In March, four organisations partnered to release the ‘Green carbon label’ - an initiative designed to accelerate the commercialisation of R290 air conditioners in China. Soon after, Gree and Haier rolled out their hydrocarbon products and more manufacturers have since followed suit combining for an annual production potential capacity of 1.8 million units.
Yokohama laid the stage for the 24th IIR International Congress of Refrigeration from 16-22 August. The event brought together refrigeration stakeholders from Japan, China and elsewhere, and showed how adoption of climate friendly technologies is gaining momentum in these markets.
During the congress, Ole Reinholdt Nielsen, Chief of the Refrigeration and Aerosols Unit of the Montreal Protocol Branch, UNIDO gave an update on the status of China’s HCFC Phase-out Management Plan, confirming that China’s move away from synthetic refrigerant R22 to hydrocarbon R290 is progressing well.
R290 air conditioners taking off in China
In March 2015, the United Nations, the China Household Electrical Appliances Association (CHEAA), the Foreign Economic Cooperation Office of the Ministry of Environmental Protection of China (FECO) and the German International Cooperation agency (GIZ) jointly issued the “Green carbon label” to encourage manufacturers and suppliers to accelerate the commercialisation of R290 air conditioning units.
It didn’t take long for Chinese manufacturers Gree and Haier to roll out and sell their first R290 air conditioners to the domestic market.
This was just the start: now, five domestic air conditioning manufacturers (Midea, Changhong, and Chunlan, in addition to Gree and Haier) have entered the market with a combined annual production potential capacity of up to 1.8 million units of residential R290 air conditioners.
A human touch: training certifying R290 air conditioning engineers
The rising number of R290 air conditioners in China fuels the need for fully trained and certified engineers able to properly and safely handle the installation, servicing, maintenance, repair and decommissioning of the new equipment.
For this reason, China has already established two national and seventeen local training centers for service engineers, which ensure the country is able to keep up with the intensified uptake of R290 air conditioners.
The Guangdong Institute of Xi'an Jiaotong University held an opening ceremony for its new training center at the end of March. The ceremony was followed by a three-day training course, which attracted its first fifty participants. It is expected that by the end of the year the number of qualified engineers will increase to over 1800.
Additionally, service manuals on how to properly handle equipment containing R290 refrigerant will be distributed to the relevant companies and service centers across the country.
What’s next for R290 air conditioners in China?
CHEAA is currently organising the China Household Electrical Technology Conference, which will take place in Hefei city of Anhui province of China from 26 to 29 October.
The conference will, among other topics, discuss alternatives to HCFC22 room air conditioning technology, international policy trends on high global warming potential HFCs and their substitution, as well as state-of-the-art technological developments in this field.
During the congress, Ole Reinholdt Nielsen, Chief of the Refrigeration and Aerosols Unit of the Montreal Protocol Branch, UNIDO gave an update on the status of China’s HCFC Phase-out Management Plan, confirming that China’s move away from synthetic refrigerant R22 to hydrocarbon R290 is progressing well.
R290 air conditioners taking off in China
In March 2015, the United Nations, the China Household Electrical Appliances Association (CHEAA), the Foreign Economic Cooperation Office of the Ministry of Environmental Protection of China (FECO) and the German International Cooperation agency (GIZ) jointly issued the “Green carbon label” to encourage manufacturers and suppliers to accelerate the commercialisation of R290 air conditioning units.
It didn’t take long for Chinese manufacturers Gree and Haier to roll out and sell their first R290 air conditioners to the domestic market.
This was just the start: now, five domestic air conditioning manufacturers (Midea, Changhong, and Chunlan, in addition to Gree and Haier) have entered the market with a combined annual production potential capacity of up to 1.8 million units of residential R290 air conditioners.
A human touch: training certifying R290 air conditioning engineers
The rising number of R290 air conditioners in China fuels the need for fully trained and certified engineers able to properly and safely handle the installation, servicing, maintenance, repair and decommissioning of the new equipment.
For this reason, China has already established two national and seventeen local training centers for service engineers, which ensure the country is able to keep up with the intensified uptake of R290 air conditioners.
The Guangdong Institute of Xi'an Jiaotong University held an opening ceremony for its new training center at the end of March. The ceremony was followed by a three-day training course, which attracted its first fifty participants. It is expected that by the end of the year the number of qualified engineers will increase to over 1800.
Additionally, service manuals on how to properly handle equipment containing R290 refrigerant will be distributed to the relevant companies and service centers across the country.
What’s next for R290 air conditioners in China?
CHEAA is currently organising the China Household Electrical Technology Conference, which will take place in Hefei city of Anhui province of China from 26 to 29 October.
The conference will, among other topics, discuss alternatives to HCFC22 room air conditioning technology, international policy trends on high global warming potential HFCs and their substitution, as well as state-of-the-art technological developments in this field.
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Sep 07, 2015, 11:33
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