Refrigerant Conference to Cover TechnicalDevelopments, New Applications

A joint conference focused on refrigerants and hosted by ASHRAE and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has been announced for October 2012.

The ASHRAE/NIST 2012 Refrigerants Conference: “Moving toward Sustainability” takes place Oct. 29 - 30, 2012, at NIST in Gaithersburg, Md. “This conference addresses international concerns about the impact of refrigerants on climate change, which inevitably lead to increased focus on refrigerants with a low global warming potential (GWP) applied in high-efficiency systems,” Piotr Domanski, conference co- chair, said. “This includes new generations of unsaturated fluorochemicals and expanded use of ‘natural’ refrigerants.”

This is the fourth jointly sponsored refrigerants conference sponsored by ASHRAE and NIST. Past conferences provided information and updates on the phase-out of chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) and hydrochlorofluorocarbon (HCFC) refrigerants, which were implicated in destruction of the stratospheric ozone layer. The conference provides the latest information on alternative refrigerants, likely time schedules, transition requirements, environmental effects of refrigerants, new refrigerant performance considerations and what will be required to phase-out the use of high-GWP refrigerants with other refrigerant alternatives and technologies. All those involved in the different aspects of refrigerants and refrigeration technology – policymakers, manufacturers, researchers and government officials – will receive an opportunity to learn about the latest developments and directions going forward.

The conference features invited papers from leading global experts who will cover a broad range of topics, including: Status of current environmental, scientific and regulatory activities Potential applications of “natural” refrigerants Technical developments on new low GWP fluorochemical refrigerants Equipment applications using low GWP alternatives The opportunities for reducing refrigerant emissions Panel discussions by industry experts at the end of each day. The focus of the conference is on technical issues and the longer term opportunities for success from a global perspective.

Experts of every facet of the issues to be covered in the conference are going to be available during the two days of the sessions for an information exchange with an evening dinner on Monday for more informal discussions. Registration is slated to open in June 2012. The cost is $450 ($400, ASHRAE members). For more information, visit ashrae.org/refrigerants2012.