NEWS THE INTERNET’S HOME
Google has uploaded its global network of data centres onto Streetview, its 3D mapping programme. Virtual tours can be taken around data centres such as this one in Douglas County, Georgia, which features colour-coded pipes and a fl eet of ‘G-bikes’, enabling engineers to move around the vast building quickly. Google claims its data centres use 50% less energy than typical data centres. The search engine giant says businesses could cut their computer energy use by 65-90% if they used the Google servers distribution and separate containment runs for data and building management system control cabling.
EC keen to speed up refrigerant phase down
Industry expresses concerns about the viability of plans
The European Commission wants to drastically reduce the amount of global warming gas used in air conditioning and refrigeration equipment from 2015. Following a review of the F-Gas Regulation, Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard confi rmed the EC would introduce a phase-down to cut use of the most widely used refrigerant type – hydrofl uorocarbons (HFCs) – to just one fi fth of today’s level by 2030.
It is also proposing a ban on fl uorinated (F) gases in some new equipment where ‘viable, more climate-friendly alternatives are readily available’. However, the industry has serious concerns about the viability of the EC’s plans and a number of observers said further cuts were not needed as the original F-Gas Regulation – introduced in 2006 – was already bringing down potentially harmful emissions.
‘The EC ideas are arbitrary, unrealistic and
disproportionate,’ said Cedric Sloan, director general of the Federation of Environmental Trade Associations (FETA). ‘Its purely environmental legal base will encourage a diverse patchwork of interpretations across Europe and create a compliance nightmare for suppliers and contractors.’ He said the Commission had also chosen an ‘arbitrary’ global warming potential (GWP) ceiling that could lead to ‘perfectly good, effi cient, working systems being prematurely replaced’. ‘Imposing bans on a range of refrigeration applications, starting in 2015, is disproportionate and unrealistic. Industry needs time to adjust and the deadlines between 2015 and 2020 are simply plucked from thin air,’ added Sloan. However, a proposed ban on manufacturers pre-charging non-monobloc air conditioning and heat pump systems with HFCs could be a ‘game changer’, according to Graeme Fox, president of AREA – the European trade body representing air conditioning, refrigeration and heat pump contractors. He said it would ‘put the legitimate
contractor back in charge’ and make it easier for governments to track the amount of global warming gas in use.
‘EU member states have a legal duty to report the amount of refrigerant gas in circulation, but they have only the vaguest idea how much is out there at the moment,’ said Mr Fox. ‘Importers only have to report amounts over one tonne, but there are millions of split air conditioning systems coming into the EU that are already pre-charged with refrigerant gas.’
As well as ensuring only registered installers can handle the gas, a ban on pre-charging would also improve operating effi ciency, according to Scott Gleed, of the Building & Engineering Services Association (B&ES). ‘Pre-charged systems often have too much gas because manufacturers are allowing for pipe runs from 20 to 70 metres, which many applications don’t need.’
Other proposed changes to the Regulation include mandatory training for anyone using ‘alternative’ refrigerants, such as hydrocarbons, ammonia and CO2
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www.cibsejournal.com
December 2012 CIBSE Journal
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