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A company called GreenCore Air has released an air conditioner than can be powered by a single 170 watt solar panel. The GreenCore air conditioning unit can heat and cool a 600 square foot room. It runs on DC power, so there is no need to put an AC inverter between the solar panel and the air conditioner. This eliminates the power losses associated with converting AC to DC

A company called GreenCore Air has released an air conditioner than can be powered by a single 170 watt solar panel. The GreenCore air conditioning unit can heat and cool a 600 square foot room. It runs on DC power, so there is no need to put an AC inverter between the solar panel and the air conditioner. This eliminates the power losses associated with converting AC to DC. When the sun is not out the unit runs on the battery bank which is integrated within the unit. There two version of the air conditioner: a fixed one, and a mobile one that is mounted on wheels. GreenCore units are being tested by a McDonald's restaurant and the U.S. Navy.

Johnson Controls, a global leader in building efficiency, announced the new LX Series of air conditioners and heat pumps by York, its leading air conditioning, heating, refrigeration, and ventilating company. They feature a MicroChannel coil with enhanced heat transfer characteristics, enabling them to achieve the desired performance levels with less coil surface area than competitive condensers and up to 50 percent less refrigerant. The units are available with environmentally friendly R-410A refrigerant as well as R-22. 14.5 SEER LX Series air conditioners use a compressor blanket and swept-wing fan blade for quieter operation. 15+ SEER can be achieved when the air conditioner is matched with a variable-speed air handler or gas furnace. A fully louvered steel coil guard, corner posts and a polymer mesh protect the condensing coils from damage. The unit's heavy-duty cabinet is made of powder-painted steel that resists corrosion and rust creep.\n\n\n\n\nIn addition, the MicroChannel coil offers better galvanic corrosion resistance than conventional coils. In testing, the coil withstood 7,000 hours of salt spray with a higher success rate than conventional coils at just 1,000 hours, making the units particularly desirable for seacoast applications, reveals the company's press release.\n\n

Chinese copper tube demand is robust in Q3, primarily due to 'unexpectedly good' sales on air-conditioners and many distributors are running out of stock, according to local manufacturers. There are two main reasons for the high demand. Firstly the weather is hotter than usual this year with temperatures rising to 38 degree Celsius in many parts of China. Secondly, the demand for air-conditioners is being boosted by the government's home appliance subsidy scheme as well as local retailers' discounts on air-conditioner sales. This is going to have a positive effect on copper consumption as copper tube used in air-conditioners is mainly refined copper.

Monday, 28 July 2008 \nGuangdong Chigo Air Conditioner, a large-sized modern enterprise integrating the development, production and sales of household and commercial air conditioners, recently announced its agent in Egypt successfully won the contract for the Huawei correspondence station in Egypt after seven hardworking months.\n\n Huawei is said to have already achieved 12.56 billion dollars sales revenue, becoming one of the top five global telecommunications equipment producer, now with primacy globally, especially in Africa. Contracts for the correspondence station of Huawei in Egypt were mainly in the hands of Carrier for a long time, which means other brands could not compete with it and usually did not pass the test phase. Because the equipment for each station was valued at over 300 thousand yuan, the AC units could not run for a long time without a reliable capability guarantee. Right now the first set of Chigo splits is already installed in the station.\n\nThe vice president of Chigo Overseas Marketing Department , Mr. Peter Liao, said :"The success of this project means a lot for us. The intergrated ability of Chigo is already at new stage, being the supplier of a globally famous communication company. The cooperation with Huawei is meaningful for Chigo's development in the North African and African markets." For the success of the Huawei project, Huawei's subsidiaries in Libya and Sudan have also started to cooperate with Chigo, reveals the company's press release. \n\n\n

Japan's domestic shipments of residential air conditioners rose 12 percent in March from a year earlier to 678,736 units, the Japan Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Industry Association said.

Some Chinese air conditioner manufacturers, including GREE, Hisense and Haier have recently increased their selling prices by RMB100 - RMB200 nationwide in response to rising costs, mainly attributed to higher copper prices. Chinese air conditioners are now, on average, RMB463 more expensive than last year, representing a price increase of 16.3%. It was reported that sales over the past year increased and production rose by 41.8% y-o-y in H1 2011. Demand is expected to weaken as autumn approaches but prices may climb further depending on copper price movements and the degree to which manufacturers' margins are squeezed by the recent removal of the energy-efficient air conditioner subsidy.

