The initiatives are part of Daikin’s commitment to provide safe and healthy air environments while striving to make its business activities carbon neutral by 2050.
The announcements, made to over 500 delegates, included the allocation of certified reclaimed refrigerant in selected VRV systems, the use of reclaimed refrigerant in Daikin’s market leading Commission with Confidence service, and the launch of a new Reclaim with Confidence service in partnership with A-Gas.
The first of these focused on the newly launched VRV IV+ systems and existing VRV IV S-series units, which from 2019 have certified reclaimed refrigerant allocated to them during production, meaning these units have zero impact on F-Gas quotas. The quantity of reclaimed refrigerant allocated to these units avoids more than 300,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent being generated in the production of virgin refrigerant.
The new VRV IV+ range has been designed with an entirely new compressor that delivers an average 15 percent increase in seasonal e?ciency over the previous range of Daikin VRV systems. As a result, it already exceeds the standards of the Lot 21 Ecodesign Directive, which is increasing the minimum e?ciency requirements for air conditioners over 12kW once again from 01 January 2021.
At the Partner Event in London, Daikin UK also announced that its Commission with Confidence service – which offers refrigerant supply, system charging, commissioning and optional monitoring, all for a flat rate – would also switch to using certified reclaimed refrigerant.
The event also saw the launch of a brand new ‘Reclaim with Confidence’ service, which is available solely to Daikin D1 Business Partners and D1+ Premium Partners, via A-Gas, exclusively in partnership with Daikin. To encourage uptake of this partnership to increase reclaiming of refrigerant within the industry, Daikin is offering its D1 and D1+ partners extra Business Development Fund rewards, based on the quantity of refrigerant they reclaim.
Recent trials have shown that Reclaim with Confidence makes it quick and easy to recover refrigerant according to best practice, saving almost 70 percent of time and costs on site. During a recent reclaim at a Bristol Water site, the Reclaim with Con?dence service recovered 50kg of refrigerant in three hours total time on site, compared with a typical day’s labour of a team of installers onsite.
The service can be arranged for all refrigerants and customers can be confident that refrigerant is recovered and reclaimed to AHRI700 standard for future use in the market.
Managing director for Daikin UK, Angela McGinley, said: “This is an incredibly exciting time for Daikin UK, proving our commitment to reducing the environmental impact of our industry. After launching Commission with Confidence last year, we are now able to introduce reclaimed refrigerant as part of this service, as well as launching our new Reclaim with Confidence service which will help to ensure a greater supply of reclaimed refrigerant re-enters the market. Together with the introduction of Certified Reclaimed Refrigerant Allocation in selected VRV ranges, Daikin is leading the industry firmly in the right direction of creating a circular economy.”