4 News
EU votes on F-Gas
IN NOVEMBER 2012 the European Commission proposed a revision of the F-gas Regulation to tighten its requirements. In December 2013 representatives of the European Parliament and Council agreed on an amended text which largely maintains the ambition level proposed by the Commission. The European Parliament voted in favour of this agreement in March 2014 and formal approval by the Council is expected in April. The new Regulation is expected to come into force in May 2014. The Regulation will reduce F-gas emissions by two-thirds of today’s levels by 2030 and ban the use of F-gases in some new equipment where viable climate-friendly alternatives are readily available. The main driver is the introduction of a phase-down measure which from 2015 will limit the total amount of HFCs sold in the EU and reduce their quantities in steps to one-fifth of today’s sales by 2030.
People on the move
PUMP
HOUSE has appointed Laurence James as technical manager of
its Flexi Support Systems. Mr James brings with him 17 years’ experience in this industry of dealing with non-evasive support systems having been employed by Roof-Pro and Big Foot in the past. He also has a great understanding of flat roof designs a well as surveying and CAD skills.
ACR News April 2014 Visit ACR News online at
www.acr-news.com GEA Searle moves forward after fire
A FIRE at GEA Searle on 26 February has burnt 18% of the site buildings.
It was first detected late at night in the research and development department, and although the Fire Brigade arrived within 10 minutes of the alarm being sounded, the fire had taken hold by then and spread into the final assembly area before it was put out. The fire has affected one of
the company’s five buildings but not heat exchanger manufacturing, special products assembly, stores or office buildings and shipping re-commenced on Friday 28 February.
Sales and marketing director Mark Knapman said: “The fire affected one end of the complex, the oldest part of the building which also contained the paint shop and coil coating
area but the stores were unaffected.
The firewall between the main assembly area and the stores did its job.”
There were no injuries to any employees or any fire brigade personnel, and GEA Searle has paid tribute to the efforts of the fire service as well as the support, encouragement and offers of help from customers and suppliers.
R1234yf deemed safe by JRC
THE JOINT Research Centre (JRC), the European Commission’s top scientific and technical body, has issued its final report in support of the safety of R1234yf as an automobile refrigerant, which concludes that ‘there is no evidence of a serious risk in the use of this refrigerant in MAC systems under normal and foreseeable conditions of use’.
JRC came to its conclusion about the safety of R1234yf after an evaluation process of the extensive testing done by leading global automakers, independent test agencies and SAE International, the world’s foremost automotive
engineering body. Thierry Vanlancker, president, DuPont Chemicals &
Fluoroproducts, said: “DuPont is pleased with the final conclusions of the JRC, as they reinforce our high level of confidence that R1234yf can be used safely in automotive air conditioning.” Honeywell said that it “continues to see strong adoption by global automakers of this new refrigerant as they work to meet new environmental regulation, especially in Europe, and the company is investing in production capacity to ensure adequate supply worldwide.”
However, a spokesperson from Daimler said: “We regard the scope of the scientific review of the JRC to be too restricted.
“It neither considers our test results and the identified safety risks, nor does it sufficiently consider the indications of independent institutes.
“Based on this we still favour the development of
CO2 air-conditioning systems. We are committed to make this technology fit for series production as soon as possible and comply with the legal regulations.”
The final report of the JRC can be found at
goo.gl/7GrrMu
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