit all this information together, we need to promote consistency in look and feel. To implement this, we changed all our pages to have a similar listing; this allows you, our visitors and members, to not get lost when navigating through the different sections. From now on, an item always has an image thumbnail, a title of the item, a small description and a links relevant to the item. This style is also identical to the manner in which items are displayed in the latest space, once again, improving consistency.

• Partner profiles: Our website is filled with content directly related to our Partners. Our news feature their accomplishment, we display their products, services, products, publications, jobs, their participation in events and much more. Previously, the partner profile page was not clearly displaying all the content they had and was a bit weak. To improve this problem, we have firstly changed the tabular structure to display all overview sections in a concise manner. Furthermore, we have changed the display of each item displaying in the tabs to have the same style and display the same information as in our listing pages and latest spaces, once again promoting consistency.

• Events section: The events section has also changed, we have dropped the calendar view to give more emphasis on featured events and provide an improved listing and emphasis on individual events. We are also introducing a new functionality that displays partners who will be attending an event and an option to send a request to meet them in these events. This section will grow over time and we will introduce new functionalities.

• Groups section: The groups section has also gone through a major change, following up on the partner profile concept. The tabs are in the same manner. We have not been promoting the groups service enough and it does not have enough visibility on the website, look out for changes to the forums section soon which will integrate more emphasis on groups.

We hope that these changes will make your navigation through R744.com more enjoyable and make it easy for you to find what you are looking for.
Coming soon: Changes to your MyR744.com space. This will follow up on changes in usability introduced to the partner profile and groups pages. Making it easier for you to interact with each other is one more main goal, R744.com is an interactive community portal, and we will make your sections more usable.

Enjoy!
 

by Alex Aleksanyan
filed under:
R744.com Inside
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The complex globalised economy leads to surprises from time to time. This time was a nasty one, as it seems that the world is heading to an important recession.

In view of some analysts, a key reason that has led to this situation is the short-term view on investments over the last few years. Immediate profit has taken precedence over strategic decision-making, financial engineering over the real engineering, and, in short, an abstract, imaginary economy over a solid, tangible growth based on actual valuable products and services to consumers.

Whether we like it or not, the consequences of the financial turmoil will probably mean a burden for everyone, making the upcoming months especially challenging for most companies, no matter the sector.

How is this going to affect the development of much needed environmental technologies? As we are heading towards tough times, it is easy to imagine that many companies will be looking to reduce costs as much as possible. The focus would thus be, again, on short-term, continuing business as usual and hoping that the situation becomes better at some point. 

This approach is precisely what has taken us to the situation we are in today, both financially and in terms of global warming. Following this path will surely provide no remedy to structural economic problems. And delaying efforts to reduce emissions is something we can hardly afford at this point in any case.

I believe, on the contrary, that we have a unique opportunity to do the right investments in sustainable technology that will bring about long-term solutions to our economies and our planet.

Using CO₂ as a refrigerant is a perfect example of this, as it can help to move away from highly polluting chemicals (HCFCs, HFCs, etc.) and provide a solid basis for companies acquiring a valuable know-how on new technology to grow in a solid, sustainable way. For end users, CO₂ means a safe bet for the future, avoiding the risks of facing yet more bans after the real effects on the atmosphere of new synthetic refrigerants are revealed.

Times ahead are definitely challenging, although rewards will also be huge for those companies applying long-term thinking and sustainability at the core of their strategies. Our atmosphere will also appreciate the effort, from which we will all benefit! 


 

by Alvaro de Ona
filed under:
Industry Facts & Rumours
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Dear R744.com members,

As usual, we are constantly working on improving the user experience on R744.com. Consequently, we have spent many weeks figuring out ways to make our website more usable, meaning, easier for you to navigate through the website. The way to achieve this is, of course, by improving the way we display information on our website. We have received a lot of feedback from you regarding things that you think could be improved and as a proper community website, we always take your suggestions into account.

So, during this month of October, you will start noticing some changes to the structure and improved clarity in some sections of the website.

We hope this will not cause any inconvenience to your user experience and we are always grateful for any feedback you may provide.

Looking forward to your comments,

Alex.


 

by Alex Aleksanyan
filed under:
R744.com Inside
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Just two days ago I got an inquiry from an engineer asking about who would cover R744 developments in the USA. Although the adoption of CO₂ Technology seems to be somewhat slower in the US than in Europe’s supermarkets or Japan’s heat pumps, in the last days I was inspired by news giving first signs of a “natural move” across the Atlantic:

A new Star Market, expected to open next summer in Massachusetts, will combine three technologies never used together in a store before. Besides replacing all fluorescent light bulbs with LEDs, and using fuel cells to power the store, the Chestnut Hill store will also install a glycol-CO₂ refrigeration system to cut down its refrigerant charge by at least 85%. All together, it will save 5 million pounds of carbon dioxide per year – equal to taking 539 cars off the road!

To be clear: This is substantial and this is only one supermarket. Now the retail chain Supervalu wants to apply this to another 200 stores, if it proves a success. It has already gained praise before the store’s opening, with one senior official applauding: “I hope many other stores will follow suit”.

So, this is the “first store in New England to combine the use of Clean Energy Production, Ultra Efficient Lighting and Ozone-Friendly Refrigeration”… Which reminds us of the fact that on 16 September the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer was celebrated. Since 1987, the United Nation has been calling on all nations to initiate new projects in line with the Montreal Protocol on this Ozone Day…

Which in turn raises the question which could be sustainable alternatives to HCFCs and CFCs already now. It might help to know that leading chemical maker DuPont recently announced that prices for R22, its ISCEON 9 series, and for R134 will rise by 15%, 20%, and 4% as from October on. Which finally brings us to the conclusion: Is going green and “natural” – CO₂, ammonia, hydrocarbons – going to be more cost-efficient in the end?

Yes, says a recent study by the sustainable development charity “Forum for the Future”. Despite looming recession, it pays off for supermarkets and other retailers to maintain or reinforce green business practices, the report states. Driving change throughout their supply chains is vital in driving a whole industry, consumers, and local communities towards a greener future. The Forum, working with 15 leading retailers and branded manufacturers, argues that long-term successful retailers will be those with the most effective strategies to deal with soaring oil costs.

An early “natural move” might be a good tool to save profits now and in the future. Supervalu has discovered that and others might follow…
 

by Nina Burhenne
filed under:
Industry Facts & Rumours
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