Clearly the HVACR industry in Latin America has had a frank recovery that allows it to speak of a satisfactory balance before the end of 2010. Likewise, a series of facts give it the green light to presage a comforting future.
By Santiago Jaramillo H.
A behavior that has definitely favorably influenced the recovery of the HVACR industry is the strengthening of construction in the different countries of Latin America, which has been hand in hand with the reduction of interest rates for mortgage loans, as well as the high rate of development of commercial projects, educational, hotel and office.
In terms of mortgage credit, the last five years have been a period of constant growth in the countries of the Latin American region, with a wide dynamic of sales, filing of credit applications and disbursements, despite the onslaught of the global economic crisis that although they shook this industry did not manage to make a dent as it happened in other latitudes of the world.
So far in 2010, the sum of investment in commercial, educational, hotel and office projects in the region exceeds by 30% those of 2009, according to surveys made by different media and statistics of the region.
According to the latest World Bank report, in 2010 Latin American economies will grow by 4.2% and in 2011 and 2012 the average growth would be 4.5%, a level slightly lower than that registered during the last period of regional economic boom, but much higher than that of other regions of the world, especially industrialized countries.
According to the World Bank, growth in Latin America will be much higher than the global economic progression, which will barely be around 2.9% and 3.5% in the next three years. Which puts the region as one of the strongest engines of global growth along with the Asia-Pacific region that will have growth rates of between 7% and 8% thanks to the push of China.
What this reflects is a very promising present and future outlook for the HVACR industry in the region, which thanks to its dynamics and knowledge of the market has been able to comfortably carry the different difficulties.
Balance sheet time
Denis Schiavi, representative of the Westinghouse company in Latin America, says that for them 2010 has been a record year although it is not over yet. "It was the first year that we had the Westinghouse brand the full year, in 2009 we had a combination, but definitely the balance and the satisfaction of our customers will be quite positive."
He also externalizes that "customers are definitely also growing and that is clearly reflected in this year's sales that could not close in a better way. 2010 compared to previous years, i.e. 2008 and 2009, has been exceptional, which suggests that the worst of the crisis is over and that the growth trend will continue in the coming years. For 2011 the idea is to continue in the same line of growth and strongly promoting the issue of ecological refrigerants and high energy efficiency, in order to continue growing".
As for the lines that have shown the most strength during the year, the representative of Westinghouse points out that "all the lines are being marketed well, but in general we see great future and growth potential in high energy efficiency equipment, for which we recommend that Acaire for the case of Colombia, or its peers in the rest of Latin America be more involved in the part of equipment certification so that competition and the market are all under the same regulations".
For his part, Roberto de Francisco, commercial manager of Lennox, complements the above by indicating that to the joy of the industry, 2010 has been a year of excellent results, specifically for the segment that his company serves, and that markets such as Brazil, Mexico and Colombia, to name just a few cases, give a faithful example of the strength of the region.
Ernesto Rodríguez, Sales Manager for Latin America of the Hansen company, however, affirms that although 2010 was a good year, his hopes are placed in what will be 2011, and more in what refers to the market of the refrigeration industry of ammonia. "The Latin American market along with the Asian market are currently the two main poles of development in the world, so our interest in continuing to bet, for the present and the future, on these two important focuses of the industry."
Industry Challenges
Turning to the technical part, engineer Flavio Clavijo, president of the Colombian company Tecnaire, highlights that in the industry every day more emphasis is placed on integrated building solutions from pre-design, through the stages of design, construction, operation and maintenance, in which architects, investors, engineers and administrators must work as a team to ensure identifiable results of high energy performance.
This goes hand in hand with comfort solutions, good air quality for its occupants as well as low levels of environmental impact and energy consumption.
He also reports that in terms of innovation and new trends, an important point of development is concentrated in electronic engineering technologies that allow refining the operation of systems with the support of presence sensors, carbon monoxide, operation programming, among others, which allows, with the support of programmable modules, to implement operation strategies that provide important economic benefits and energy consumption.
Another major effort comes from the refrigerant and foaming gas industry. There is a major technological race to develop refrigerants that have zero or "near zero" impact on global warming. This will give way to fourth-generation refrigerants.
Meanwhile, engineer Clavijo warns that there is a discussion held in international forums on the validation of natural refrigerants – generation zero – that although they provide the objectives of "almost zero" environmental impact, their characteristics of toxicity or flammability continue to be questioned.
Finally, our guest emphasizes the research efforts of the research groups in the factories will continue to provide increasingly efficient solutions in compression and heat exchange technologies.
Energy saving and sustainability
The president of Tecnaire also considers that there is a growing concern about the sustainability of the contemporary world in terms of ensuring a globalized world that guarantees that future generations can enjoy opportunities for progress and sustainable quality of life.
He also expresses that currently "new challenges appear on the horizon when the world oil reserves that reach only for the next thirty (30) years are evaluated, the levels of pollution of the large metropolises increase and the reports of global warming indicate alerts that threaten the survival of animal species and man himself.
"ASHRAE has integrated important research efforts with the USGBC (United States Green Building Council), AIA (American Institute of Architects), DOE (United States Department of Energy) and the Lighting Institute to propose the research and development of Zero Energy Balance Buildings, in such a way that by 2020 , buildings can be designed that do not depend on external electrical energy connection as we know it today".
This means that the energy consumed in a building will be recovered or generated within the same building. "This demands a huge technological challenge for all players in the construction industry. Another future impact is the flexibility of comfort temperatures, as is the case in China, which establishes interior design conditions in summer of 28°C",explains Clavijo.
The air conditioning proposals, then, will be impacted by new challenges that provide high energy performance solutions linked to geothermal, wind and solar sources.
In short, as this Colombian representative puts it, "the air conditioning industry will be totally different at the turn of a few years, just as our customs and lifestyle will be different."
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