Industry Overview
We are today witnessing the genesis of arguably the most important technological shift the $51B world-wide HVACR industry has ever experienced. Even a cursory review of research and development efforts will confirm that both global industry and the U.S. military are aggressively moving toward introduction of super efficient systems that utilize carbon dioxide (officially designated “R744”) as a refrigerant. www.R744.com
Heating, cooling and refrigeration are so pervasive in our world that we rarely consider how necessary they are for our survival. We heat and cool our homes, vehicles and businesses, we refrigerate our food and medicine for storage and distribution, and we require thermal energy for myriad industrial processes. In an age of exploding energy costs, these fundamental needs represent an indispensable and ever increasing line item expense for household and business budgets. Adding to the enormous economic cost of operating and servicing HVACR (heating, ventilation, air-conditioning and refrigeration) systems is the massive and costly logistical burden of handling, storing, and accounting of regulated synthetic refrigerant gases.
An equally pressing problem is the significant, negative environmental impact of these systems. The result of burning fossil fuels to generate electrical power coupled with the use of toxic fluorocarbon (FC) refrigerants endangers the atmosphere with the buildup of harmful, long duration global warming gases. Fluorocarbons are a collection of greenhouse gases up to 12,000 times more noxious than base line carbon dioxide (CO2), spawning a colossal worldwide regulatory system with no foreseeable end to ever widening and rigorous governmental restrictions.
There is no question that the HVACR industry is under tremendous pressure from many sources, including regulatory agencies in the United State and the European Union (EU), to further restrict and possibly eliminate the production and/or use of FC refrigerants. The uncertainty concerning FC refrigerant acceptability and expectations of increasing governmental regulation and escalating related costs only underscore the acute need for a long term refrigerant solution.
Accordingly, the primary challenge facing industry today is to develop systems that more efficiently manage and conserve energy, while utilizing environmentally benign natural refrigerants. Put simply and directly, the world needs super efficient heating and cooling/refrigeration systems that use carbon dioxide.