Between the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) multiple significant new alternatives policy (SNAP) rulings on refrigerants and the Department of Energy’s (DOE) energy reduction mandates, complying with these regulations has been a primary concern for commercial refrigeration original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).
In preparation for these regulatory changes, Emerson Climate Technologies, Inc., a company of Emerson (NYSE: EMR), has undertaken significant research, development and testing programs in order to help refrigeration OEMs achieve compliance.
“Individually, the DOE’s and the EPA’s rulings present significant challenges. Combined, they become increasingly more difficult to address,” said Kurt Knapke, vice president, engineering and electronics, Emerson Climate Technologies. “As a component manufacturer, we don’t have the luxury of waiting to see what happens next. And as a company, we strive to maintain a proactive posture by relentlessly pursuing a multitude of potential solutions. So our approach to this challenge has remained consistent throughout: to rigorously engineer and evaluate component performance against potential regulatory scenarios. As a result, we can confidently say we are prepared to address both the EPA and DOE compliance challenges.”
One of the challenges presented by the rulings that Emerson Climate Technologies has prepared for is the duplication of efforts that may be required for OEMs to be in compliance with both the EPA and DOE regulations.
“The last thing we want is to develop solutions and systems that meet DOE compliance today, and then repeat that exercise in two or three years for the EPA. This scenario would result in unnecessary costs and duplication of efforts,” said Dr. Rajan Rajendran, vice president of system innovation center and sustainability at Emerson Climate Technologies.
Meeting this objective will require the coordination of all constituents in the commercial refrigeration supply. For example, component suppliers, equipment manufacturers and test laboratories will need to have resources available to handle the increased workload of the qualification process.
“Let us not forget that this process is linear,” Rajendran added. “We first need the refrigerants to be made available and components to become widely produced. Only then can equipment manufacturers begin to test, approve and place new equipment into production. To the extent possible, our industry should pursue refrigeration technologies that achieve both DOE and EPA regulatory compliance at once. This will be no small task, but Emerson Climate Technologies is prepared to do its part to address these challenges.”
Both DOE and EPA rulings take effect in the 2017–2020 time frame. But, the effective dates of respective rulings don’t necessarily correspond. To avoid a duplication of efforts, OEMs should satisfy both requirements in one product development cycle.
Source:
Emerson Climate Technologies
