Renewables reach for global dominance: The Reengineer Monitor #67
Electric restaurant kitchens, heat pump savings - and more!
Heating and cooling
The march of the emerging refrigerants continues! Panasonic has just announced a new domestic air-to-water heat pump that uses R454C rather than, say, R290. R454C is viewed as an alternative to more traditional refrigerants such as R-134a, which has a high global warming potential (GWP) of more than 1,400. R454C’s GWP is much lower at roughly 148. R290’s GWP is significantly lower still, at just 3 – however, R290 is flammable whereas R454C so in some situations it may be desirable for safety reasons. If you want to know more, here’s an interesting paper from October 2025 that compares these refrigerants against some others. R290 comes out looking very good in that analysis, it must be said.
