Interview with Nicholas Cox, Managing Director, Earthcare Products

Nicholas Cox, the Founder and Managing Director of Earthcare Products, has a long career in the environmentally friendly refrigeration and air conditioning field, having presented many papers on the subject. A fellow of the Institute of Sales and Marketing Management, he was awarded a graduateship of the City and Guilds of London Institute for his work on how industry could better utilise natural refrigerants and energy efficiency. He has advised both the UK government and the EU commission on environmental aspects of refrigeration and air conditioning, and he has carried out reviews and submitted written responses to proposed and pending policy documents and legislation regarding refrigerant issues.

1- How has Earthcare Products evolved since its establishment? How has it been achieving its goals?

Earthcare started as a subsidiary of Interlevin with only one product but the aim was always to lead the industry as a whole towards a more sustainable future and the new refrigerant patents demonstrate that goal is now being achieved.

2- What is Earthcare’s position in the UK and global ACR markets?

Earthcare remains a small niche player but our influence now extends well beyond the UK, with successful projects completed in Korea, China, Panama and the Ukraine.

3- What are the company’s current activities and projects?

Commercialising the new refrigerants is our main task, but our equipment supply side is also doing well, especially with our larger screw compressor chillers providing up to 1265KW of cooling using R290 hydrocarbon refrigerant.

4- Can you describe one of the company’s projects where its solutions are being successfully applied?

Britain’s largest hydrocarbon refrigerant chiller has been installed at the historic Church House building in Westminster close to the Houses of Parliament. The installation, carried out by AMEC, involved closing two roads close to Westminster Abbey on a Saturday morning, diverting two bus routes and organising 12 vehicles to get the crane into position for siting the chiller. Minimum environmental impact has been achieved by the “dream-ticket” combination of natural refrigerants and optimal energy efficiency.  The EHS range uses the HC refrigerant R290, which is an ideal replacement for R22 with the lowest global warming potential. Indirect global warming is reduced by maximising energy efficiency through the use of subcooling and floating head pressure as low as 20°C.  This is particularly beneficial for chillers that operate year round or at night when ambient temperatures are lower. The combined effect of these energy efficiency measures will result in a potential energy saving in excess of 50% relative to chillers that operate year round without these energy saving features.

Earthcare believes that there will be increased demand for this type of solution because until now specifiers and users of screw compressor chillers have been restricted to choosing between expensive ammonia chillers or HFC chillers.  With both government departments and large corporations increasingly looking for cost effective alternatives to HFCs, this project is a practical demonstration that natural refrigerants can offer cost effective and practical solutions across the whole range of building services applications.

5- What initiatives are being promoted to celebrate Earthcare’s anniversary?

We are planning a series of seminars so that we can explain our philosophy, services and products in more detail.

6- What new solutions can we expect from the company in the future?

Earthcare is developing 7 patents covering more efficient Equipment Components and Hardware

7- How do you analyse the evolution of the ACR market worldwide? What is and will be Earthcare’s contribution to its further development?

 Global implementation of the Montreal and Kyoto Protocols will change the ACR market forever, by demonstrating that better solutions are available without the need for ozone depleting or high global warming refrigerants, Earthcare provides a working model for a sustainable ACR market.