Hideyo Asano

Mr. Asano joined Mayekawa in 1971 to begin the design of the screw compressor package in the company’s Moriya factory. He worked as a researcher on screw-type compressors and reciprocating technology in the R&D department before developing a variable screw compressor. Since 1989, Mr. Asano has been developing an ammonia (NH₃) direct expansion chiller package, to expand the activity of natural refrigerants within Japan. In 2007 Mr. Asano worked on an aid project for the Ministry of the Environment and launched a development project “NewTon” for the industrial refrigeration sector. In 2013, a dedicated production line of the NewTon was created within the Moriya factory, which Mr. Asano is responsible for.

Marc Chasserot

Marc Chasserot is a specialist in natural refrigeration with over 15 years of experience in the HVAC&R sector, starting as the Marketing Manager for the Norsk Hydro business unit specialised in CO₂ transcritical refrigeration and heating. He worked closely with several Japanese manufacturers selling the market innovative "CO₂ Ecocute heatpumps".

In 2006 Marc founded the industry leading website for CO₂ cooling and heating experts worldwide, called www.R744.com. This was followed by three additional industry resources for hydrocarbons, water and ammonia (namely: www.hydrocarbons21.com, www.R718.com and www.ammonia21.com).

Marc is co-founder and CEO of shecco, an independent market development company specialised in bringing Natural Refrigerants 'faster to market', working with numerous companies worldwide. Marc has chaired and organised several international workshops bringing together leading policy and industry experts to discuss 'how to bring natural refrigerants' faster to market, known as 'ATMOsphere'. He is also an active member of ASHRAE.

Rolf Christensen

Dr. Rolf Christensen holds a M.Sc. in Heat and Power Engineering and a PhD in Chemical Engineering from Lund Institute of Technology. He also holds an Executive Master in Technology Management from Chalmers University. His professional experience includes three years as an Engineer in the merchant marines and over five years as a Consultant for heat and power plant engineering & energy conservation. For six years, Dr. Christensen also held a position as an Associate Professor in heat and power plant engineering at the Lund Institute of Technology. 

Dr. Christensen has been with Alfa Laval since 1998 and has worked in various specialist and management positions, such as Manager for the heat & mass transfer department, testing laboratory, new concept development and concept portfolio management. He has also held a position as a Business Development Manager for refrigeration and Product Portfolio Manager for industrial refrigeration. He has been driving the development of plate heat exchangers for transcritical CO₂ as well as plate heat exchangers for ammonia heat pumps and evaporation.

Peizhong Cong

Peizhong (Peter) Cong joined SWEP Japan in 2010 as an application engineer working closely with sales representatives. He supported brazed plate heat exchanger applications in the air conditioning field. Today, he is working as Technology Engineer Asia, supporting several companies' R&D as well as institution-level new developments and studies involving brazed plate heat exchangers. He is also responsible for following technology development in the Asia market.

Ian Crookston

Ian Crookston is responsible for national utility (electricity, heating fuels and water) lifecycle (procurement, consumption and conservation) spend optimization. Sobeys (www.sobeys.com) is one of Canada's two national retail grocery and food distribution companies with annual revenues of more than $23.9 billion (CAD). Sobeys is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Empire Company Limited and owns or franchises more than 1,500 stores in all 10 provinces under retail banners that include Sobeys, Safeway, IGA, Foodland, FreshCo, Price Chopper, Thrifty Foods and Lawtons Drugs as well as more than 370 retail fuel locations. Ian is a Professional Engineer with a Masters of Applied Science from the University of Waterloo. He is also a Certified Energy Manager and a member of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE).

Michael Englebright

Mr. Englebright holds Refrigeration and HVAC accreditations from RMIT (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology) in Melbourne Australia. He has over 15 years of experience in Natural Refrigerant Technologies in both subcritical and transcritical applications from around the globe with different retailers and OEMs. Mr. Englebright served as Global Applications Engineering Manager in his previous employment at Danfoss. In this position he was responsible for managing specialized CO₂ projects, the development of CO₂ refrigerated products and services, and formulating and implementing training procedures for safe and efficient CO₂ system installations. Mr. Englebright used to serve as CAREL's Global Key Accounts Manager for Retail, promoting natural refrigerants and energy solutions to end users and OEM’s. He is also very active in lobbying for the use of natural refrigerants at leading international seminars. Currently he serves as the Head of Engineering at Woolworths.

