VALENCIA SPAIN, 18 June 2018 – Acquainting ozone officers and managers of refrigeration associations from Europe and Central Asia with ozone-layer and climate friendly technologies using natural refrigerants.
It is the third time, that the Regional Ozone Network for Europe and Central Asia (ECA network) organizes its annual network meeting in parallel to an international refrigeration conference. This time it takes place in parallel to the 13th Gustaf Lorentzen Conference on Natural Refrigerants which is organized by the International Institute of Refrigeration (IIR) and the Polytechnic University in Valencia, Spain.
Previously, ECA meetings with ozone officers and managers of national refrigeration associations took place in parallel to the 48th SMEITS/KGH International HVAC&R Congress and Exhibition in Belgrade, Serbia in December 2016 and the 7th Refrigeration Conference on Ammonia and Carbon Dioxide Technologies in Ohrid, Macedonia FYR in May 2017.
This allows the refrigeration experts from ECA network countries and countries with economies in transition to have first-hand access to latest technology developments, to network with international experts and exchange their experience between themselves and with the national ozone officers. National refrigeration associations have been involved in ECA meetings since 2009 and the ECA network supported the creation of the associations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Macedonia FYR.
This new approach proves to be cost-efficient and is in line with the mandate of UN Environment’s OzonAction Compliance Assistance Programme (CAP) to build the capacity of ozone officers and to strengthen national refrigeration associations to facilitate the implementation of the Montreal Protocol.
All participants of the ECA meeting were registered for the UN Environment / ASHRAE e-learning course “Refrigerants Literacy” and encouraged to either complete that course or the Real Alternatives course which is available in most EU languages and in Russian. Several participants completed at least one of the courses and others will do in the near future. The successful “students” will be featured in OzonAction’s website.
During the first 2,5 days of the meeting, the refrigeration experts will attend the IIR conference and the ozone officers only the key note speeches. The conference organizer offered special rates for the refrigeration experts from developing countries and ozone officers are invited to listen to the key note speeches free-of-charge. The last 1,5 days of the ECA meeting will be joint sessions with refrigeration experts and ozone officers to review the role of refrigeration associations in Montreal Protocol implementation and to elaborate national action plans for the association. The last day of the ECA meeting will be concluded by the visit of a modern supermarket in Castellon using carbon dioxide refrigeration with ejector technology which operates efficiently in warm climates. Several network countries have high temperatures during summer e.g. Turkmenistan is considered a country with high ambient temperature.
The participants include the ozone officers and managers of national refrigeration associations from the 11 ECA network countries (Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia FYR, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia, Türkiye and Turkmenistan) as well as countries with economies in transition (Belarus, Russia and Ukraine). In addition, representatives of the Ozone Secretariat, the implementing agencies UNDP, UN Environment and UNIDO and bilateral partners from Croatia and Romania attend the meeting.
The meeting also includes an assessment of the needs and priorities of the ECA network countries which will help to design the network activities in 2019. Beside the ECA / K-CEP workshop for ozone officers and national energy policy makers which has already been decided, options include the twinning with another regional network or a network meeting in parallel with yet another international refrigeration conference.
Contact
Mr. Halvart Koeppen, Programme Officer
UN Environment OzonAction
Email: halvart.koppen[at]un.org
Ozonaction
UN Environment Programme is an Implementing Agency of the Multilateral Fund for the Implementation of the Montreal Protocol. OzonAction is part of UN Environment Programme's Law Division and serves 147 developing countries through the Compliance Assistance Programme.