LONDON/PARIS/ATLANTA, 26 June 2019 – Refrigerants are all around us, and modern life depends on them. They are found in homes, cars, factories, offices, hospitals, anywhere where food and medicine need to be preserved, where data needs to be maintained, products manufactured, and where people expect comfort.
With some 5.6 billion air conditioners projected to be in use by 2050, some 700 million air-conditioned vehicles on the road today, 600 million cubic meters of refrigerated food storage facilities, and more than 2 billion refrigerators and freezers, the energy and environmental impacts of refrigeration and air conditioning are huge. With proper maintenance, replacement of older equipment and proper use of refrigerants, these impacts can be mitigated.
To recognize the vital contributions of air conditioning and refrigeration to modern life, organizations worldwide are celebrating, for the first time, World Refrigeration Day on 26 June 2019. Together, these organizations represent more than 1 million government officials, engineers, scientists, technicians and plant operators worldwide.
The American Society of Heating Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) and the UN Environment’s OzonAction Branch, are working with the World Refrigeration Day Secretariat to provide information and tools that bring awareness to the benefits of new technologies and which promote the safe and responsible use of refrigerants, the life blood of all cooling systems.
#Refrigerants4Life is being used by the organizers to communicate the benefits and safe use of these chemicals, which are essential for modern life.
“World Refrigeration Day raises awareness of the important contribution that refrigeration, air conditioning and heat pumps make globally across so many aspects of modern life – from medical, to food supply and farming, process engineering to data and IT,” said Stephen Gill, the chair of World Refrigeration Day Secretariat. “Refrigeration technologies are essential and yet go widely unrecognized.”
In recent years, the air-conditioning and refrigeration industry has made significant strides to prevent further damage to the Earth’s stratospheric ozone layer, which protects human health and the environment, and to reduce energy consumption, which saves consumers money and helps mitigate climate change. “The Montreal Protocol is successfully protecting our global commons – the ozone layer and our climate – and refrigerants are at the very heart of this treaty,” said Jim Curlin, Acting Head of UN Environment OzonAction. “Careful selection of alternative refrigerants and their safe and efficient use worldwide is the key that unlocks further health benefits, economic savings, and reduced emissions of greenhouse gases.”
“Correct management of refrigerants is the responsibility of all appliance owners, sellers, and technicians,” said Sheila Hayter, President of ASHRAE. “Managing refrigerants responsibly means selecting low global warming potential refrigerants for new systems, using certified companies and individuals to ensure safe use of refrigerants, and promoting recovery, reuse, reclamation of refrigerants. This prevents their release into atmosphere.”
Most commercially available refrigerants are safe for humans and are non-corrosive. However, they have an impact on the environment by contributing to global warming and or ozone depletion. Newer refrigerants cause less global warming and ozone depletion but are often more flammable, toxic or have higher operating pressures and therefore require special safety measures during installation, operation, servicing, and decommissioning.
The work of supporting organizations to raise awareness of the benefits of air conditioning and refrigeration and the sound management of refrigerants can be found at www.worldrefrigerationday.org.
The highpoint of planned activities is a webcast organized by ASHRAE, UN Environment OzonAction Branch and the World Refrigeration Day Secretariat. Beginning at 9 am (3 pm continental Europe – GMT+2) on World Refrigeration Day, 26 June, experts will describe applications and uses of refrigerants, refrigerant research, responsible use of refrigerants, and the impact of government regulations.
To register for the free webcast REFRIGERANTS FOR LIFE: HOW REFRIGERANTS AFFECT MODERN LIFE, click here
Formore information about World Refrigeration Day visit: www.worldrefrigerationday.org.
UN Environment is an Implementing Agency of the Multilateral Fund of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. OzonAction strengthens the capacity of governments - particularly the operational focal points known as National Ozone Units - and industry in developing countries to elaborate and enforce the policies required to implement the Protocol and to make informed decisions about alternative technologies. OzonAction’s overall goal is to enable those countries to meet and sustain their compliance obligations under the Montreal Protocol treaty.
Founded in 1894, ASHRAE contributes to human well-being through advancements in sustainable technology for the built environment. Through research, standards writing, publishing, certification and continuing education, ASHRAE and its more than 57,000 members globally are committed to shaping tomorrow’s built environment today.
