Europe. Following the success of the Netherlands in reducing emissions from refrigeration equipment, air conditioning and heat pumps from 20-25% to 5%, the rest of the European Union is challenged to achieve these results.To this end, the AC, refrigeration and heat pump industries have come together in order to carry out inspections, strict record keeping and leak prevention in the different systems, since in 2011 the European Commission will evaluate whether the regulation on fluorinated gases helps to effectively reduce these greenhouse gas emissions through these actions or if other stronger actions are required.
According to a survey carried out by the industrial association EPEE (The European Partnership for Energy and the Environment) the regulation on fluorinated gases has already borne fruit in the EU, as countries such as Hungary, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Denmark, Belgium and the United Kingdom have obtained positive results when carrying out the measures of this regulation.
Graeme Fox, president of the European Association of Refrigeration Contractors (AREA), explains that countries where the regulation has been applied correctly have seen a decrease in refrigerant leakage rates.
Although the industry has adopted the challenge of certifying companies and personnel, there are still differences between the member states of the European Union, since some nations had strict rules before the regulation came into force and in other countries only actions have been taken for this regulation.
Because the EU lacks law enforcement authorities, industry associations AREA and EPEE call for the urgent and harmonised eu-wide enforcement mechanisms and sanctions in the event of non-compliance.
