The 5th annual ATMOsphere America 2016 was held in Chicago, with the attendance of over 340 experts from more than 140 companies and organisations.
Brussels, 23rd June, 2016: The 5th annual ATMOsphere America 2016 was held on June 16-17 at the Westin Michigan Avenue in Chicago. The conference saw over 340 experts from over 140 companies and organisations gathered to discuss the latest policy, market and technology trends affecting the natural refrigerant sector in North America.
“This year’s conference is unique in many ways, with its record-breaking number of end users and participants, and representations by many different industries including retailers, food processing, cold stores and warehouses, ice-skating rinks and data centres. shecco is once more proud to have hosted the leading and the most successful conference on natural refrigerants in North America, with the best networking, knowledge gathering and sharing opportunities,” said shecco CEO Marc Chasserot.
Participant numbers were at an all-time high with U.S. retailers were particularly strongly represented at this year’s conference, which aimed to shed light on the latest trends in commercial and industrial refrigeration over 90 presentations. Besides focusing on recent innovations in the field of natural refrigerant technology, the two-day event set the stage for unparalleled networking and explored untapped business opportunities and future perspectives for the HVAC&R industry.
Natural refrigerants are on the rise in the United States as regulatory developments and environmentally conscious end users drive their wider uptake. Commercial refrigeration was at the heart of the discussion but a wide variety of other sectors were also covered, including hydrocarbons for America, light commercial refrigeration and industrial refrigeration.
Accelerate America Awards showcase leading players in natural refrigerants
“The concept of the Accelerate America awards is to call attention to companies and people who have done the most to bring down barriers and move natural refrigerant technology forward in North America,” said Michael Garry, editor of Accelerate America magazine, published by shecco.
The first-ever Accelerate America Award winners for companies and people who are accelerating the marketplace for natural refrigerants are:
Bright future for natural refrigerants foreseen at ATMOsphere America
The consensus was that the competition between CO2, hydrocarbons and ammonia is creating exciting new opportunities and driving increased uptake of natural refrigerant-based technologies in the United States. It was predicted that in future the boundaries between technologies designed for the commercial and industrial refrigeration sectors will dissipate.
Dustan Atkinson of Hillphoenix expressed confidence that the market share of CO2 transcritical in the US would continue to grow. Marc-André Lesmerises of Carnot Refrigeration sees potential for CO2 applications “everywhere”. In addition to putting CO2 transcritical systems into supermarkets in Canada, New York, New Jersey and California, “we’re installing systems in data centres, ice rinks, and for chillers in wineries,” said Lesmerises. YourCleanTechnology’s Andy Baker has even masterminded the installation of CO2 heat pumps in an Alaskan SeaLife Centre.
Meanwhileammonia is also experiencing a period of growth in the United States. Carnot has seen great success with CO2-ammonia systems for industrial refrigeration, and their latest project is a large-scale installation in a food production and distribution centre. Michael Lehtinen from Heatcraft Worldwide Refrigeration singled out low-charge ammonia and CO2 transcritical as the “big trends”, predicting that uptake of natural refrigerant technologies will only increase as more technicians are trained in how to install, operate and maintain them. Bitzer’s Joe Sanchez echoes that sentiment, reporting that the company had recorded a 60% increase in the number of ammonia compressors sold in the United States in the last two years.
New legislative developments are creating exciting new opportunities for collaboration between companies, reported SPX Cooling Technologies’ Randy Powell. “The way we do business is changing as much as the product,“ said Powell, pointing out that new regulatory requirements governing energy reduction and water usage had pushed SPX to work with different companies to develop compliant solutions.
Furthermore,propane may also be on the brink of large-scale US expansion. Marek Zgliczynski of Embraco expects the impressive efficiency of hydrocarbon systems to trigger their wider rollout, with the company predicting a 20% increase in hydrocarbon technology sales this year. However, barriers to increased uptake of hydrocarbons in the US include an excessively low charge limit and a lack of trained technicians, Zgliczynski warned.
Coca-Cola to allow hydrocarbons in smaller cooler equipment
After establishing that carbon dioxide would be its standard refrigerant for new beverage coolers, vending machines and fountain equipment, Antoine Azar, Coca-Cola Company’s global program director, announced at ATMOsphere America that the Company “will open the door” to hydrocarbon refrigerants for smaller cooler equipment.
Red Bull
Beverage giant Red Bull is blazing a trail for increased uptake of hydrocarbons across the United States. It has already introduced over 200,000 hydrocarbon coolers to the US marketplace. Now that every new Red Bull cooler uses hydrocarbons too, company representative Richard Reeves predicts that this number will double within two years. Red Bull is now communicating its success with hydrocarbons to other major beverage companies operating in the US market.
Glenn Gallagher from California Air Resources Board (CARB) presented the organisation’s proposed HFC phase-down plan under the Short-Lived Climate Pollutant (SLCP) Strategy. CARB is proposing to provide $20m as an incentive to develop low-GWP HVAC&R technology and is willing to phase down HFCs in California in the absence of any global or national phase-down plan.
Mexico and Canada
The whole North American region was represented with officials from Environment Canada and Mexico’s Ozone Protection Unit. René Desjardins from Environment Canada said Canada is in the process of devising new regulatory measures to reduce consumption of HFCs through a combination of phase-down and product-specific controls. Augustin Sanchez Guevara from Mexico’s Ozone Protection Unit presented the country’s HFC phase-down strategy, arguing that the best way to phase down HFCs is to control their production and consumption.
Beyond North America
shecco’s Klara Skacanova outlined policy trends for natural refrigerants around the world, such as the EU's F-Gas Regulation (the significance of which she expects to grow in 2017) and Japan's revised F-Gas Law. She argued that the global HFC phase-down will soon become a reality.
Sponsors
We would like to thank our sponsors without whom we could not have made this great conference happen.
Special thanks to our Platinum sponsor:
- Hillphoenix
Special thanks to our Gold sponsors:
- Bitzer
- Carnot Refrigeration
- Danfoss
- Embraco
- Emerson Climate Technologies
- Güntner
- Heatcraft Worldwide Refrigeration
- SPX
About shecco
For more than 15 years market accelerator shecco has been active in helping bring climate friendly technologies faster to market. shecco supports over 150+ partners worldwide in the HVAC&R sector, where the focus is on sustainable refrigeration, heating & cooling technologies using natural refrigerants. shecco offers a variety of services in three areas:
- Media, including online industry platforms, magazines and a catalogue of dedicated research reports
- Market Development, including market research, consultancy and public affairs services, as well as special international projects
- Events, including international conferences and national workshops
Contacts
Franziska Menten
Chief Events Officer
shecco
Andrew Williams
Editor & Senior Reporter
shecco
