Author Archives: GTR_admin

Cooling your home without using electricity?

American Flag

Air conditioning is one of those things that gets fought over in the office during the summer as there are always those that are too cold or too hot. It is now winter and hopefully the fights have cooled down along with the temperature (pardon the pun), however this doesn’t mean that you can forget about your system. With this in mind and the importance climate change coming to the forefront of conversations a team of researchers have revealed that they have found a way to cool a room without increasing demands in time for next summer.

The team that have come up with this new system have said that in the USA alone, 15 per cent of the energy used in buildings is spent running air conditioning systems. As it is likely that air conditioning systems are only run during the summer months this seems like a reasonable percentage however, there is a huge amount of electricity generated from coal based power plants which in turn creates a lot of carbon emissions. Continue reading

India not likely to sign up to HFC Phasedown anytime soon

Indian Flag

Last week there were global climate talks in Paris and the outcome was that India are leading the way in terms of refusing to sign up to the proposed HFC phase-down. However, they didn’t just refuse, they of course had reasons to justify their decisions. Prakash Javadeker is the environmental minister and voiced the reasoning behind their decision to refuse the proposal. Continue reading

Understanding HVAC Legislation

The World

As a business it is essential that you understand UK air conditioning and refrigeration laws. The regulations state that: “If you own or operate equipment that contains ODS or F-gases, such as air-conditioning or refrigeration, you will need to manage your own equipment to prevent polluting the environment.”

In order to do this you must ensure that you recover, contain and destroy the refrigerant gasses in an appropriate manner. You must also ensure that checks are carried out on your air conditioning unit at least once a year for leaks in small units but if you are using a larger system then this needs to happen on a more regular basis. You can either do this yourself or get a professional to do it. The latter is the advised option so you are sure it was completed by a professional and mistakes are less likely to have been made. You mustn’t handle the refrigerants yourself, if this is required call a qualified technician to carry out the task for you. It is also important that you make sure you are aware of any imminent changes that will be occurring to the legislation so you can stay on top of it and up to date. Continue reading

Marks and Spencer’s Refrigeration Policy

Contents of a Fridge

Most will rememberthe sixties for the fashion and music, but something else happened during this decade that us HVAC’ers will be far more interested in! This decade saw a rise of the refrigerator in households.

In general, the basics of refrigeration have remained mostly the same although a lot has changed. The refrigerator is now an important staple to any commercial or domestic kitchen which ensures food waste is reduced by extending the life of produce.

However, as you and everyone else is well aware of, it has been discovered that the refrigerants used in the refrigerators is not the most environmentally friendly. Paul Alway is the refrigeration specification manager at Marks and Spencer and he explained: “Over the years, society came to understand the atmospheric (ozone layer) impacts of refrigerant gases such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) and the threat they pose on the ozone layer. Continue reading

Ever wondered how your refrigerator works?

Fridge

Before refrigerators as we know them were invented they used to be a box that was topped up with ice regularly in order to keep food cool. At the beginning of the 20th century Frigidare launched their first electronic fridge for households. They had sold 200,000 models by 1926 and had to build a new factory in order for them to keep up with demand!

The bare bones of what a refrigerator does is push hot air outside the unit in order to keep the contents cool. The most common way of doing this is by tubes that are filled which a chemical liquid (refrigerant) which boils when the air pressure is reduced. Once it has boiled it turns into a vapour which then absorbs energy. This is the process that transfers energy from the inside of the fridge to the outside, therefore keeping the contents cold. Continue reading

The Sistine Chapel Received a new Air Conditioning System

Sistine Chapel

The Sistine Chapel is world famous and as it has grown in popularity in terms of visitors the air conditioning and lighting systems have had to be upgraded to ensure the frescos are preserved.

Currently the amount of people that visit each year pose a threat to the precious paintings so it was vital the temperature was kept at a constant so more visitors can enjoy the paintings for years to come.

Work was carried out on a brand new heating, ventilation and air conditioning system for the Chapel to ensure that the works of art created by Michelangelo did not deteriorate. The Vatican Museums have said that the new system was installed by Carrier who are an American air conditioning company and they have installed a system that had minimum noise and would limit the amount of air movement around the paintings. Continue reading

Honeywell and DuPont Receive Statement of Objection

EU Flag

There has been a long battle over which refrigerants should and shouldn’t be used in air conditioning systems and there has been a strong force within the industry to try and make refrigerants more environmentally friendly not only for the greater good but also to ensure that businesses adhere to the law.

However, the European Commission has recently sent a Statement of Objections to Honeywell and DuPont. The statement was sent in regards to the refrigerant R-1234yf. It said, “The European Commission has informed Honeywell International Inc. and E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (DuPont) of its preliminary view that the refrigerant for use in car air conditioning systems (R-1234yf), may have limited its availability and technical development, in break of EU antitrust rules.” Continue reading

Protecting your Air Conditioning Unit During the Winter

Winter

When it comes to the autumn we know there are often wars over the air conditioning, some people are freezing and some people are still warm, however, the closer we get to winter you need to ensure that you are looking after your units as best as possible. We have put together a guide for you to for you to follow to help protect your air conditioning unit during the colder months.

As soon as you are ready to stop using your air conditioning it is best if you turn the unit off. This will mean that your unit isn’t on and therefore doesn’t have any water flowing through it. Having water in the unit during the winter leaves the opportunity for it to freeze which could break the unit. Continue reading

New Multi Trillion Dollar Opportunities in Three Key Markets

GTR_Wind_Turbine

Within the heating ventilation and air conditioning industry it is important to be as environmentally friendly as possible which is why new refrigerants have been rolled out over the last few years as well as new laws that need to be adhered to.

In a partnership between infoDev/World Bank Group and Carbon Trust have established and managed to put a figure on just what exactly the benefits are for small businesses that are operating in clean technology sectors in developing countries.

Over the next decade for those that invest in environmentally friendly technologies in the developing countries are expected to make a pretty penny as the industry is estimated to exceed $6 trillion and just under a quarter of this could be attributed to small and medium businesses which will mean more and more jobs. Not only this but there will be more innovation too which will help to grow businesses. Continue reading

New Qualifications Launched to Educate About Legionella

GTR_Legionella

It has been announced that there have been some new qualifications released in order to help businesses prevent the legionnaire’s disease which stems from legionella bacteria.

Highfield Awarding Body for Compliance (HABC) have come up with the new qualifications and have partnered up with B & V water treatments in order to do so. The qualifications that they have put in place are for those who have air conditioning systems and an understanding of the bacteria and the disease, how to measure it and also how to stop it. Below are the new qualifications. Continue reading