Takeshi Furutani

Mr. Furutani joined UNIDO as Head of the Investment and Technology Promotion Office in Tokyo, in June 2012. Prior to the current position, he served as Executive Director of the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) . From 2007 to 2008, he worked for the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology as Deputy Director-General of the Research & Development Bureau. From 2006 to 2007, Mr. Furutani served as Deputy Director-General of the Minister’s Secretariat for Industrial Science and Technology Policy of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

Katsuhiko Harada

Mr. Harada is the president of Nihon Netsugen Systems; manufacturer of chillers and heat pump systems partnering with GEA Refrigeration Technology in Germany. Mr. Harada takes leadership in introducing European CO₂ supermarket cooling systems to Japan. In addition, Nihon Netsugen Systems manufactures natural refrigerant products like ammonia and propane chiller systems.
Mr. Harada holds Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Keio University, and Master of Arts in Economics from New York University. Prior to his current carrier, he worked as a journalist for the political division of NHK – Public TV Japan.

Hernan Hidalgo

Mr. Hidalgo holds a Mechanical Engineering Degree from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia and and a Master of Business Administration from University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK. His professional experience started in system design and installation of NH₃ systems since 1991. In the last 10 years, Mr. Hidalgo has held a position as Sales Manager for industrial refrigeration valves and controls in North America.

Currently, Mr. Hidalgo serves as the Danfoss Global Business Development Manager for NH₃ and CO₂ solutions in Industrial Refrigeration and actively promotes the use of key solutions while seeking new technology developments with key global partners.

Mr. Hidalgo is co-author of the presentation by Danfoss at ATMO Asia 2014; however, will not be present at the event.

Kiyoshi Hishitani

Since 2012, Kiyoshi Hishitani has been the Director of the Cold Chain Business Division at Panasonic Corp. He joined Matsushita Reiki (currently Panasonic) in 1980. In 2000 Hishitani became the General Manager of the Vending Machine Development Department, and in 2008 was announced as Director of its relative business unit. 

Bill Ho

Mr. Bill Ho is the Sales Director at AHT Cooling Systems Asia Limited located in Hong Kong. He studied at California State University of Dominguez Hill under the major of Industrial Management. He worked as Procurement Manager at Buffum's department store for 6 years and started a trading company in S.E.A. for 6 years.

Bill joined AHT as sales director in 2008.

Pega Hrnjak

Professor Hrnjak is Co-Director of the Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Center (ACRC) at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, an NSF founded university–industry cooperative research center. Pega is also a founder and President of R&D company CTS, which bridges ACRC activities (precompetitive research in function of education) and industry. He is an active member or fellow of ASME, ASHRAE, IIR, SAE and IIAR, and an editor or member of the boards of several professional scientific journals. He is a recipient of Gustav Lorentzen, J&E Hall and Rittinger medals among other awards.

Junya (Joe) Ichikawa

Mr. Ichikawa’s background is in automotive AC business as COO of Sanden USA & Europe as well as in the vending machine business as CEO of SandenVendo Europe. Having those experiences, he is responsible for CO₂ refrigerant related business at Sanden since April 2013. ES Business Division was established by him to be at the core of the company's growth. Now he is leading a newly established company for furthering the business growth of products using CO₂ refrigerant.

Oliver Javerschek

Oliver Javerschek joined BITZER in 2001 and now holds the position of a Project Manager. He is in charge of various projects in the field of CO₂ applications. He wrote his diploma thesis at Sintef Energy Research in Trondheim. Since 2008 he has published several papers at various conferences and for different journals.

Shinji Kakuno

Mr. Kakuno is currently in charge of research and development programs to promote Clean Coal and the Three R (Reduce, Reuse and Recycle) technologies, and to address global warming issue at NEDO. Before moving to NEDO, he worked for three years as the Director for Natural Resources and Energy Research for the Japanese government at the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy.

Mr. Kakuno holds a degree in Engineering from Meijo University. In 1983 he joined the Ministry of International Trade and Industry and worked abroad in the U.K. and Switzerland. His carrier as a government official mostly entailed policy making and implementation of national and international standardization and conformity activities, including the intergovernmental mutual recognition agreement and Technical Barriers to Trade issues at the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Kuniaki (Nick) Kawamura

Kuniaki Kawamura has a degree in Applied Physics from Waseda University, Japan. He has been working for Mayekawa Mfg. Co., Ltd since 1973 for the development of screw compressors, screw expanders and heat pumps. In 2002, Kawamura became the Executive Director of the Japanese company.

Kawamura is the Vice President of  the Japanese Society of Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (JSRAE) and he is the President of Commission D1, IIR. His main areas of interest include the development of NH₃ refrigeration systems with misible oil, as well as the development of CO₂ heat pumps and air cycle for low temperature applications. 

