Page 6 - Climate Control News Magazine April 2021

News
Report identifies leaks, emissions
RAC equipment consumes more than 24 per cent of all electricity generated in the economy.
THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT HAS RELEASED A COMPREHENSIVE REPORT ON LEAKS, MAINTENANCE AND EMISSIONS FOR REFRIGERATION AND AIR CONDITIONING EQUIPMENT.
THE DEPARTMENT OF Agriculture, Water and the Environment released the report to highlight opportunities to reduce electricity consumption and leaks of refrigerant from large stocks of RAC equipment.
Authored by the Expert Group, many of the problems raised in the report could be reduced through regular maintenance procedures.
It examines faults in the installation, opera- tion and maintenance of stationary refrigeration and air conditioning equipment.
In most modern economies RAC equipment is one of the largest, if not the single largest con- sumer of electricity. This fact, coupled with the high GWP of most refrigerants in use today, makes this report an important contribution to reducing the impacts of climate change.
The report provides information on good in- stallation/commissioning practices, equipment monitoring and metering for fault detection, as well as airflow sensors to initiate early alarm, and/or field diagnosis, and/or repair procedures
Refrigerant loss from RAC equipment in Aus- tralia was responsible for 1.2 per cent of national emissions in 2019, according to the report.
“In that same year RAC equipment was esti-
mated to consume more than 24 per cent of all electricity generated in the economy, resulting in a combined total of direct and indirect emis- sions of 61.28 million tonnes carbon dioxide equivalent (Mt CO2e) or approximately 11.5 per cent of national emissions,” the report said.
“The maintenance activities that deliver both improvements in energy efficiency and reductions in loss of refrigerant charge re- quire skilled technicians with the appropri- ate licensing, knowledge and understanding that is common and accepted practice in the RAC community.”
The report is available on the Department’s website at: www.environment.gov.au/protec- tion/ozone/publications/leaks-mainte- nance-emissions-refrigeration-air-condi- tioning-equipment
Wake up call to strengthen supply chain
SAI GLOBAL HAS forecast a significant in- crease in Australian made components and machinery as a result of the federal govern- ment’s $1.5 billion Modern Manufacturing Strategy.
Grants have been made available to manu- facturers to strengthen their local supply chain, handle mass production, upskill employees, scale up and improve competitiveness.
SAI Global quality management expert, Saeid Nikdel, said restrictions introduced around the world as a result of the pandemic have seriously disrupted supply chains and led to delays.
He said the slowing of production lines has had a flow-on effect for Australians wanting to access goods.
“The problem has highlighted our manufac-
turing sector’s deepest vulnerability: its de- pendence on overseas markets for the supply of machinery, tools, parts and product compo- nents,” Nikdel said. “Most of the machinery that we bring into Australia comes from the US and Europe, while product components and parts mostly come from China.”
In the last 12 months, Nikdel said local man- ufacturers, assemblers and distributors have faced delays almost twice as long as those expe- rienced in 2019.
“These delays have impacted their ability to produce local goods. Numerous manufacturers have also struggled to scale up operations to meet this increase in demand,” he said.
“It has been a wake-up call for our manufac- turers, who now realise they must strengthen their supply chains.”
Time for Australia to get serious about manufacturing its own components and parts.
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