ASHRAE UNEP Invite Lower GWP Innovation Award Entries | World Refrigeration Day to Recognize Cold Chain | ASHRAE, UN Environment Programme Announce Lower GWP Award Selections | Now Free to ASHRAE Members: Refrigerant Training | ASHRAE Members Share How They Built Systems, Their Careers | Lessons Learned from Piloting of Refrigerant Driving License | Installing, operating and servicing A/C systems in the times of COVID-19 Webinar
ASHRAE UNEP Invite Lower GWP Innovation Award Entries
Media Contact:
Sherri Simmons
404-446-1660
ssimmons@duffey.com
ATLANTA/PARIS (May 14, 2020) – Entries are now being accepted for the 2020 ASHRAE and OzonAction of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Lower GWP Innovation Awards. The award promotes innovative design, research and practice by recognizing people who have developed or implemented innovative technological concepts applied in developing countries to minimize global warming potential (GWP) through refrigeration and air-conditioning applications. The award, offered for the second year, is part of ASHRAE-UNEP OzonAction joint workplan for 2019-2020 under the global cooperation agreement established by both parties in 2007.
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World Refrigeration Day to Recognize Cold Chain
Coolest Day of the Year – 26 June
The “coolest” day of year is on 26 June. ?That is when individuals, governments, organizations and companies worldwide celebrate World Refrigeration Day.
World Refrigeration Day raises awareness and understanding of the significant role that the refrigeration, air-conditioning and heat-pump industry and its technology play in modern life. The science, engineering, and application of cooling touches our lives in many ways, making hot climates habitable, allowing for storage and delivery of fresh food, giving us productive work and learning spaces, enabling the manufacture of products and the operation of data centers in thermally controlled environments, and preserving medicines and other essentials for healthy living. June 26th is the birthdate of Lord Kelvin, after whom the absolute temperature scale is named.
“World Refrigeration Day is an opportunity to celebrate the wide range of temperature applications from cryogenics and superconductors through to sustainable heating, thermal energy storage and heat recovery,” said Steve Gill, Head of WRD Secretariat.?
“The inaugural World Refrigeration Day in June 2019 was a monumental success,” Gill said.? “More than 800 physical events in at least 153 countries were held last year along with numerous online activities.”
The theme chosen for World Refrigeration Day in 2020 celebrates the importance of the food cold chain in sustaining life. The cold chain links producers and growers across the world to the domestic refrigerator in our kitchens, and it is essential for so much more than food. Vaccines must remain chilled until they are used by medical professionals around the world, and the cold chain is essential for blood transfusions and organ donor transport and storage.
The organisers of the ColdChain4Life campaign are the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), ASHRAE, European Partnership for Energy and Environment (EPEE), International Institute of Refrigeration (IIR), and the WRD Secretariat.
“World Refrigeration Day is a great opportunity for all of us to celebrate the tremendous contribution that refrigeration and air conditioning makes to our societies. This includes enabling our agricultural and food systems to harvest, store, transport and sell the foods that nourish us all. The cold chain is what makes this possible," said James Curlin, Acting Head of UNEP OzonAction. "We encourage everyone to organize their own national or local World Refrigeration Day celebrations on 26 June to shine light on great work of the refrigeration and air conditioning sector, which is so vital for the success of the Montreal Protocol.”
Darryl K. Boyce, P.Eng. ASHRAE President, said, “We are proud to partner with other global organizations to support World Refrigeration Day in this its second year as we celebrate refrigeration’s vital role to the modern world.”
“Our sector is essential for our health, for our productivity, for our wellbeing. And it does not stop there.? Cooling can play a major role to support the decarbonisation of our economy by ensuring energy savings and supporting the shift to renewable energies, for example, with solutions such as heat recovery, thermal storage and demand response,” said Andrea Voigt, EPEE Director General.
Our food supply relies on a seamless ‘cold chain’ of refrigerated warehouses and vehicles that stretch from the farm or sea to the supermarket display cabinet. “Reducing food losses is one of the most important challenges concerning food security in the future as well as reducing global warming,” said Didier Coulomb, Director General of IIR. “Building good cold chains worldwide is the best answer.” According to the IIR, around 475 million tonnes of lost food could be saved every year which could feed 950 million people a year. Cold chains are also vital for the safe supply of vaccines and medicines as well as for healthcare applications. ?
