Renewable energies, the future of A.C

By: Ana María Restrepo

2009 was for many one of the worst years to conduct business, grow economically and above all to face the adversities of the markets. Others, on the other hand, were encouraged last year to continue innovating and creating new solutions that focused on the other hot topic: climate change.

For more than 10 years the Kyoto Protocol was signed, and even today efforts continue to be joined to fulfill it as it should be. This with the help of most governments, which have become aware of the situation and have contributed their grain of sand to mitigate a little the negative effects on the matter.

But returning to the issue of the economy, this is the one that has given more to talk about and what to do, although since September 2009 the world economic organizations began to say that the economy was recovering and that in 2010 the situation would improve; however, we must bear in mind that in Latin America the financial crisis came much later than in the United States and Europe, which suggests that the recovery will also come later.

According to ECLAC (Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean), the region's economy will grow by 4.,% this year, and the worst of the crisis is behind us.

In the CVACR industry some companies were affected to a greater or lesser degree by the two issues mentioned above, for this reason, ACR LATINOAMÉRICA invited some professionals in the sector to talk about the market and the projects they executed in 2009.

Fabio Clavijo, president of Tecnaire, from Colombia, explains that the installations carried out by his company presented a greater growth and activity in the last year, it should be clarified that this company is dedicated to the consultancy, contracting and provision of maintenance services of air conditioning and air treatment systems.

"Over the last decade, we have concentrated on applied projects. Some of them are associated with industrial facilities, data processing centers and infrastructure projects in both Colombia and Ecuador," he explained.

Although Ramón Morales, distribution manager of Johnson Controls in Chile, did not specify whether 2009 was a good or bad year, he commented that some of the projects carried out in 2009 covered various market niches such as clinics, laboratories, thermoelectric plants, as well as facilities in the retail sector, where they supplied equipment and centralized control for commercial stores and also some office buildings and supermarkets.

An industry for everyone
A positive aspect of the CVACR industry is that it is indispensable in many economic sectors, and its sales can be developed either for large companies or for households.

Fabio Diaz, international director of business development at Goodman Manufacturing, says that the industries that most leveraged sales of air conditioning systems the previous year were the financial sector, hotels and shopping centers, among others.

Morales explains that in the Chilean market there was a large investment in the public health system by the government, due to the construction of new hospitals. In the case of his company, these projects allowed complete integrated systems to be delivered, which not only include ventilation solutions, but also safety solutions.

And it is that with the increase of technology and the passage of time, every day end users demand greater advances; for example, Fabio Clavijo explains that in Colombia equipment with advanced technologies is being needed, which has forced engineers in this country to keep up with the latest technological advances. "Domestic manufacturers make an enormous effort to match the technological offer of the market and it is very pleasant to recognize that they are achieving positive results in this process," he says.

Efficiency, high levels of quality and the availability of equipment, i.e. delivery time, are other demands that customers make, but there is one aspect that now encompasses most orders and that demands the best technology: equipment with high levels of energy efficiency.

Ramón explains that for example in his country (Chile), the high value of energy and the awareness regarding global warming, have led users to consider other variables when acquiring the systems for their new constructions or to make some changes of them in old buildings, such as energy efficiency, maintenance costs, technical support and having a single company responsible for climate equipment and control.

Good equipment and good installer
When developing a project it is not only necessary to have the right equipment, it is also important to comply with parameters that will allow the company and its professionals to provide a better service.

Some of the challenges faced in these cases are the financing terms required and delivery times, as stated by Fabio Díaz. In the same sense speaks Morales, who says that many times the execution deadlines are really a challenge to be able to meet within the times that customers require. He adds that another challenge is to deliver energy-saving solutions that achieve short-term returns on investment for customers, as they usually require a higher investment compared to traditional systems.

For his part, Clavijo believes that the biggest challenge is constant technological updating. "We have observed in recent years an accelerated pace of research and development of new technologies, motivated by the need to improve the energy efficiency of air conditioning systems and the change of refrigerants for environmentally friendly substances. These two major issues, together with the reality of the depletion of fossil fuels, are demanding great technological challenges that also compromise the engineering of CVACR in the world," he says.

Technical specifications
In addition to requiring energy-efficient equipment, there are other technical specifications that the solutions must have. Nowadays the market tends to use equipment that meets efficiency levels such as ASHRAE 90.1 and that is also integrated under a centralized control platform that optimizes its operation, to achieve greater profit, according to Ramón Morales.

Fabio Clavijo comments that today advanced technologies to manage intelligent and efficient buildings are demanded as part of the provision of equipment in buildings and industrial complexes, providing significant levels of energy savings and optimizing the performance of their facilities.

In equipment the demand is very varied and adjusts to the international demands of the market.

The replacement of refrigerants is also another issue that has produced changes in the industry, which has adapted to the use of new refrigerants. Many companies have migrated to new gases such as Goodman, as Díaz says that in his company the entire line of products works with the refrigerant R410a.

But this is not only a condition for companies, countries must also be responsible for the care of the environment, which is why Mexico is carrying out savings programs that promote the replacement of refrigeration equipment with more than 10 years of use by new energy-saving equipment. In Colombia, the Ozone Technical Unit (UTO) has been monitoring and supporting the refrigerant restitution process, and ACAIRE (Colombian Association of Air Conditioning and Refrigeration) has made a commitment to train technicians in the sector in the use of refrigerants.

Clavijo explains that it has also opened the way to the market of environmentally friendly refrigerants, including proposals such as those presented by DuPont and other global manufacturers, as well as the use of natural refrigerants such as ammonia and hydro-carbon refrigerants.

Eco-friendly equipment
As can be seen, technological advances always tend, in addition to improving systems, to energy efficiency and even more to the care of the environment.

Currently, research points to the development of renewable energies and their applications, such as geothermal, wind, solar and maritime energies among others, according to Clavijo.

But in addition to this, Ramón explains that there are some improvements focused on the use of environmentally friendly refrigerants. For example, in the case of the residential and light commercial market, the use of systems with variable refrigerant has become popular and for complex projects or large thermal capacity, the use of more efficient equipment is being chosen, such as chillers with heat recovery, water-water heat pumps, variable speed centrifuges; and on the air side, handling units that have freecooling systems and air-to-air heat recovery.

Every day the hotel, department store and office building projects that demand a high volume of business for the sector continue to increase, and it is expected that with the recovery of the economy and the new ecological trends in equipment, the activity of the CVACR sector will increase in the coming years.