Tariq Al Ghussein, CEO, Taqeef, believes that the biggest market is still the split unit, to date. This, he says, is owing to the fact that it’s cheaper and to the advantages it offers with regard to installation. “Splits used to be inefficient,” he says, “because standards didn’t require them to be efficient, but since the UAE has set particular standards, split units today, even those that are not inverter-type, are already twice more efficient than those five years ago. I think inverter splits are going to be even more efficient. Initially, the cost was prohibitive, but it is going down. I think that in the future, all split units will be inverter-based.” Al Ghussein adds that an issue to consider is the high-ambient temperatures in the region, which might require the product to undergo extra “tweaking”. That aside, he says that “in Europe, in China it’s all inverter – people don’t use fixed-speed compressors”.