AIR CONDITIONING Ecodesign
mid-term report T
A good start, says Darren Farrar, marketing manager at Airedale, but there’s room for improvement.
he Economist last year produced a report outlining both the importance of air conditioning as a societal necessity but also the contribution it makes to global warming through its use of large amounts of electricity. Air conditioning saves lives, helps grow economies and makes people healthier. However at what cost is this occurring? The recent heatwave across Europe has undoubtedly put millions of air conditioning units across the continent through their paces, but how much is the excess power this has consumed contributing towards more of these kind of heatwaves occurring in the future? The Economist report concluded that cooling people is important, but should not come at the expense of the planet. Given that 1bn air conditioners are to be installed worldwide
in the next decade, this self-perpetuating phenomenon looks set to continue and this has not gone unnoticed by the EU, who introduced EU legislation on Ecodesign in order to improve the energy efficiency of products as part of their 2020 environmental objectives. The Ecodesign Directive (Directive 2009/125/EC) sets mandatory minimum environmental requirements for energy-using and energy-related products sold in all 28 Member States. The onus with Ecodesign is with manufacturers, who must ensure products placed on the market meet these requirements. The ultimate aim being an overall reduction of EU greenhouse gas emissions, mainly through reduced energy use of these products Tier 1 of the specific regulation which covers many air conditioning products – including comfort and process chillers – came into law on 01 January 2018. With Tier 2 in January 2021, and more stringent requirements now very much on the horizon, has the implementation of the regulation been a success? Many manufacturers have taken a proactive stance to Ecodesign, recognising that providing customers with energy efficient solutions is a critical sustainable development opportunity for us all. Ecodesign rewards manufacturers who take lifecycle costs into account, delivering systems to end- users that, through being efficient, cost less to run over their lifetime than products designed to be as cheap as possible up front. It is certainly true that with the implementation of Ecodesign, many products are simply not viable anymore. It was expected that with the implementation of Tier 1, 60% of the products
30 September 2019
on the market at the time the regulation was announced were uncompliant. This rises to 85% with the implementation of Tier 2. This may be seen by some as harsh, with smaller companies perhaps being unable to afford the R&D investment required to reach a state of compliance. However, what it does show is that the EU recognise that drastic action needs to be
taken to slow down global warming. Europe has ambitious CO2 reduction targets and only through decisive and strong action will it be able to meet them. The ambitious nature of the regulations has stimulated manufacturers to invest in research and development, in some cases looking at novel technologies in order to increase the efficiencies of their products. The onus is on manufacturers to comply with the regulations in order to still place products on the EU market, resulting in innovative solutions to increase efficiencies. More efficient fans, optimised heat exchangers, spray evaporators, smart controls and new compressor combinations have all been introduced in order to maximise the efficiencies of air conditioning products since Ecodesign’s implementation.
The easiest way to make an air conditioning product more efficient is by taking advantage of the laws of thermodynamics – larger components with more surface area for heat exchange is the most common way manufacturers have adjusted their products to comply with the new regulations. However, this increases the up-front capital cost of the equipment and although this is offset over the lifecycle of the product it can still be a headache for end users. Another issue with larger units is when old plant has to be replaced. Plant rooms and rooftops can be tight on space so when a like-for-like unit is larger than the incumbent equipment, this can be tricky for end-users. Often in situations like this they are looking at refurbishment options rather than replacements. Companies who offer services such as EC fan upgrades can profit on this opportunity but the market for new capital equipment is impacted as a result. The publication of Ecodesign related technical data on manufacturers’ websites has created a welcome transparency in the air conditioning marketplace. Manufacturers now have a clear obligation to inform consumers about the efficiency of their products, which all helps contractors and specifiers to better explain product and system efficiencies to an end user.
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