Among activities planned by the organizers are a free webinar on 26 June presenting an opportunity to reach out to the public, government, and end users describing the value of the cold chain. The aim of the webinar along with development of ColdChain4Life promotional materials is to motivate adoption of best practices that minimize food waste and loss in the supply chain process, stimulate wise technology selections, and enhance operations for minimizing leakage of refrigerants and maximizing energy efficiency.
All professionals in the cooling sector and users of refrigeration technology are invited to support World Refrigeration Day and promote the ColdChain4Life campaign. To date, more than 300 companies and professional, scientific, and trade associations are supporters, and the number is growing.? To be involved or share ideas for initiatives visit www.worldrefrigerationday.org.??
Connect with the cold chain campaign at #COLDCHAIN4LIFE and with World Refrigeration Day at #WREFD20.
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ASHRAE, UN Environment Programme Announce Lower GWP Award Selections
Media Contact:
Sherri Simmons
404-446-1660
ssimmons@duffey.com
ATLANTA (Nov. 6, 2019) – ASHRAE and UN Environment Programme (UNEP) have announced the project selections for the 2019 ASHRAE-UNEP OzonAction Lower-GWP Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Innovation Awards. The annual international award program promotes innovative design, research and practice by recognizing people who have developed or implemented innovative technological concepts applied in developing countries to promote lower global warming potential (GWP) refrigerants through refrigeration and air-conditioning applications.
“The projects selected represent long-term, global and energy efficient solutions to lessen the impact of ozone depleting substances,” said ASHRAE Presidential Member and co-chair of the judging committee Sheila J. Hayter, P.E. “We congratulate the selected project teams and look forward to witnessing their innovative concepts set a benchmark for sustainability in developing countries.”
The projects in each category were selected based on delivering innovative solutions to meet refrigeration and air-conditioning needs by using lower-GWP technologies. The selection criteria included:
- Extent of need;
- Innovative aspects in transforming conventional practices;
- Technical replicability to developing countries; and
- Economy feasibility to developing countries.
“We are living at a watershed moment under the Montreal Protocol when developing countries must find long-term solutions to replace HCFC refrigerants while simultaneously minimizing climate impacts,” said James S. Curlin, Acting Head/Network and Policy Manager OzonAction and co-chair of the judging committee. “It is vital to empower the research community to identify new approaches and alternative refrigerants that work for those countries. UNEP OzonAction is proud to join with ASHRAE to recognize these winners who are proposing approaches that address the ozone, climate and energy dimensions.”
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Now Free to ASHRAE Members: Refrigerant Training
?From HVAC&R Industry News, September 12, 2019
ASHRAE and United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) have a dedicated web portal where jointly developed resources are available. Included are the Internet-delivered training courses “Refrigerant Literacy” and “Sound Management of Refrigerants” and a full semester university-level course on refrigerant technology. The courses are available for free access to ASHRAE members as a benefit of the ASHRAE-UNEP partnership and to enable ASHRAE members to assist in promoting the transition to lower GWP refrigerants. To assist the Air Conditioning and Refrigeration (RAC) industry in developing countries, ASHRAE also makes the training freely available to UNEP’s OzonAction network of policy officers and UNEP clients, including government officials.
ASHRAE and UNEP collaborate under a Cooperation Agreement first signed in 2007. The agreement enables UNEP to access industry experts in all fields relating to refrigerant development and application, air conditioning and refrigeration. The second benefit of the collaboration is that the products produced inspire confidence and global acceptance because of their reliance on ASHRAE standards, research and other ASHRAE resources. Thirdly, ASHRAE’s presence through members, chapters and associate societies covering more than 130 nations, provides a multi-national platform, especially in developing countries, for development of locally relevant technical guidance.
The ASHRAE-UNEP Portal is a joint activity included in the organizations’ 2019/2020 Work Plan, the latest in a series of biennial plans agreed to by an ASHRAE and UNEP leadership team. The 2019/2020 plan is themed “Refrigerant Management for Developing Countries.” The Cooperative Agreement and current Work Plan are also in the portal.