Naruhide Kimura

Mr. Kimura has been working for Denso since 1997. As the Manager of the Climate, Cooling and Heating Engineering Division 2, he is mostly responsible for the development of new products. Over the last 2 years, Mr. Kimura has been involved in the development of heat pumps, focused on product cost improvement. His role has also encompassed many years of  R&D related to mobile air-conditioning, compressors for water heaters, as well of high-efficiency compressors, one of which was commercialised in 2010.

Fujio Komatsu

Mr. Komatsu is the Chief Engineer within Mayekawa Manufacturing's Energy Department, responsible for the business technical assistance of CO₂ heat pumps and adsorption chillers. Mr. Komatsu joined Mayekawa in 1988 and was assigned to its Institute of Technology. He was engaged in the developement of low-temperature heat-storage and adsorption chillers. In 1994 Mr. Komatsu became a permanent representative for the Energy Department, engaged the technical sales of adsorption chillers. Over the last 10 years, Mr. Komatsu has been stationed to the product manufacturing division, mainly to oversee the commercialization of CO₂ heat pumps, as well as the standardization of the design of the adsorption chiller. 

Mr. Komatsu holds a Doctorate degree in Engineering from Okayama University, which he completed in 2005.

Motoyuki Kumakura

Mr. Kumakura joined the Environment Agency in 1994. He was in charge of climate change policy, air pollution policy, nature conservation, nuclear safety. Mr. Kumakura later became the Director of the Office of Fluorocarbons Control Policy in Climate Change Policy Division. He currently holds this position in the Global Environment Bureau within the Ministry of the Environment, Government of Japan.

Alexandra Maratou

Environmental and energy issues are the drive and focus in what Alexandra Maratou does. After studying Environmental and Resource Economics at University College London, Alexandra was a research assistant at the Electricity Policy Research Group at the University of Cambridge, UK. Following that, she worked as an intern at Cabinet Dimas, Commissioner for the Environment at the European Commission before joining shecco, where she acts today as the Deputy Public Affairs Manager. 

Nina Masson

Nina has been working with shecco for 11 years in various roles, including Deputy Managing Director shecco SPRL and Chief Market Development Officer shecco group. Today, as Chief Strategy Advisor for Special Projects, she is responsible for EU and UN projects for natural refrigerants and sustainable HVAC&R solutions. She holds two Masters’ degrees in Business Management and in Environmental Management. Nina has been the lead author on various publications. She serves as an independent expert for UN and EU agencies on policy analysis, capacity building, renewable energies and energy efficiency.

Kenji Matsuda

Mr. Matsuda is the General Manager of the Engineering Department within the Japan Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Industry Association (JRAIA). He graduated from the Nagoya University and jointed Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Co. Ltd in 1981. Mr. Matsuda has served as chief of three laboratories within MHI to help develop main components, which were compressors, heat-exchangers and fans for refrigeration and air conditioning systems. As Deputy General Manager of the Nagoya Research & Development Center of MHI, Mr. Matsuda contributed to making high efficiency systems until 2011.

Katsuyoshi Nihei

Sadao Nishimura

Mr. Nishimura is the Managing Executive Officer at YAMATO Co. as well as a professional Engineer authorized by the Japanese Government. Mr. Nishimura has pursued mainly the development of thermal storage systems since the 1990’s and received a number of patents. He developed the UEI (Ultra Eco-Ice) system, which was one of the patents, that makes -6 ℃ ice throughout the night and during the daytime reduces TEWI and performs other functions. The UEI system won the technical award from JSRAE (Japan Society of Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers) in 2007.

Mr. Nishimura is a Member of ASHRAE, JSRAE and SHASE.

Kazuyuki Ochiai

As the Managing Director of Nihon Itomic Co., Ltd., Mr. Ochiai is responsible for the planning & development, manufacturing, sales, and after-sales service of the heat pump related products of the Itomic group. Mr. Ochiai was also appointed the Vice President of Itomic Kankyo System Co., Ltd. as of April, 2010 and named President of Itomic Kankyo Systems as of April 1^st 2013.

Masafumi Oki

Mr. Oki is the Director of the Fluoride Gases Management Office within the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), Japan.

Yoshinari Okuyama

Mr. Okuyama hold the position of Director for the Sales Marketing Equipment & Process Research division within the Coca-Cola Tokyo Research & Development Co. Ltd. In this role, he is responsible for the development of Cold Drink Equipment such as vending machines, coolers, and dispensers for Japan. In addition, Mr. Okuyama oversees leading Beverage Manufacturing Process Development, including the Process Research Lab.

