Daikin has already been taking steps to reach a sustainable Europe

Since the European Commission introduced a package of measures known as the Green Deal in December last year, there have been discussions in the Czech Republic concerning its high price or difficult implementation. However, Daikin, the world's largest air conditioner manufacturer, is uncompromising. In its Environmental Vision 2050, Daikin has set five-year goals and solutions to ensure zero CO2 emissions from its production and services. What specific steps are already underway?

Daikin is a major European manufacturer of air conditioners, heat pumps and refrigeration equipment with approximately 7,600 employees throughout Europe and 10 major production plants (in Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Turkey and United Kingdom). Thanks to more than 90 years of experience in the development and production of these technologies, Daikin is the market leader in the field of air conditioning and heat pumps.

These products have undoubtedly contributed to a higher quality of life and economic growth. However, Daikin is also aware of the negative aspects of this business, such as the growth in electricity consumption and leakage emissions when filling units with refrigerant. (Thanks to technical improvements, however, even with increasing refrigerant consumption, leaks can be kept below 0.2 %.)

Daikin already uses partially regenerated refrigerant in its commercial air conditioning units (VRV IV + series with heat recovery and VRV IV S-series). This saves more than 150,000 kg of new refrigerant every year. With the mentioned Daikin units, you will not only get quality equipment for ecological buildings certified in the field of sustainable development (BREEAM, LEED, etc.), but also reduce energy consumption due to the high energy efficiency of these devices.

At the same time, development of ecological refrigerants is underway, such as the R-32, which is already a common part of Daikin air conditioners today. Thanks to the lower global warming potential (GWP), the R-32 is not only more efficient than standard refrigerants, but also achieves higher energy efficiency with lower CO2 emissions. Daikin was the first manufacturer to develop and use this refrigerant in its products. However, with regard to environmental protection, the patent for this refrigerant was also released for other air conditioning manufacturers.

Another measure that is already used in practice is remote monitoring. The remote monitoring system provides building owners and operators with the opportunity to reduce operating costs by optimizing the system and controlling its operation. Monitoring systems in cooperation with the control software installed on individual devices enable remote settings, service interventions and information on operating states via an Internet connection.

By 2050, indoor cooling requirements will triple. Nevertheless, Daikin wants to reduce its CO2 emissions to zero by the same year. How?

1. long-term servicing of already installed units and extending their service life to the maximum,
2. recycling: 80 % of Daikin units are recyclable,
3. by reusing materials: with the help of its partners, Daikin ensures the take-back and reuse of mainly copper and aluminum, or even entire piping, drainage and cabling installations + the already mentioned use of regenerated refrigerant.