Australia’s HVACR industry continues to enjoy double digit growth, according to the newly-released Cold Hard Facts 4 (CHF4) report.
The stock of vapour compression driven equipment that provides refrigeration, cooling, heating, comfort and utility services grew by around 15 per cent in the six years from 2016 to 2022 (the latest data this report is based on), reached a total of more than 62 million pieces of equipment.
In 2022, Australia's gross domestic product (GDP) reached $A2.33 trillion.
The total expenditure of the RAC industry on new equipment installation, maintenance, wages, and energy consumed in that year was equal to more than two per cent of the nation's GDP, supported by a workforce that represents 2.6 per cent of total employment in Australia.
This stock of equipment is estimated to have consumed 24 per cent of all the electricity produced in the country in 2022. This makes vapour compression systems one of the largest users of electricity in Australia.
The total bank of refrigerant gas employed across the stock of equipment reached an estimated 55,000 metric tonnes in 2022, an increase of about 1.6 per cent on the previous year.
This represents relatively slow growth in total metric tonnes compared to previous periods. The make-up of this bank has begun to shift more decisively from high global warming potential (GWP) hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), and it appears that ‘peak bank’, in terms of the carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) value of this bank of working gases was reached in 2021.
In other words, while the total metric tonnes of refrigerant in the bank has increased, the overall CO2e value of the bank has started to slowly decline from slightly more than 100 million tonnes (Mt) CO2e in 2021, to slightly less than 100 Mt CO2e in 2022.
The average GWP of the regulated bank of HFCs has declined by six per cent from 2016. The average GWP of the total bank, when including hydrofluoro‑olefins (HFOs) and natural refrigerants, has declined by eight per cent (average GWP in 2016: 1,837; in 2022: 1,681).
The uptake of natural refrigerants has been constant, with steady growth in the use of HCs, carbon dioxide (R744) and ammonia (R717) in the most suitable applications for those gases. Increased uptake of natural refrigerants continues to assist in capping the growth of high GWP refrigerants.
Commissioned by the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, the CHF reports are prepared by the Expert Group. This is the eighth report in the CHF series.