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German media monitors R744 |
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Recent calls by a German NGO on policymakers and the auto industry to opt for energy-efficient car cooling, such as R744, is attracting substantial media coverage. The NGO's "Marshall Plan" to help the automotive industry meet its environmental commitments is thus starting to bear its fruits.
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2007-05-08
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Given that 87% of all newly registered cars in Germany are equipped with air conditioning, the use of energy-efficient and environmentally safe cooling systems has shifted to the centre of attention in the recent debate on vehicle emissions reduction. Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH), one of Germany's most influential environmental organisations, openly promotes the natural refrigerant CO2 (R744) as the most viable solution for next-generation Mobile Air Conditioning (MAC).
Mobile Air Conditioning reflected in the media
DUH's initiatives on CO2 Technology has already sparked remarkable media interest with both the leading economic paper Handelsblatt and Germany's most popular online news source, Spiegel Online, focusing on the environmental benefits of R744 in articles this month. In a TV discussion forum broadcasted on the news channel Phoenix last April, the DUH had urged the industry to take the lead and replace current high global warming systems working with HFC-134a with R744 MAC.
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While in the past the car air conditioning did not play a major role in public debates on rising transport emissions, only in March and April more than 30 regional and national newspapers covered this issue, reporting on the actual environmental harm caused by present cooling systems. To incorporate the additional emissions and fuel use of MAC on vehicle labels is a key requirement for identifying the most energy-efficient and sustainable options, such as R744. Print media like Hamburger Abendblatt, Neues Deutschland or the online versions of the German TV channels N24 and 3sat also picked up on this issue during the last months.
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DUH: R744 MAC a key solution for the industry
"Our target is to sensitize consumers, dealers and manufacturers likewise to the advantages of this new [R744 MAC] technology, thereby supporting the early introduction on the mass market," states the DUH on its website. To achieve this target, the organisation has incorporated the use of CO2 MAC in 3 out of its 10 main projects.
Being most of all committed to help carmakers re-establish their environmental leadership, the DUH offers concrete tools for policymakers that would ensure both competitiveness and sustainability of the German car industry in the short run. For this purpose, a new "Marshall Plan" urges the German government to reach binding industry agreements to replace HFC-134a MAC with CO2 Technology that is perfectly suitable for mass production.
DUH's Marshallplan and its accompanying campaigns on efficiency labelling, advertising bans for high-emissive cars, consumer campaigns to promote the sale of green cars, as well as public climate appeals to the government may influence industry decisions to a major extent in the coming months. Its call for sustainable Mobile Air Conditioning using CO2 will be a key part of this approach.
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Media Coverage 2007 (German)
› 30.04.2007: Spiegel Online
› 03.04.2007: Neues Deutschland
› 02.04.2007: BRD-Info.net
› 15.03.2007: Phoenix discussion forum (Video Live Stream)
› 10.03.2007: Hamburger Abendblatt
› 06.03.2007: N24 (online)
› 30.01.2007: 3sat (online)
More information
 NEW! European Environmental Bureau2 Press Release 14 May 2007 (62 KB)
NEW! Call for Use of CO2 MAC - DUH Press Release 11 May 2007 (62 KB)
Marshallplan for the German Automotive Industry - DUH 2 April 2007 (117 KB)
› DUH website
› See our related news "Deutsche Umwelthilfe calls for the use of CO2"
› See our related news "CO2 Technology in the spotlight"
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