Government structures

The UK Environment Agency is said to be expanding its workforce to enable a better response to illegal sales of refrigerants and other F-gas compliance issues.

In margins of ASHRAE Winter Conference and in the presence of members of the ASHRAE Associate Societies Alliance (AASA) representing 60+ international refrigeration and air-conditioning engineering associations from all continents, ASHRAE and UNEP-OzonAction launched their sixth biennial joint workplan which covers 2019-2020 under the theme of “Refrigerant Management for Developing Economies”.

In the latest episode of its special series, AGU’s [American Geophysical Union]Third Pod from the Sun features scientists whose work found the source of a hole in the sky.

Inefficient air conditioners (ACs) dumped into developing and developed countries overload energy resources, undermining national and local efforts to manage energy, environment, health, and climate goals, according to a new analysis published in the Duke Environmental Law & Policy Forum this week.

The Kigali Amendment enters into force today with ratification still awaited from over two-thirds of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol.

Sustainable cooling experts and leading food federations have added their support for a World Refrigeration Day on June 26.

The recently reported resurgence in the banned CFC11 has contributed to record new highs of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

A new official report shows a continued decrease in the concentration of ozone-depleting substances in the atmosphere and confirms a continued recovery of the ozone layer.

“Keep cool and carry on” is the message from the UN Environment Programme as it celebrates World Ozone Day today (Sunday).

The European Association of Refrigeration, Air-Conditioning and Heat Pump Contractors (AREA) has warned of illegal imports and black market trade in refrigerants in some EU member states. The industry group was responding to a public consultation on the effectiveness of regulating ozone-depleting substances (ODS) in Europe.

AREA has raised concerns about a illegal imports and black market trade in refrigerants in a submission to the European Commission.

The Selangor government has ordered an ice factory to move away from residential areas after an ammonia refrigerant leak killed two workers and injured 18 others last Monday.

Rising costs and market shortages have led to increasing reports of thefts of refrigerant from commercial premises across Germany.

Plans to mark June 26 every year as World Refrigeration Day is continuing to gain support from around the world.

With European authorities still reluctant to recognise the extent of illegal refrigerant sales, the Cooling Post has uncovered large amounts of illegal R134a being sold in Germany.

Over 1.1 billion people are said to face immediate risks from lack of access to cooling.

Support for an annual World Refrigeration Day on June 26 to mark the industry’s contribution to society is growing.

Last week the German Federal Environment Agency (UBA) warned that the degradation of HFO R1234yf – which is widely used in mobile air-conditioning systems – into trifluoroacetic acid (TFA; the atmospheric by-product of HFOs) could contaminate the water supply as the HFO cannot be removed after contamination has taken place.

The attorney generals from eleven US states have filed suit against the EPA for “effectively rescinding” regulations prohibiting the use of HFC refrigerants.

Eurovent Certita has announced new product certification programmes for beverage coolers and IT cooling units.