HVAC News, February 2021

The German Bundestag passed the Building Energy Act (GEG) last week. The law brings together the Energy Saving Ordinance (EnEV) and the Renewable Energies Heat Act (EEWärmeG). "With the adoption of the GEG, the energy saving law for buildings will be reduced and simplified. Construction specialists also receive planning security, ”comments Dr. Lothar Breidenbach, Managing Director Technology at the BDH. The association also rates it positively that no further...

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation announces that it will acquire buildings and land from Sharp Fukuyama Semiconductor Co., Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sharp Corporation located in Fukuyama, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The acquired properties will serve as a new site where Mitsubishi Electric's Power Device Works will process wafers for the manufacture of power semiconductors. New production facilities scheduled to start up in November of next year will enable Mitsubishi Electric to expand...

With five or six installations of SLXi domestic refrigerated container (DRC) units taking place each day at TK Services, Inc. in Los Angeles, the dealership has embraced the growth opportunity that the latest Thermo King product offering has presented to the rail industry. Their partnership with fellow dealerships like Transport Refrigeration of Northwest Arkansas has enabled a factory production intense operation with constant inventories, real-time coordination, quality checks, and the succes...

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation announces that it will support healthcare professionals in the fight against COVID-19 by donating approximately 100 million yen (about US$ 930,000) and providing medical institutions with essential items such as medical masks. The company is taking all possible steps to help contain the disease and resume normal socio-economic activities as soon as possible. Supporting healthcare professionals Mitsubishi Electric will donate approximately 100 million yen to sup...

As the world works to contain the spread of COVID-19 and begin the process to heal and recover, helping maintain the critical food supply through the safe transport of perishable food is central to the company mission. The sheer magnitude of the pandemic has put the global cold chain under enormous strain. This includes a set of new challenges for ensuring a safe, reliable cold chain to transport food; the unexpected and intense impact of consumer demands on groceries; the large-scale redeploym...

When it comes to refrigerated food, nobody understands the essence of time more than the amazing Thermo King dealers. So, when Feeding America Food Banks called for help to move - and save, a large quantity of fresh produce, dairy, and other perishable products available from Walmart Distribution Centers and the Dairy Industry, a dozen We Move Food partner dealers raised their hands to help. “The only way for Feeding America to take advantage of this opportunity was to secure additional o...

Second Harvest Heartland is a Minnesota-based food bank, Thermo King customer and We Move Food grant recipient. The hunger-relief organization is also an affiliate of Feeding America, a close partner of the We Move Food program. The Second Harvest Heartland team is providing weekly updates on their response to the COVID-19 pandemic. These updates illustrate just how urgent the demand is for emergency food assistance in these unprecedented times. In Minneapolis-St. Paul, the need for meals has mo...

The Yamatogawa Route, measuring approximately 10 km in total length, fully opened in March 2020, connecting between Sakai City and Matsubara City in Osaka. Panasonic constructed the tunnel ventilation facilities for this route. Panasonic delivered more products than any other project of this kind in its history, including 78 large jet fans, each as big as an airliner's jet engine, as well as 64 electrostatic precipitators and 14 exhaust fans. In the following, the members in charge of the proje...

Thermo King, a front-runner in transport temperature control solutions for a variety of mobile applications and a brand of Trane Technologies, is introducing the SG-5000, the next generation generator set for marine containers. Available in both clip-on and under-mount configurations, the SG-5000 can power all ISO reefers on the market, and ensure complete temperature control and protection of the refrigerated cargo. Designed and manufactured specifically for the North American market, the new...

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation announces that its European subsidiary Mitsubishi Electric Europe B.V. acquired on April 1 all shares of AQS PRODUKTER AB, a comfort, process, and IT cooling and heat pump distributor in Sweden, a market with promising prospects. AQS, which has been selling commercial cooling and heat pump products for 35 years, possesses excellent technical capabilities and know-how. Until now, Mitsubishi Electric has been selling mainly residential and light commercial products...

