World News

USA: Carrier has reported strong Q2 2024 financial results with sales up 12% to $6.7bn compared to last year.

GERMANY: Bosch has described its €7.4bn acquisition of the Johnson Controls-Hitachi Air Conditioning (JCH) joint venture as the biggest transaction in the company’s history, doubling its Home Comfort business.

POLAND: Customs officers in Terespol claim to have prevented seven attempts in the last month to smuggle refrigerant R134a in the LPG tanks of motor vehicles.

SOUTH KOREA: Researchers from the Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER) claim to have developed a technology to decompose R134a refrigerant using an industrial waste product.

JAPAN/USA/GERMANY: Johnson Controls and Hitachi have confirmed an agreement to sell their European air conditioning joint venture business to German manufacturer Robert Bosch in an $8.1bn deal.

ITALY: Lu-Ve is to supply air coolers to the latest Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant under construction in Somerset, UK, in a €27m contract.

JAPAN: German company Robert Bosch is reported to be the leading candidate to acquire the Johnson Controls-Hitachi domestic air conditioning joint venture. 

JAPAN: Panasonic’s use of vacuum insulated glass (VIG) on new reach-in freezer upright display cases is said to offer energy savings of up to 33% compared to conventional units.

SWEDEN/ITALY: Pioneering Italian chiller manufacturer Geoclima is set to be acquired by Swedish air treatment and climate solutions company Munters. 

CANADA: The Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) has announced a multi-million-dollar retrofit of its branches in Canada to low-carbon heating and cooling systems such as heat pumps.

SPAIN: Madrid’s municipal bus company EMT has installed bus shelters with in-built cooling systems at two locations in the city. 

SWEDEN: Wholesaler Beijer Ref has revealed Q2 as its best ever quarter, with sales of SEK9,681m (€835m) and record profitability.

ITALY: An unnamed “specialised” company from the Piedmont region of northwest Italy faces a fine of up to €150,000 for exceeding its F-gas import quota.

SPAIN: Early reports suggest a car destroyed on a street in Malaga last week was caused by an exploding refrigerant cylinder.

BELGIUM: Heat pump sales were 6.5% lower in 2023, the first fall after ten years of annual growth, threatening Europe’s 2030 climate targets.

BELGIUM: Paul Kenny, a sustainable energy expert and former special advisor to the Irish government, has been named as the new director general of the European Heat Pump Association (EHPA).

BELGIUM: Eurovent’s Air Conditioners  Product Group has released a new recommendation on the rating points for air-to-air process and IT cooling.

HONG KONG: Customs officers have intercepted a shipment of refrigerant being smuggled from Hong Kong to the USA.

GERMANY: LG Electronics is establishing a new 930m2 Air Solution R&D lab in Frankfurt, Germany, focusing primarily on developing high-efficiency HVAC solutions for Europe’s varied local climates.

SWEDEN: The second quarter of 2024 has seen continued weak sales of heat pumps on the Swedish market with a decline of 50%. 

GERMANY: The German air conditioning and refrigeration industry has hit out at the illegal sales of split AC systems in appliance stores and online.

SPAIN: The authorities in Spain have arrested six people for selling flammable hydrocarbon refrigerants online as replacements for F-gases.

USA: The US Department of Commerce has ruled that imports of certain blend refrigerants from Turkey, Malaysia and China have been circumventing anti-dumping duties imposed in 2016.

MEXICO: Danfoss has inaugurated a new 40,000m² compressor, sensor and heat exchanger manufacturing plant at its Monterrey campus.

USA: US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers have warned the public travelling across the border from Mexico not to bring in HFC refrigerant. 

JAPAN/POLAND: Panasonic has entered into an agreement to purchase Polish refrigeration equipment manufacturer Area Cooling Solutions Sp zoo.

EUROPE: Prices of the high GWP refrigerants R410A, R134a and R404A experienced significant price increases across the supply chain in the first quarter of this year.