Kiyoshi Saito

Mr. Saito is a professor at in the Deptartment of Applied Mechanics and Aerospace Engineering, School of Fundamental Science and Engineering, at Waseda University. Mr. Saito is also the Director of the Institute for High Technology Production Systems in Tokyo as well as the Managing Director of the Japan Society of Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers. Mr. Saito presently serves as a committee member for many academic societies and governmental boards.

Mr. Saito's major research field is in System Dynamics and Control for refrigeration and air-conditioning systems such as heat pumps, desiccant systems and absorption chillers that use natural refrigerants. He especially has a great deal of experience in simulation technologies.

Youichi Sato

Mr. Sato is a Mechanical Engineer in industrial refrigeration. He joined Danfoss in 1976 as a Sales Engineer for Danfoss Japan. Today, Mr. Sato works for Saginomiya as Manager of the DSJ Business Development Office and operates as the main contact person for Danfoss products.

Gaku Shimada

In 1996, Gaku Shimada graduated from WASEDA University (with a Major in Applied Physics) and entered SANYO Electric Co.Ltd as a Mechanical Engineer of compressors. After receiving a Master degree in 2006 from Boston Univ., School of Management, he became the compressor sales manager as well as a strategic business planning manager of the new technology research department. Since 2017, Mr. Shimada has been the Manager of Strategic Planning of Condensing Unit Business and Overseas Sales, Cold Chain Business Division of Panasonic Corporation.

Hiroaki Suzuki

Hiroaki Suzuki joined the Corporate Citizenship Dept. within AEON Co. Ltd in 2006. Since 2008 he has taken on the role of Manager within the AEON Group. Mr. Suzuki has over 30 years experience within JUSCO (Japan United Stores Company), subsidiary companies of AEON Co. Ltd, in various managerial roles. 

Hiroshi Takigawa

Mr. Takigawa is in charge of sales for heat pumps and CO₂ water heaters within Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. He is the Manager for the Air Conditioning & Refrigeration System Solutions Division. 

Shinichiro Uto

Mr. Uto is in charge of the Store Development Division within Lawson, a Japanese leader in CO2 transcritical refrigeration systems installed in convenience stores (CVS). Mr. Uto's role encompasses the construction planning and promotion of Lawson's stores featuring the latest environmental technologies. Besides a specialty in CO2 refrigeration systems, Mr. Uto also carries out other energy saving measures in Japan and overseas.

Klaas Visser

Klaas Visser has an extensive international experience in the design, building and trouble shooting of medium to large ammonia systems with involvement in more than 800 NH3 projects during the past 45 years.

The world’s first Multi Function 2 Stage Transcritical CO2 Refrigerating System with Parallel Compression (MF2STCCO2RSPC) has now been operating seven years, performing six cooling and nine heating functions at a small food processing plant.
Commissioning of the second MR2STCC02RSPC system near Sydney has been delayed. It is the first CO2 system in the world employing an evaporative condenser/gas cooler (ECGC). 
A case study comparing ECGCs and Adiabatically Assisted Air Cooled CO2 Gas Coolers in terms of their Energy and Water Consumption and the COP Improvement of the refrigeration systems at ambient Wet Bulb Temperatures up to 28 degrees C – not exceeded in 98% of the World’s climates - achieving 31 degrees C Gas Cooler Exit Temperature.   
The design of a MF2STCC02RSPC with an ECGC for a −30°C 40,000 cubic metre cold store near Kuala Lumpur is complete and waiting for building approval.

Hajime Yabase

Since 2009, Hajime Yabase has been in Engineering Office of the Kawasaki Thermal Engineering Co. Ltd., located in Japan. He obtained a Masters of Mechanical Engineering from the University of Tokyo and before Kawasaki worked as a Senior Section Chief Researcher at Daikin Industries.

Hajime Yabase's direct experience with natural refrigerants lies in the research and development of direct-fired absorption chillers-heaters, and various kinds of absorption chillers. Hajime Yabase is the recipient of the Science Award from the Japanese Association of Refrigeration in 1993 concerning the academic research of absorption chiller.

Yukio Yamaguchi

Since 2004 Mr. Yamaguchi has been working for the CO₂ refrigeration system as a project leader in vending and showcasing. Since 2015 he has held the position of General Manager within the Sales & Marketing Department of CO₂ Refrigeration at SANDEN Environmental products Corp. He has worked for SANDEN for a total of 29 years.