Market Intelligence

The ICT sector generates up to 2% of the global CO2 emissions. The increase in data centres has pushed the European Commission to support projects that would improve the energy efficiency of these centres.

About 60 participants took part in the conference that closes the INTAS project. The conference was accompanied by the publication of the possible methodologies that could be used to verify compliance of fans as well as other findings from the project.

The 2018 edition of the European Environment Agency (EEA) report on fluorinated greenhouse gases (F-Gases) confirms the good progress achieved in 2017 by the European Union. A related report by the United Nations provides for a more global outlook.

On 4 January 2019, Eurovent Market Intelligence (EMI) has commenced with its latest annual data collection, which has been providing manufacturers with information on the European HVACR market since 1994. With more than 300 participating manufacturers, 15 product types, and response rates often exceeding 80%, the statistics branch of Eurovent has become the benchmark for HVACR market data.

Dear members, partners, and friends, Thank you very much for your continued support, commitment and hard work in bringing our joint European industry ideals and the Eurovent family forward! It’s our wish that the New Year brings us all lots of new business opportunities and growth. For the Eurovent Association, Eurovent Certita Certification and Eurovent Market Intelligence, 2018 was marked with lots of developments. 

The Ozone Regulation is transposing the obligations of the Montreal Protocol at European level regarding ozone depleting substances. It is responsible for reducing the use substances such as hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFC) like R22. R410a was a common alternative for R22 because it had no impact on ozone. Due to its high Global Warming Potential of 2088, alternatives are being developed for R410a.

Initiated in 2015 by ESTIF, the European Solar Thermal Industry Federation, and funded by the European Commission, an online tool for calculating solar devices using the SOLCAL method is under development. The test version allows users to try it out and provide feedback about the tool to the LabelPack A+ consortium. This consortium includes Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal and the United Kingdom, where national pilot projects have been developed. The main aim is to provide a tool to calculate the energy label heating packages containing various components, such as boilers, heat pumps, water heaters, storage tanks and solar panels.

On 13 November 2018, IEA issued its World Energy Outlook. The agency is worried about geopolitical factors influencing the energy markets. The outlook publication was preceded in October by two other publications. The one on energy efficiency notes that the efforts to improve efficiency are slowing down. The other addressed cooling and predicts an increase with 10 air conditioners being sold every second until 2050. Improving energy and environmental efficiency for this product will be a significant challenge. 

In the last week of October, the Japan Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Industry Association (JRAIA) hosted the 2018 Annual meeting of the International Council of Air-Conditioning, Refrigeration, and Heating Manufacturers Associations (ICARHMA) – of which Eurovent is a founding member. This years’ meeting proved to be very interesting with an outlook of possible future and disruptive issues. 

FRONT is a demonstration funded under LIFE, the EU’s financial instrument supporting environmental, nature conservation and climate action projects. It is often referred to as LIFE FRONT. The project runs until 2020 and aims to remove barriers posed by standards for flammable refrigerants and increase the availability of suitable alternatives. The first report has just been published.