August 2013

The Japan Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Industry AssociationVol. 13-03

1. Ordinary Annual General Meeting held
On June 3, JRAIA held its ordinary annual general meeting at Hotel Laforet Tokyo. In the meeting,the business report and financial statements for fiscal year 2012 as well as the business and budget
plans for fiscal year 2013 were approved.
Mr. Okada, JRAIA Chairman, delivered his opening speech, of which excerpt is as follows:Thankstocontinuously

risingawarenessofenergy-saving from 2 years ago, the replacement ofexisting air conditioners with the latest models featuringhigh energy efficiency was accelerated. As a result, theshipments of RAC and PAC in 2012 exceeded the levelsof the previous year, marking the growth for 3 years in arow. In addition, the shipments of GHP increased
considerably in the context of concern over electricity
supply. The gross shipments of our industry in 2012
exceeded ¥2 trillion, up 5.6% over the previous year.
The key issues that JRAIA has to tackle in 2013 are ‘Global Environmental Issues, especially thestudy of further optimized use of HFCs and the development of the next generation refrigerants, ’‘Equipment Safety in Use,’ and ‘International Activities.’
The bill for the Act for Rationalized Use and Proper Management of Fluorocarbons is likely to bepassed soon. This bill clearly specifies the responsibilities for HFCs producers, equipment
manufacturers and users, and aims at establishing mechanism for regular checks and proper
management to reduce refrigerant leakage from equipment in use, preventing repeated charge ofrefrigerants and encouraging the conversion to low GWP refrigerants. In accordance with this law,
JRAIA focuses on the promotion to reduce refrigerant leakage from equipment in use and to recoverrefrigerant when disposing of waste equipment, and strives to develop the equipment using low GWP
or natural refrigerants.
For the next generation refrigerants which are classified into A2L and of which GWP are relatively1low, risk assessment of their safety is being conducted in cooperation between the industry andacademia. Through the risk assessment, the possibility for the next generation refrigerants and theiralternative technologies is actively being pursued. Referring to the test data and simulation of theassessment, we’ll establish a guideline for safety use of the A2L refrigerants and drive forward theconversion to low GWP or natural refrigerants as far as possible so that the global warming impact
caused by HFCs can be greatly reduced.
JRAIAwilldevelopindustry

guidelinesinaccordance with the revisedElectricalApplianceandMaterial Safety Law, andmake the information on
how to use the equipment
safely known to the public.
Recently, we’ve heard that certain traders recommend to replace the refrigerant contained in air
conditioners with HC-based flammable refrigerant which is not specified by the equipmentmanufacturer, under the catch-phrase of environmentally friendly refrigerants, and also that they
make alterations to the refrigeration circuit under the catch-phrase of energy-saving. As it may
cause serious damage not only to the performance but also to the safety, we are continuously giving
customers a strong warning and information about the right way to use the equipment.
This year will have a lot of international discussions to impact on our industry, such as revision of
F-Gas Regulation in EU, OEWG in MOP for regulations on production and consumption of HFC
refrigerants, and CCAC (Climate and Clean Air Coalition to Reduce Short Lived Climate Pollutants).
Especially, the F-Gas Regulation, if it is revised as proposed, may enormously affect our business. We,
through our office in Europa, continuously gather and analyze the information and take proper
action.
We also intend to make a right decision on refrigerant choice in international collaboration with ourcounterparts abroad, since an inappropriate choice would significantly affect our business
In January next year, JRAIA will hold the HVAC&R Japan Expo. We are planning to increase
exhibitors from overseas in collaboration with European exhibition Chillventa.
At the same time, I hope that more JRAIA members will exhibit their world-class energy-saving andenvironmental technologies than the previous time and obtain results from the HVAC&R Japan.

22. First JRAIA Seminar of 2013
The first JRAIA seminar of 2013 was held on 17th July 2013 at Kikai Shinko Kaikan Building inTokyo, which consisted of four presentations : 1.Japan’s policy on fluorocarbons, 2. JRAIA activities
for HFC alternatives and global refrigeration and air-conditioning market, 3. Current situation of
the environmental regulations in EU, 4. Revision of Japanese Industrial Standards(JIS) for air
conditioning equipment. The seminar attracted nearly 120 participants.
The JRAIA seminar aims to cultivate a shared understanding of the trend issues among member
companies. JRAIA schedules to hold this kind of events twice a year hereafter; in the coming
November a facility tour is planned to see the latest energy-conservation equipment.

3. OEWG Side Event
JRAIA held a side event at the 33rd OEWG
(Open-Ended Working Group of the Parties to theMontreal Protocol) on 25 June 2013 in Bangkok todemonstrate the progress of A2L refrigerant
commercialization in Japan. The title of the event
wasLookForward:PracticalUseofA2L

Refrigerants for Air Conditioning Sector. The
refrigerant policy of JRAIA against Climate
Change was introduced first. The risk assessment
results of mini-split air conditioners with R-32 werereported next which was studied by the project
team consisting of Japanese academia and industry. Then, lubricant, leak detectors, refrigerant
recovery units and such for A2L refrigerants, mainly designed for R-32, were introduced todemonstrate the availability of components and service tools for A2L refrigerants. Finally, progressof mini-split air conditioner commercialization with
R-32 refrigerant was introduced by a JRAIA membercompany, including information about the productdesignchanges

aswellasproduction

linemodifications. Around 100 people, especially fromdeveloping countries where phase-out of R-22 andemployment of lower GWP substances are required,attended the event to get the latest information onA2L refrigerant development.

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4. RAC and PAC Domestic Shipments

2013

RAC

PAC

units

Y on Y basis %units

Y on Y basis %Jan

414,508

99.751,238

101.0

Feb

479,136

93.6

58,343

100.6

Mar

747,228110.1

71,76497.3

Apr

387,42580.2

49,16889.7

May848,91

96.0

66,137100.1

Jun1,601,047

112.7

82,28297.0

RAC: Residential Air-conditioners PAC: Commercial Air-conditioners

Office: Kikai Shinko Bldg. 201. 3-5-8, Shibakoen, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-0011, Japan
URL: http://www.jraia.or.jp Contact: tajima@jraia.or.jp:kao224@jraia.or.jp

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