Policy Updates

<p>On 13 November 2018, IEA issued its World Energy Outlook. The agency is worried about geopolitical factors influencing the energy markets. The outlook publication was preceded in October by two other publications. The one on energy efficiency notes that the efforts to improve efficiency are slowing down. The other addressed cooling and predicts an increase with 10 air conditioners being sold every second until 2050. Improving energy and environmental efficiency for this product will be a significant challenge. </p>

<p>Your feedback matters to us. The Eurovent Team is constantly working on the further development of the Eurovent online portal. The latest, recently launched feature allows members to properly prepare for their meetings by downloading all meeting documents at one click as a ZIP file – instead of one by one.</p>

<p>On a monthly basis, the Eurovent Team compiles a global overview of the latest developments concerning new standardisation activities and technical regulations of relevance for the HVACR industry. Our Notifications allow members to be prepared for developments that can have an impact on them and their products.</p>

<p>The European Commission is developing its ‘Circular Economy’ policy. In the first instance, it addresses consumer goods, but it is planned to be extended to other goods. The revision of the Methodology for Ecodesign of Energy-related Products (MEErP) will start in 2019 and will be modified to contain elements of the ‘Circular Economy’, including reparability. </p>

<p>During the 5th meeting of the Standardisation Market Relevance Roundtable (SMARRT) it was indicated that the standardisation mandate M 129 from 1999 may need to be redrafted to be in line with the Construction Products Regulation 305/2011. Because there are harmonised standards under the Ecodesign Regulations, the need for a standardisation request for the same products under the Construction Products could be questioned. </p>

<p>The F-Gas Regulation encourages the adoption of alternatives to high GWP refrigerants. The European Commission has funded the project REAL Alternatives learning programme, which provides information in 15 languages on the safe use of alternatives such as ammonia, hydrocarbon, carbon dioxide and low flammables. REAL Alternatives is a mix of e-learning, face-to-face training materials, practical exercises, assessments and an e-library of learning resources that groups the knowledge and expertise from across Europe about alternative refrigerants. </p>

<p>In the last week of October, the Japan Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Industry Association (JRAIA) hosted the 2018 Annual meeting of the International Council of Air-Conditioning, Refrigeration, and Heating Manufacturers Associations (ICARHMA) – of which Eurovent is a founding member. This years’ meeting proved to be very interesting with an outlook of possible future and disruptive issues. </p>

<p>The draft of this regulation has just been published for the European “4-week feedback mechanism” and the global 60-day period for comments.</p>

<p>Together with the EPBD Committee composed of Member State experts, the European Commission is working on developing guidelines for Member States to transpose the EPBD, with the objective of finalising them by the end of the year. The EPBD must be transposed by the Member States. </p>

<p>In cooperation with Orgalime, the Eurovent Team regularly provides you with an in-depth overview on all European legislative developments of relevance for the HVACR sector. The Bulletin provides for a hands-on compendium allowing the industry to assess the status quo and expected future developments. In addition to recent sector specific issues, our Team has summarised some of the key takeaways within this article. </p>

<p>The final version of the Ecodesign Regulation on servers and data storage products which was voted at the 2018-09-17 Regulatory Committee meeting of the ‘Committee on Ecodesign and Energy Labelling of Energy–related Products’. It will be published in the Official Journal soon. </p>

<p>The European Commission is speeding up the development of EPREL. By the end of November, most, if not all functionalities should become available. Manufacturers are recommended to test the database system. </p>