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Women in ASHRAE
ASHRAE Members Share How They Built Systems, Their Careers
August 2019
The featured ASHRAE members are Roshini Rebecca Easow, Ph.D., Member ASHRAE; Fotouh Al-Ragom, Member ASHRAE; Angela Barreto, Associate Member ASHRAE; Ilana Koegelenberg, Associate Member ASHRAE; Katherine Hammack, Fellow ASHRAE; Sheila Hayter, P.E., Presidential Member/Fellow ASHRAE; Julia Keen, Ph.D., P.E., BEAP, HBDP, Fellow ASHRAE; and Sarah Maston, P.E., BCXP, Member ASHRAE.
Eight ASHRAE members shared their successes, challenges and lessons learned in a UN Environment publication, "Women in the Refrigeration and Air-conditioning Industry: Personal Experiences and Achievements." From being the first female president of a Region-at-Large ASHRAE chapter to starting her own firm, the members discuss how they demonstrated their potential and have created results in a male-dominated technical field. The publication highlights 107 female refrigeration and air-conditioning professionals from 50 countries.
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Lessons Learned from Piloting of Refrigerant Driving License
June 2019
Panelists present perspectives on the first phase pilot for the Refrigerant Driving License
held in six countries.
AHRI and United Nations Environment have announced the completion of the first phase of a pilot in six countries for the industry’s Refrigerant Driving License (RDL) technician qualification program.? “Important lessons are being learned that allow us to meet the needs for a global roll out after more pilots are completed,” said Jim Walters, AHRI’s vice president of international affairs.? “Some confirmed what we expected, but we also became aware of areas where further exploration is required in order to meet the RDL’s global objectives.”
The RDL is an international program led by AHRI and United Nations Environment-OzonAction with the support of key HVAC&R industry associations, including ASHRAE, ABRAVA, the Alliance for Responsible Atmospheric Policy, EPEE, AREA, JRAIA, ACAIRE and Refrigerant Australia.
An industry-led qualification program, the RDL offers a benchmarking tool for safe and sound handling of refrigerants by technicians, taking into account the dynamics associated with the industry passing through a period of global policies and commitments especially in relation to the Montreal Protocol. The RDL program is supported by the Multi-Lateral Fund of the Montreal Protocol through UNEP-OzonAction.
In the margins of the 31st Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol held in Rome, AHRI announced that Grenada, the Maldives, Rwanda, Sri Lanka, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago were pioneers in piloting the RDL program.? National OzonAction Units from the pilot countries provided feedback. They highlighted the necessity of training AC technicians especially because of the move, under the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, to alternative refrigerants that can be flammable or toxic.
The RDL is targeted for experienced technicians to become qualified to properly handle these alternative refrigerants during a three-day program.? The first two days are dedicated to training (both theoretical and practical), while the third day is the theoretical exam and the practical assessment.?
The RDL program’s aim is to help prepare A5 countries for a smooth transition to the new refrigerants, increasing the safety of practitioners and consumers, promoting cost effective services across the HVAC&R supply chain network, and reducing ozone depleting substances (ODS), as well as greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
AHRI, UNEP and the supporting groups are using the lessons learned from the first pilots to evaluate processes that will result in an acceptable qualification program that can be used by different institutions, such as government, industry, or institutes, to develop minimum requirements for the proper and safe management of refrigerants in equipment. “The pilot program enables us to engage the industry before the RDL is launched,” said Walters.? “That will create momentum, improve the technical documentation, and establish the final RDL operating scheme.”’
Among the lessons learned was recognizing that while English may be one of a country’s official languages, technicians in the field may speak a variety of languages, which complicates the decision of which language the exam should be in.? Others were to continue to explore the possibility of policy drivers and incentives for technicians to seek out the RDL qualification in their specific countries, mixtures of SI and Imperial units, how to ensure technicians remember RDL training once alternative refrigerants are available, and how the administrating organization will be funded.
A second round of pilot trainings are planned for early 2020.
For more information contact:
Ayman Eltalouny, OzonAction, UN Environnent Programme
ayman.eltalouny@un.org
UNEP Client Access: ashraeunep@ashrae.org
ASHRAE Member Access: eLearning@ashrae.org