Thermo King Corporation (Thermo King), a globally renowned company in transport temperature control solutions for a variety of mobile applications and a brand of Trane Technologies, announced that its South African based dealer, Grindrod Intermodal, has expanded its services and will now offer Thermo King SGCM-3000 generator sets (Gensets) to customers in the region. SGCM-3000 generator sets Transporters moving perishable goods like grapes or citrus fruit throughout South Africa, can now benef...

As the world works to contain the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19), the Trane Technologies team is adapting to this rapidly evolving situation, implementing safety measures and taking care of each other, along with the organization’s partners and customers. Trane Technologies’ business is largely categorized as ‘critical’ by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. They provide heating, cooling and ventilation solutions for essential spaces like homes, hospitals, ph...

Thermo King has launched a new service agreement program. Performance Advantage™ provides customers with a set of maintenance programs designed to extend the efficient operational life of their transport refrigeration equipment, increase uptime, and reduce costs. “Proactive maintenance from trained and qualified refrigeration experts can minimize downtime and save money,” said Travis Lumpkin, services product manager for Thermo King North America. “A Thermo King Service...

The German heating industry is optimistic about the new year. The President of the Federal Association of the German Heating Industry (BDH), Uwe Glock, considers growth rates of up to 10 percent to be possible for systems that combine efficiency with renewable energies. The reason for this is the new funding incentives that have been in force since the beginning of the year, with which the federal government wants to bring the energy transition into the boiler room. "We expect a significant plu...

The federal government introduced the coal phase-out law. This will regulate the end of electricity production from coal in Germany by 2038 at the latest. Article 6 of the draft law also provides for changed framework conditions for combined heat and power in the Combined Heat and Power Act (KWKG). The Federal Association of the German Heating Industry (BDH) sees major obstacles here for the market for decentralized CHP systems in the commercial sector. In particular, the association criticizes...

The Federal Association of the German Heating Industry (BDH) is focusing more on the energy networking of the building. In January, the association invited to a cross-sector discussion of common use cases. As part of the BDH Use Case Workshop, use cases for the operation and the interaction of all energy-relevant producers and consumers in the networked building were discussed. For the experts, the focus was on exchanging ideas with participants from other industries. In order to achieve the cl...

Inspector Gadget and Sherlock Holmes have met their match. While Thermo King’s TracKing platform may be best known for its remote temperature management and transport refrigeration unit monitoring to ensure an uninterrupted Cold Chain, it has also proven its value in search and rescue missions. Just ask Thermo King customer iHaul Freight of British Columbia, Canada. When the company had not one, but two brand new trailers with Thermo King Precedent C-600 refrigeration units stolen, they t...

As part of BDH general meeting, the companies ERLUS AG, Sunfire Fuel Cells GmbH and HPA AG joined the association. ERLUS produces chimney systems, Sunfire offers fuel cell solutions, HPA produces storage tanks for the heating system. BDH President Uwe Glock warmly welcomed the new members in the presence of the BDH board. The regular general meeting took place in the Stiebel Eltron Energy Campus in Holzminden. The agenda included the current energy policy situation, in particular the cornerston...

Modern heat pumps use part of the electricity and thus generate up to four parts of renewable energies from the environment or the ground. Depending on the design, heat pumps can reach system temperatures that make them ideal for use in existing buildings. "With the strong increase in green electricity, the importance of heat pumps will grow in the future, not only in new buildings, but also when replacing heating systems, especially since the heat pump industry makes a lot of research and deve...

Representatives of the Federal Association of the German Heating Industry (BDH), the Federal Association of Bioenergy (BBE), the Industrial Association of House, Heating and Kitchen Technology (HKI) and the Central Association of Sanitary, Heating and Air Conditioning (ZVSHK) spoke to politics today at an event in the Reichstag in favor of a climate policy initiative for wood heating. The share of renewable energies in the heating market is currently around 14 percent. 65 percent of this comes...

