Page 6 - Climate Control News December 2018

News
No signs of a slowdown for a booming HVACR industry
AUSTRALIA'S HVACR INDUSTRY IS GETTING STRONGER EVERY YEAR WITH $38 BILLION SPENT ON PURCHASING, INSTALLING, MAINTAINING AND OPERATING RAC EQUIPMENT AND SERVICES IN 2016.
LEFT: There are more than 54 million individual pieces of RAC equipment operating in Australia.
businesses. Those employees earned approxi- mately $24 billion in wages and salaries in 2016, the report said.
There are more than 54 million individual pieces of RAC equipment operating in Australia that consumed more than an estimated 61,000 GWh of electricity in 2016, slightly more than 23.6% of the 258,000 GWh of electricity produc- tion in Australia that year.
Owners of RAC equipment spent an estimated $14 billion to pay for that electricity and the liq- uid fuels required to run mobile AC and mobile refrigeration systems, the report said.
This vast stock of equipment, from small portable refrigerators and air conditioners to enormous commercial chillers and refrigera- tion plants, employ a bank of more than 50,000 tonnes of synthetic refrigerants that have high global warming potential (GWP) values. The bank of refrigerant has an estimated current re- placement value of around $2.7 billion.
CHF3 calculates that RAC technology was responsible for total greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to approximately 68.7 million tonnes CO2e in 2016 (including HCFCs), equiv- alent to 12.4% of all greenhouse gas emissions reported in Australia’s National Greenhouse Gas Inventory for 2016.
The report said all indicators point to con- tinued strong growth for refrigeration and air conditioning services in the years ahead driven by a strong economy, population growth, re- duced costs to equipment and high summer temperatures – the same mix of factors that saw the refrigerant bank grow by more than 50% over the last decade. For a full breakdown of the report turn to page 14. ✺
THAT SPEND WAS equivalent to 2.3% of na- tional GDP in 2016, according to Cold Hard Facts 3 (CHF3).
It found nearly $8.1 billion was spent purchas- ing and installing new equipment in 2016, and a further $161 million is estimated to have been spent on the refrigerants that make up the refrig- erant ‘charge’ found in every piece of RAC equip- ment that uses the vapour compression refriger- ation cycle.
It is also a significant increase compared to spending in 2012 which was $26.2 billion.
The comprehensive report, which is produced by the Expert Group, has been formally released by the Department of Environment and Energy.
Using data largely from primary sources on the supply of goods and services in the industry in 2016, Cold Hard Facts 3 (CHF3) has been able to make comparisons with two previous studies published in 2007 (CHF1) and in 2013 (CHF2).
Every aspect of HVACR has shown strong growth between 2012 and 2016 with the report confirming that in 2016 the industry employed around 300,000 people in more than 20,000
Report tackles poor IAQ, mould-related illness
THE PARLIAMENTARY STANDING Commit- tee on Health, Aged Care and Sport inquiry into biotoxin-related illnesses has released its final re- port which recommends tougher standards and changes to the National Construction Code.
It also supports guidelines for medical prac- titioners to raise awareness about sick building syndrome and other manifestations of biotox- in-caused illness including
Chronic Inflammatory Response Syn- drome (CIRS) .
Other problems identified include fungal fragments, mycotoxins, mVOCS (microbial vol- atile organic compounds), volatile organic com-
pounds from building materials, bacteria and bacterial toxins, viruses and parasites.
Federal Member for Robertson, Lucy Wicks, said the inquiry was an opportunity to exam- ine the linkes between CIRS and mould in buildings and to improve building standards around moisture control.
“From this report we have seen an important outcome for people struggling with mould-re- lated illness or living in water-damaged build- ings,” Wicks said.
"With the adoption of some of these recom- mendations, we could see a more a widespread knowledge of Biotoxin-related illness, stand-
ards of practice around mould in building codes and better health outcomes, both in di- agnosis and treatment for people with CIRS- like symptoms.”
Currently, the Australian Building Codes Board (ABCB) has a non-mandatory guide
for condensation in build- ings, but it is not part of
the National Construction Code (NCC). ✺
Federal Member for Robertson, Lucy Wicks.
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