On 20 February 2024, F-gas Regulation (EU) 2024/573, which regulates the placing on the market and export of fluorinated gases and equipment containing fluorinated gases, was published in the Official Journal of the European Union. The new regulation aims to further reduce F-gas emissions within the European Union.
Fluorinated gases (which include hydrofluorocarbons or HFCs) are greenhouse gases with a high global warming potential, used in common appliances such as refrigerators, air conditioners, heat pumps and fire protection. Today, they account for about 2.5 per cent of EU greenhouse gas emissions.
The new regulation envisages a total phase-out of HFCs by 2050, with a new trajectory of progressive reduction in the consumption share between 2024 and 2049, and an accelerated shift to environmentally friendly solutions.
If, as citizens, this legislation gives us hope, as it lights a glimmer of hope in the fight against rising global temperatures and the resulting climate change, on the other hand, as a company, it imposes on us rapid and not always painless changes.
In fact, if up until now, we have chosen refrigerants for our units that are not harmful to humans and have a low GWP (Global Warming Potential), now we are somehow forced to also adopt those natural refrigerants that we had hitherto discarded, in particular propane (R290). And why had we discarded it if it is natural? Because it is highly flammable.
This, as was already the case with the production of units with HFO, a moderately flammable refrigerant, requires us to implement new procedures aimed at ensuring maximum safety for all line, test and warehouse operators at all times.
Many company functions, each for their own area of competence, are already involved in adapting our facilities to the use of R290: safety, purchasing, technical department, marketing, and even production itself. Indeed, the first prototypes of propane units have been successfully produced in M11, some of which will be exhibited as an absolute novelty on the Mitsubishi Electric stand at Chillventa, one of the main trade fairs in the sector to be held in Nuremberg, Germany, from 8 to 10 October.
But don’t worry, you won’t have to go all the way there to see the new units, a matter of months and they will be on our production lines and in our testing centres, ready for many successful new installations!
