The Natural Refrigeration

The International Institute of All-Natural Refrigeration released a new IIAR Greenpaper, a member resource for natural refrigerants. The Greenpaper, which is available on IIAR’s newly launched Resource Center, is an industry reference document that outlines the basics of natural refrigerants and the direction the industry’s technology is taking.

IIAR’s marketing committee has taken the initiative to ensure the Greenpaper is always updated as a resource for members, said IIAR Marketing Committee Chair Stephanie Smith, adding that IIAR’s goal is to have information on natural refrigerants available for members to use as needed.

“This Greenpaper is our guide to the latest information on these refrigerants,” said Smith. The idea behind the paper is to provide well substantiated arguments for natural refrigerants that everyone, from designers to end users, can use to explain how these refrigerants are the most sustainable choice.

“We are always saying that natural refrigerants are the best choice,” said Smith. “Now this paper can provide the argument and data to go with that discussion. Or, if you’re a student, this is a great place to get a foundation on natural refrigerants, like what they are, how they’re used, and what’s next for our industry.”

Smith said the Greenpaper, as a product, is not new to IIAR but has recently been revamped to include new information relevant to the industry.

“This paper has evolved over time. It was originally an argument for natural refrigerants,” said Smith. “Then it became more of a position paper as natural refrigerants expanded and became more of an important alternative to synthetic refrigerants.”

The paper is also meant to provide a brief overview of the history of natural refrigerants for people who may not be familiar with the industry, said Smith. “Being able to read this paper and get a lot of different information in one place – on how natural refrigerants have evolved, how they are responding to current environmental needs, how the technology is changing – is valuable.”

“For this Greenpaper, I think the updates on hydrocarbons and further discussion on CO2 rounds out the paper, as well as the discussion of future applications of natural refrigerants that are starting to see development now,” said Smith. “It’s interesting to see how much has changed from five to seven years ago when we last updated the paper, to now.”

Smith said readers may find the discussion of the expansion of natural refrigerant use, as well as the potential outlined in the paper for smaller installations, interesting.

“I think there’s huge potential for smaller installation usage in our industry, and this paper looks at that trend. Perhaps right now we’re seeing a delay in these systems taking hold because the cost to change over to smaller systems is a barrier, but there is huge potential for growth there.”

Another big trend in the coming years will be the growing number of green initiatives within private companies, which will push decision makers towards natural refrigerants. Along with those initiatives, the industry may see increased funding for capital projects or new initiatives from government agencies interested in helping facilitate a shift to natural refrigerants.

“Hopefully, these changes will happen in response to the phaseouts that are doing away with banned refrigerants. I think places like Europe are pushing more and expanding faster towards natural refrigerants, which is a big opportunity for them. Everyone is looking at countries in Europe that have already built these strategies and asking can we do the same things?”