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Nominations open for trade scholarships
Nominations have opened for the 2019 Industry Educational Trade Scholarship. Now in its fourth year, the scholarship provides students studying commercial refrigeration and air conditioning through TAFE with the opportunity to train at one of the industry’s premier educational institutions – the Refrigeration and Climate Control Centre of Excellence (RCCC) in Melbourne. The program was […]
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Training package ready to review
The Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) that has been working on the Electrotechnology Training Package Review project has prepared draft materials and is now looking for industry feedback. As reported previously, the project is an extension of the UEE11 Electrotechnology Training Package Transition Project. The transition and review of the training package is […]
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Victoria pledges $2 million to refrigeration training
The Victorian Department of Industry and Training has granted nearly $2,000,000 toward improving skills and education opportunities in the refrigeration industry. GOTAFE, Bendigo Kangan Institute and industry representatives CA Group Services applied for funding to complete a number of projects. And on March 15, the Hon. Gayle Tierney, Minister for Training and Skills, and Higher […]
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Heatcraft rebrands as Kirby
As part of an Australia-wide rebrand, Heatcraft has announced a new trading name and logo. The Heatcraft business will now be known as Kirby. The rebrand is an evolution of the acquisition of Heatcraft Australia by Beijer Ref in April 2018. “The new logo, Kirby – A Beijer Ref Company, unifies the business with the […]
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Brennan scores top honours at Global Skills Challenge
Queensland refrigeration apprentice Patrick Brennan has taken the gold medal at the WorldSkills Global Skills Challenge held in Melbourne last weekend. The competition covered not just refrigeration, but more than 20 other skill categories, from bricklaying to baking. It brought together 500 competitors and officials from 15 different countries and was hosted in several Victorian […]
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IEC rejects rise in flammable charge limit
The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) committee responsible for IEC Standard 60335-2-89 has narrowly voted down a draft international standard that would have raised the allowable charge of flammable refrigerants in certain appliances. The vote comes after a five-year effort to raise the charge limit of flammable refrigerants such as propane and isobutane in some commercial […]
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Daikin releases Madoka controller
Daikin has released its latest wired remote controller, Madoka. “Designed with a focus on enhancing the user experience, the Madoka controller can be installed in any modern interior space including offices, hotel rooms, retail stores, healthcare environments and residential homes,” says Daikin. “In residential applications, it makes scheduling simple and enables homeowners to activate extra […]
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GCP releases detailed technical application information
The Global Cooling Prize (GCP), a worldwide competition to spur the development of radically more energy-efficient cooling technology, has released its Detailed Technical Application. “We’re very excited to announce that we’ve released the Detailed Technical Application,” say staffers from the Global Cooling Prize. “In this stage of the Prize, applicants must submit comprehensive information about […]
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Getting natural with Michael Kauffeld
In a recent trip to Australia for AIRAH’s Refrigeration 2019 conference, Prof. Dr. Michael Kauffeld of Germany’s Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences shared his expertise on natural refrigerants. In his keynote presentation, Kauffeld detailed the HFC phase-down and what’s coming next for refrigeration, particularly with regards to natural refrigerants such as CO2, ammonia and hydrocarbons. Following his […]
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Industry responds to 2019–20 Budget
Although the 2019–20 Federal Budget has made no direct mention of HVAC&R, the Australian Institute of Refrigeration, Air Conditioning and Heating (AIRAH) has called out some positives in the government’s recent announcement. This includes the focus on infrastructure; encouragement of women in engineering; funding to modernise the vocational education and training (VET) sector; and expansion of […]
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Introducing stand-alone ventilation systems
The European Commission has released an online consultation on the possible introduction of the inspection of stand-alone ventilation systems in Europe. Stand-alone ventilation systems are defined as ventilation systems whose sole function is to ventilate a building. Inspections can be considered a way to improve the performance of ventilation systems. Article 19a of the EPBD […]
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Authorities find ‘ice’ in imported fridges
Refrigeration made the headlines for unusual reasons recently when more than half a tonne of the drug ice was found in a shipment of imported fridges. Australian Border Force officers at the Sydney Container Examination Facility examined the container shipped from Singapore. It was declared to contain electronic ovens but was found to have 11 […]
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Illegal HFC trade ‘flourishing’ in Europe
A new report from the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) has revealed the startling extent of Europe’s illegal HFC activity. The report, Doors Wide Open, is the result of surveys conducted in late 2018 with EU member states and key industry stakeholders. “Reports from industry indicate that large-scale illegal HFC trade and use is occurring in […]
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Energy consumption and emissions hit record levels
Global energy consumption and CO2 emissions rose to record levels in 2018, according to a new report from the International Energy Agency (IEA). And one of the major contributors to the increase was HVAC&R. According to the IEA, energy consumption worldwide grew by 2.3 per cent in 2018, nearly twice the average rate of growth […]
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Research to Reality Expos
The Cooperative Research Centre for Low Carbon Living (CRCLCL) is holding a series of events across Australia in May and June to celebrate the research it has done with six universities. The tertiary institutions and the CRCLCL have been working together to develop next-generation, low carbon materials and technologies to help develop sustainable cities. “It’s […]
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Eurothermal announces new chiller series
Eurothermal has announced the Blue Box Omicron range, a new high-efficiency four-pipe modular multi-functional chiller. With a cooling and heating capacity from 100 to 900kW, the Omicron range has been designed to provide cooling and heating simultaneously, with claimed efficiency at full-load COP greater than 3.1, and a combined cool and hot total efficiency ratio […]
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National Clean Technologies Conference and Exhibition
The National Clean Technologies Conference and Exhibition is being held on the Sunshine Coast from May 29–31. The conference will focus on all clean technology (cleantech) growth areas including energy, waste, water, built environment and transport. There will be a particular focus on commercialisation, creating effective business clusters, the potential of the circular economy, innovation case […]
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The future of AC and heating?
A research team at Germany’s Saarland University has developed a prototype device that can transfer heat using “muscles” made from nickel-titanium. Nickel-titanium is a shape-memory material that releases heat to its surroundings when it is mechanically loaded in its superelastic state. It absorbs heat from its surroundings when it is unloaded. The team, led by […]
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K-CEP establishes Million Cool Roofs Challenge
The Kigali Cooling Efficiency program (K-CEP) has announced the Million Cool Roofs Challenge. A US$2 million global competition, the initiative is designed to rapidly scale up the deployment of highly solar-reflective “cool” roofs in developing countries. The Challenge will award US$100,000 grants to up to 10 teams this year to deploy solar reflective coating and/or […]
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Schneider Electric’s new data centre solution
Schneider Electric has announced a new generation of shoebox-sized variable speed drives (VSDs) and computer room air conditioning (CRAC) units that offer energy savings for collocation data centres – also known as “colos”. According to the company, the VSDs can deliver energy savings of up to 30 per cent by managing the operating speed of […]