Mitsubishi increases commitment to lower-carbon technology
Building on its Green Gateway Initiative launched earlier this year, Mitsubishi Electric Living Environmental System UK is no longer promoting cooling-only air-conditioning products in the UK — and is phasing out all existing models from its stock. Mitsubishi has also created a heating department to focus specifically on hot-water and space-heating products for the domestic market. The first product to be launched is a heat-pump boiler. Both moves are part of the company’s policy of supplying products that can help reduce carbon emissions from buildings. The decision to abandon cooling-only systems comes on the back of rapid advances in air-conditioning and heat-pump technology over the last few years, so that a system which can provide both cooling and heating can be the most cost-effective way of providing these services. Modern air-conditioning systems can transfer heat from parts of a building that require cooling to areas that require heating, reducing the overall energy input. Donald Daw, commercial director, explains, Air conditioning is now ideal as the primary source of heating and cooling for most commercial applications. Heat pumps are one of the lowest-carbon ways to heat a building, and we are ensuring that we encourage as many heating installations as possible. Year-long tests at the company’s UK headquarters in Hatfield have demonstrated that air conditioning to heat and cool a building is over 300% more efficient that a boiler in the basement and a chiller on the roof. Jason Tinsley, manager of the product marketing and technical section of the new heating division, is confident that its heat-pump boiler will give significant reductions in carbon emissions compared with current gas, oil or LPG boilers and that it will also offer proven benefits in performance over other low-carbon technologies such as solar panels, wind turbines, CHP and biomass boilers.
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