16 July 2015, 09:49
Thermo King, a manufacturer of transport temperature control solutions for a variety of mobile applications and a brand ofIngersoll Rand, announced today that it will begin to offer North American customers new options for trailer and self-powered products with lower global warming potential (GWP), pending approval by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the Significant New Alternatives Policy (SNAP) program.
These new trailer and self-powered truck products are safe, energy efficient and reliable, and use a next generation refrigerant that reduces GWP by around half compared to refrigerants that are currently being used today for these applications. Thermo King, in close partnership with refrigerant manufacturer, Chemours, selected Opteon™ XP44 (R-452A) for this alternative offering of transport refrigeration products. Thermo King will continue to offer its transport customers its current line of transport refrigeration products, and ensure that optimum levels of service are offered throughout the products’ lifecycle until customers are ready to transition.
“Our intent has always been to offer operators a choice of how and when to lower their GHG footprint without compromising the product performance they expect from Thermo King,” said Ray Pittard, president of Thermo King. “We made this new line of trailer and self-powered truck units available to customers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa earlier this year and have sold more than 500 units in the first three months of the product’s release. We are delighted to offer North American customers the same choices.”
These Thermo King trailer and self-powered truck units are part of the Ingersoll Rand EcoWise™ portfolio of products that are designed to lower environmental impact with next generation, low GWP refrigerants and high efficiency operation.
“Since its inception by Thermo King in 1938, the transport refrigeration industry has been using class A1 refrigerants that are safe, non-flammable and have the lowest toxicity,” Pittard said. “R-452A, when used in our products, is the safest, most environmentally responsible, and technically and commercially viable solution for R-404A applications ranging from transport refrigeration to mobile air-conditioning. Plus, it has around half the GWP of refrigerants currently used today.”
Ingersoll Rand Climate Commitment
On September 22, 2014 Ingersoll Rand made an environmental commitment to its employees, customers and shareholders – a roadmap to significantly increase energy efficiency and reduce our climate impact from our operations and product portfolio by 2030 (with milestones at 2020).
The commitment includes reducing GHG emissions related to its operations by approximately 35 percent by 2020; reducing GHG emissions related to its products by 50 percent by 2020; and investing $500 million in product-related research and development over the next five years to fund the long-term reduction of GHG emissions. It is estimated that this commitment will result in the avoidance of approximately 20,850,000 metric tons of CO2e globally by 2020, which is equivalent to the energy used by nearly 2 million homes in one year.
Source: Ingersoll Rand