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NEWS FEATURE
ANSWR: ONE MACHINE TO REPLACE THEM ALL
Supplied by HC Group news
A new chapter in industrial automation has begun in South Africa – and with it, the emergence of one of the country’ s first truly integrated CO2- based HVAC systems.
© RACA Journal
While CO₂ has rapidly become the dominant natural refrigerant in modern refrigeration applications, its adoption in HVAC has lagged globally, with few systems progressing beyond R & D. HC Group has been working at the forefront of this gap, developing a ground-breaking mechanical engineering project centred on a next-generation CO₂ HVAC concept.
Now, the company is taking the next step in that journey with the launch of ANSWR – an advanced AI-driven commissioning and optimisation platform that has already built an impressive track record across multiple successful deployments in the US. Designed to streamline complex HVAC / R commissioning, improve energy performance and reduce lifecycle costs, ANSWR brings real-time diagnostics, system learning and automated decision-making that is set to transform how South African facilities approach performance management. Its local rollout marks a significant leap forward for engineering teams seeking precision, accountability and operational efficiency in critical cooling and heating environments.
In a world where commercial and industrial buildings run a patchwork of boilers, chillers, heat pumps, geyser heaters and refrigeration units – each with its own energy draw, maintenance needs and footprint – the HVAC landscape has been fragmented,
Enter ANSWR, a bold rethinking of what an HVAC system can and should do.
RACA Journal I February 2026 inefficient and costly. That is now changing. Enter ANSWR, a bold rethinking of what an HVAC system can and should do. Developed by HC Group, ANSWR is a multi-functional HVAC‘ ecosystem’, powered by CO₂ as a natural refrigerant, capable of simultaneously delivering heating, cooling and refrigeration – all from a single compact unit. It replaces the multitude of different units that buildings often rely on, dramatically simplifying both installation and operations.
WHY CO₂ – AND WHY NOW CO₂( R744) stands apart from the older synthetics, typically HFCbased refrigerants, in several key ways:
• It has a Global Warming Potential( GWP) of just 1, compared to HFCs whose GWP can be thousands of times higher
• It is non-toxic and non-flammable – a significant safety advantage over many synthetic and‘ natural’ alternatives( like propane or ammonia) which may be flammable or toxic
• Given the global trend toward phasing out high-GWP refrigerants CO₂ systems offer a‘ future-proof’ alternative
The real power of ANSWR isn’ t just that it’ s‘ greener’ – it’ s that it delivers on performance. The system supports up to 85 ° C hot water and can deliver cooling down to-26 ° C glycol, making it broadly applicable for hot-water supply, space heating, cooling, refrigeration and more – all from a single unit.
What makes ANSWR stand out even more is its Coefficient of Performance( COP): it has been tested to COPs as high as 10, depending on conditions, with typical operating values between 5 – 8.5 and normal running often around 7.8 – 8.5.
Moreover, unlike conventional systems where separate heating and cooling units may interfere with each other, ANSWR’ s integrated design allows independent load management. Heating can continue even if cooling switches off, or vice versa.
This dynamic balancing – shifting energy where it’ s needed most – optimises performance across a wide range of ambient conditions, which is especially valuable in climates with large swings.
www. refrigerationandaircon. co. za
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