Wearing full personal protective equipment (PPE) to demonstrate its commitment to safety, members of the Technical Committee (TC) on Refrigeration and Air Conditioning tasked to update the ecolabel criteria for refrigerators and freezers and create a new criteria for room air conditioners. They visited Franke Foodservice Systems Philippines, Inc. in Lima Technology Center, Malvar, Batangas, Philippines to observe and confirm the control measures necessary to safely produce R290 refrigeration equipment for restaurant systems on 07 August 2024.
With the global commitment to phase-down climate-damaging hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerants in the refrigeration air conditioning sector through the legally binding Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, industry is gradually shifting to natural refrigerants with low global warming potential (GWP) alternatives such as hydrocarbons, ammonia and carbon dioxide.
Franke Foodservice Systems Philippines, Inc. has introduced R290 to gradually veer away from ultra-high GWP R404a and R134a to reduce the overall climate impact of its product. Control measures observed include the retrofit of its local exhaust ventilation system for R290 charging with specialized charging equipment and design modification of its products. Administrative control measures in terms of management commitment, competence, training and awareness of staff and visitors are also evident in the facility.
The visit was participated by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, its climate and ozone units; the Department of Energy, enforcing energy efficiency in both regulation, enforcement and testing; the Department of Trade and Industry for product safety and consumer protection; industry experts from RAC manufacturing, testing and the academe. The tour was part of the activities related to the ecolabeling of cooling appliances by Greenchoice Philippines supported by Cool Contribution fighting Climate Change II (C4II) implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH on behalf of the International Climate Initiative (IKI).