All News
Changing Viewpoints on Thermal Comfort
The drive to reduce energy demand in buildings is forcing a rethink on longheld standards of thermal comfort in buildings. Earlier reports in this column (October 2012 and June 2013) have suggested that higher indoor temperatures in summer may become acceptable through behavioral changes. The impact of other factors such as air quality, noise and lighting are to be explored in new ‘sensory’ labora...
Fake Branding Becoming Problem
Toshiba Carrier UK reports a relatively new development that has some parallels in the refrigerant fluids industry, the use of well-known brand names to sell products which are not the originals. Gene...
Chiller Uses Water as Refrigerant
Water is used as the refrigerant fluid in a packaged unit (the eChiller) developed by Efficient Energy (Feldkirchen, Germany). A 45 kW prototype version, called the CyberBlue, was first used by precision air conditioning unit specialists Stutz (Hamburg) in 2011 for trials in a data center. Efficient Energy plans to start marketing the standard eChiller45 model as well as a 20 kW version in 2013/20...
Spain Threatens Tax on HFCs
A proposal by Spain’s finance ministry to levy a tax on the sale of HFCs as part of the country’s multi-level effort to pay its debts could raise 340 million euro. In practical terms, the impact on the ACR industry would be a premium of around 76 euro on every kg of refrigerant. Industry leaders are in urgent talks to seek some kind of compromise solution before the tax comes into force early next...
Honeywell’s HFO-1234yf Refrigerant Proves Lower GWP than CO2
Honeywell announced recently that a new study has found that its low-global- warming refrigerant, HFO-1234yf, has a global warming potential (GWP) four times lower than previously calculated - below t...
Mitsubishi Electric Expands and Celebrates 20 Years in Scotl
Mitsubishi Electric is marking 20 years of air conditioner manufacturing in Scotland, the United Kingdom, and looking to the future with the opening of a new world-class research and development facil...
LG Aims to Achieve Global Leadership: Focuses on VRF Solutio
JARN last interviewed LG in March 2010 (‘LG’s Leadership in HVAC and Energy Solutions’). During the three years since then, LG has accelerated its business development and presence in global markets. ...
Time to Stand Up, 2013 Air Conditioner Market
Global Air Conditioner Market Review for First Half of 2013 According to data from China Customs, air conditioner exports from China in the first half of 2013 increased a slight 2.7% over the s...
Carrier Stocks Commercial Applied Products for Rapid Deliver
The company is stocking chillers, large splits and rooftops for rapid delivery. Aug. 21, 2013 There’s plenty of summer heat still to come, and Carrier reports it’s standing by to meet its customers’ n...
What Life is like in SoCal Without Air Conditioning
Groan. The A/C broke?! On more temperate days, of course, that’s "no sweat," literally. But on days when temperatures soar, life in Southern California can be miserable without that unit-fed breeze. Part of that is because of our evolution into modern life. Today, we don’t even think about not having air-conditioning. For most of us, when the mercury rises, we flip a switch and go about our dail...
