TOKYO, Japan - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded a 2006 Climate Protection Award to Denso Corp. for developing a new technology - Ejector Cycle® - that reduces energy use and greenhouse gas emissions of vehicle air conditioning, refrigeration units, and residential heat pumps.

"Denso's revolutionary new Ejector Cycle technology for refrigeration and air conditioning protects the climate by reducing the impacts of both refrigerant greenhouse gas emissions and energy use," said EPA officials when presenting the award.

"When this technology is installed in a refrigeration unit and combined with other complementary breakthroughs in components and controls, it can demonstrate efficiency improvements of 50 percent or more," said Hikaru Sugi, managing officer and head of Denso's Thermal Systems Business Group. "This leads to a 70 percent reduction in refrigerant emissions and a 60 percent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions."