Mitsubishi Electric is future-proofed
The European Union's commitment to fluorinated gases (f-gases) is concrete. In fact, thanks to a new regulation being published in the European Official Journal, emissions from f-gases, now widely used in various devices such as air conditioning units, heat pumps, and refrigeration systems, will be reduced to zero (by 2050).
The revision of the F-Gas Regulation, in addition to progressively restricting the overall use of synthetic refrigerants, also introduces bans on the production or importation into the territory of the European Union of products containing these gases and the relevant ban dates.
We have already witnessed such a change even in the 1990s, then just to replace ozone-depleting substances such as CFCs and HCFCs HFCs were gradually used in appliances such as refrigerators, air conditioners, heat pumps, fire protection, foams or electrical switching equipment.
Today the focus is on reducing greenhouse gases and therefore the focus is on high and medium GWP refrigerants.
The first bans will come into effect in 2027 for residential hydronic heat pumps and in 2029 for split air conditioners, introducing a requirement to use refrigerant with GWP<150 and from 2035 to use only natural refrigerant.
With great anticipation of the timeline set by the European regulations, Mitsubishi Electric, at MCE, previewed a series of future-ready solutions.
In the residential sector, the choice has fallen on the natural refrigerant R290 (propane refrigerant), a hydrocarbon with virtually zero GWP that does not impact and is not harmful to the environment, provides good thermodynamic performance, is non-toxic, is easily available, does not have to be disposed of like current HFCs, and is ready for 2035.
At MCE 2024, Mitsubishi Electric previewed the flagship MSZ-RZ air conditioner with R290 refrigerant. It contains all the best of the Japanese giant's technology in terms of energy efficiency, air purification, quietness, thermal performance (guaranteed operation down to -30°C) and all the necessary devices for safe operation and installation.
On the subject of air-to-water heat pumps, Ecodan R290, a complete range of "hydrosplit" heat pumps in which the refrigerant part is confined to the outside and all the hydraulic components of the system are located inside. Thanks to the high water temperature range of up to 75°C, Ecodan R290 is also an ideal solution when retrofitting systems powered by combustion systems.
Not only that, at MCE Mitsubishi Electric also presented ECOV solutions for commercial refrigeration: motoncondensing units for refrigerated counters, freezers for restaurant kitchens, small grocery stores, and oil stations that use the natural refrigerant CO2, with virtually zero GWP (Global Warming Potential). These units provide a step toward an increasingly environmentally friendly future while saving energy through heat recovery, which allows surplus heat to be used to preheat domestic hot water or other heating sources.
Powered by Mitsubishi Electric's inverter technology, ECOV solutions are characterized by very low noise, making them easy to place outdoors.
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