Imports of copper tube to Japan fell by 36% m-o-m in September to reach 1,271t according to Japan's Ministry of Finance. September's import total was up by 44% y-o-y but still represents the lowest level seen since February 2011. The situation is attributed to recent copper tube supply being very tight due to record air conditioner sales between February 2010 and September 2011 that peaked in August 2011. Since then, there has been a significant easing in copper tube availability as air conditioner manufacturers have opted to drawdown stocks, effectively reducing tube demand. The market is expected to tighten again in 2012 if Hitachi Cable executes its plans to exit from domestic copper tube production.

The China Electronic Appliances Service and Maintenance Association reported that sales of air conditioners increased by 60.7% y-o-y to 40M units in H1 2011. Copper constitutes over 26% of the manufacturing cost of air conditioners.

A nationwide trend is getting to be a big problem in the Triangle: thieves making off with air conditioning units.

Japanese output of copper and copper alloy fabricated products increased by 5.4% to 73,680 tonnes in November, slightly down from 74,079 tonnes in October, according to the Japan Copper and Brass Association. This figure includes sheets and tubes, mainly used in automobiles and construction. Demand for copper products was supported by both local consumption and overseas shipments. This year's hot weather has boosted demand from the air-conditioner sector, where manufacturers have been building up inventories after robust sales in the summer.

It was reported that Gree Electric Appliances, a state owned manufacturer of air-conditioners, recorded a 65%y-o-y increase in exports in Q3. Indonesia, Brazil, India and Africa were quoted as regions with great potential for exports. The company anticipates that the air-conditioning industry will witness a 20-30% y-o-y increase in exports in 2011. Nevertheless, Gree noted that the eurozone crisis is impacting negatively on business.

A recent survey by the Shanghai Metals Market of 20 major Chinese copper tube producers, with a total capacity of 1.2Mt/y, showed that operating rates in December increased to 73.41%, up 2.29 percentage points from November. The survey cited increased production in China's air conditioner sector as a reason for the uptick in utilisation rates at tube producers. The release highlighted a separate survey of air conditioner manufacturers, which showed a pattern of inventory restocking, with finished inventories increasing for four straight months. The SMM survey also revealed that producer's inventories of raw materials for the production of copper tube had fallen to 12.78% of production in December, down 2.92 percentage points from November. The reason given was tighter credit conditions at the end of 2012.

The Ministry of Finance announced that a subsidy package worth RMB14.0B (US$2.22B) will be introduced to encourage sales of energy-saving desktop computers and air conditioners. The subsidy program will last one year and it is hoped that it will result in the market share of energy-saving products rising to 40% of the total.

So the CO2 in your soda is, in fact, stored industrial carbon. So when we hear about refrigerators and air conditioners becoming far more efficient by using CO2 as a coolant, we don't have to worry about the CO2. All we have to worry about is how to get this new refrigerant adopted as quickly as possible.

State lawmakers had victims like Moore in mind when they passed legislation that requires scrap-metal dealers to keep track of people they buy copper from. The law went into effect this week.

China is planning to promote energy efficient appliances such as air conditioners in a bid to save 75 TW hours of power a year, according to report from Reuters.

The Chinese government said that it would expand an existing subsidy program to encourage the purchase of new vehicles and home appliances, thereby boosting domestic spending. China will now allocate 5B yuan ($733M) for owners of light trucks and passenger vans who upgrade to new models. It also plans to spend 2B yuan ($293M) to fund discounts of new purchases of home appliances when customers turn in old goods, which will possibly give support to domestic copper demand. The plan will apply to almost all household appliances, including air-conditioners, television sets, refrigerators, washing machines and computers. Exports of these have been weak and the plan will help local producers to de-stock more quickly.

Antaike reported that sales income from the 'traded in' home appliances policy reached 150B yuan by the end of 2nd March 2011. In addition, volume of new and old appliances amounted to 40M and 41M sets respectively. Appliances included in the policy are TV sets, refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners and computers. The scheme has triggered a considerable consumption volume of copper semis, such as copper commercial tube used in the manufacturing of refrigerators and air conditioners.