“There are tremendous incentives that certain cities, including New York City, are offering companies to adopt electrification into their fleets,” said Mike Rudnick, owner of Thermo King of Long Island. “Many cities’ regulations are citing zero emissions by 2025. That’s not that far off. We need to continue showing our commitment to electrification and the technology being developed to ensure that we lead the way.” And that’s what three dealers - Thermo...

Underfloor heating ensures even heat distribution, promotes a better indoor climate, and also saves energy. All wired, water-carrying, underfloor heating systems can now be conveniently and easily controlled and the heating cycles can be set for each room individually by the Bosch Smart Home room thermostat for underfloor heating systems, directly on the device, intuitively by voice command or via smartphone, when the user is away from home. This means that heat is provided only when it is real...

By 2050, Panasonic will switch the electricity used globally in its operations to 100% renewable energy Corporation has joined RE100, The Climate Group's global initiative bringing together the world's most influential businesses committed to 100% renewable power. By 2050, Panasonic will switch the electricity used globally in its operations to 100% renewable energy, and aim for production that does not emit CO2. Amid growing global attention to social issues that focus on the environment and e...

On August 14, 2019, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) released five proposals intended to increase roadway safety and ease driving rules for truckers. The five key revisions by the FMCSA are: 30-minute break - Increase safety and flexibility for the 30-minute break rule by tying the break requirement to eight hours of driving time without an interruption for at least 30 minutes and allowing the break to be satisfied by a driver using on duty, not driving status, rather...

If one owns transport refrigeration units (TRUs) and have one of the 56,700 TRUs that operate daily in California, one needs to be aware that the California Air Resources Board (CARB) has proposed new regulations that impact TRU emissions in addition to other items. Main Proposed Concepts All TRUs must register with CARB – Timing 2022 All newly manufactured truck, trailer, domestic shipping containers, and rail TRUs manufactured with refrigerant must have a Global Warming Potential (G...

A 100 percent Thermo King refrigerated trailer fleet since 2003, Frock Bros. Trucking understands how protecting its assets can lead to ongoing success – for both itself and its customers. Thermo King’s SVC Guaranteed Maintenance Program was a big contributor to the company’s fleet transformation (Frock Bros. was an all-competitor fleet in 1997). Business Evolvement “The focus on preventive maintenance increased our odds of delivering customers’ products on-time,&...

Around the world, people are flocking from rural areas to cities. By 2050, there will be more than six billion people living in megacities, twice as many as now. Over the same period, the volume of urban traffic is set to increase threefold, not least because the continuing boom in online commerce will feed further growth in delivery traffic. A denser population and more traffic mean deteriorating air quality. Across the globe, from Paris to Shanghai, major cities face an enormous challenge, wh...

There was no initial spark for the heating transition in 2018 either. That is the central result of the annual balance of the Federal Association of the German Heating Industry (BDH). The manufacturers organized in the BDH were able to achieve an overall increase of 3 percent compared to the previous year with 732,000 heat generators sold. However, this increase results exclusively from the still dynamic new construction business. “Around 600,000 devices were refurbished last year. With a...

57 percent (around 12 million systems) of the approximate 21 million heating systems installed in Germany are insufficiently efficient. This is the central result of the surveys that the Federal Association of Chimney Sweepers (ZIV) and the Federal Association of the German Heating Industry (BDH) carry out annually. “Every second heating system in Germany is more than 20 years old. From the age of 15, a boiler is considered energetically inefficient,” explains Oswald Wilhelm, Presiden...

"We finally need effective tax incentives in order to leverage the enormous CO2 savings potential in the heating market." With this conclusion, BDH President Uwe Glock closed the BDH symposium at the 20th Berlin event Energy days. Have the course been set correctly to achieve the 2030 climate protection goals in the building sector? This question was the focus of the podium made up of top-class experts from politics and associations. There was agreement that the instruments to date are insuffic...