TOKYO — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded its 2004 Climate Protection Award DENSO Corp., Toyota Motor Corp. and Toyota Industries Corp., which together comprise the Electrical Inverter Air Conditioning Team. The team developed an electrical inverter air conditioning system that provides cooling for the new 2003 Toyota Prius during “idle” stop when the engine shuts down to save fuel and emissions. The team was one of 12 organizations and individuals to receive the award.
“The electrical inverter air conditioning system achieves a 40 percent size reduction and a 53 percent mass reduction over traditional electrical compressors, and a 25 percent reduction in refrigerant leakage over traditional belt-driven compressors,” said Satoshi Watanabe, managing director of DENSO. “This system is an essential technology for the market expansion of hybrid and fuel cell vehicles.”
This is the third time that DENSO has been honored by the EPA. In 2002, DENSO formed part of the Water Heater Design Team (along with Tokyo Electric Power Co. and Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry located in Tokyo) that was recognized for developing and marketing the world’s first mass-produced CO2 refrigerant, heat-pump water heater for households. In 1993, DENSO (formerly Nippondenso Co. Ltd.) earned the honor for developing methods to convert air conditioning systems to HFC-134a, a more environmentally friendly coolant, which replaced the ozone-depleting refrigerant CFC-12.
Since 1998, 93 individuals, companies and organizations from 16 countries have earned EPA’s Climate Protection Award recognizing outstanding accomplishments in protecting the Earth’s climate. This year’s 12 award recipients are reducing greenhouse gas emissions by formulating policies at international, national, state and local levels; by reducing corporate energy consumption; and by inventing technologies that protect the climate. They were selected by an international panel of climate experts and award winners from previous years. The winners are from Belgium, Canada, China, Japan, Mexico and the U.S.
For more information about DENSO, visit: www.densocorp-na.com .
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