MIAMI, FL July 20, 2022 — Climate change and relentlessly high temperatures across the globe have been keeping air-conditioners and refrigeration units humming this summer.
While that’s seemingly good for the HVAC industry, it cuts both ways.
With high oil prices pushing up the cost of producing electricity and pressure to find alternatives to hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), which used to be the go-to refrigerant in air conditioners and refrigeration units but also have a high global-warming potential, the industry has been looking for new ways to do business.
“We’re searching for electrical efficiency. We’re trying to reduce the power needed to make our systems work,” said Gildardo Yáñez Angli, a refrigeration specialist at Bohn México. “We also hope to mitigate the impact on global warming and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”
“Air conditioning and refrigeration have used refrigerants with a high warming potential. When they’re released in the air, they stop behaving as refrigerants but rather act as greenhouse gases,” he said.
Replacing HFCs creates an opportunity to increase cooling equipment efficiency by 10 to 50 percent, thus reducing costs to businesses and consumers, according to the United Nations Ozone Secretariat.
During RefriAmericas, a two-day conference and exhibition that will bring some 1,000 participants in the climatization and refrigeration industries to Miami on July 20-21, Yáñez will speak about the new generation of refrigerants – some natural, some synthetic – aimed at “reducing the impact on the planet.” Among those refrigerants are ammonia, carbon dioxide, propane, and isobutane, he said.
“In Mexico, we’re already using these new technologies,” Yáñez said. Because of safety and environmental concerns, the United States has been slower to adopt them.
The industry also is exploring the use of solar and wind power to improve energy efficiency in its machines. Smart buildings, which produce and consume energy on site, also will be an important part of the industry’s future.
As the HVAC and refrigeration industries adopt new technologies, Yáñez said there will be strong demand for new talent.
“On the refrigeration side, you’ll always have work and a long career,” he said. “Everyone needs to be cool. Refrigeration matters. Seventy to 75 percent of the food we consume needs to go through refrigeration or some part of the cold chain.”
RefriAmericas
When: July 20-21.
Where: Miami Airport Convention Center, 711 NW 72nd Ave., Miami.
Registration: The exhibition is free. Conference fee is $350. All sessions are in Spanish.
To register: https://www.refriamericas.com/landing-pages/rfa-registration.php
Sponsors: Everwell Parts, Full Gauge, FB Refrigeración. The conference is organized by Latin Press Inc.