The IIAR Condenser Magazine is a quarterly publication that contains technical articles, regulatory and code updates, industry news and information about IIAR activities and publications. It is distributed by email to all IIAR Members and IIAR Contact lists.
WINTER 2026 NATURAL REFRIGERATION REVIEW
The Natural Refrigeration Review issues are available as a PDF downloads for both lIAR Members and Non-members, or as individual article posts below. Click the button below to view the full issue, or scroll through all the individual issue articles below.
Condenser Debuts Name Change: Flagship Publication to Become Natural Refrigeration Review
After a 30-plus-year run as the Condenser magazine, the International Institute of All-Natural Refrigeration said its long-running member journal will be rebranded in 2026 to become the Natural Refrigeration Review. IIAR said the organization's Board of Directors voted for the change as a way to reflect the expansion of the publication in recent years. The rebranding follows the IIAR's name change for both the Institute and the Foundation.
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President’s Message: Announcing the IIAR Resource Center
One of the greatest strengths of IIAR is our ability to turn out educational and informational resources with the technical rigor you’d expect from a group of engineers that first convened to develop safety standards for their industry and haven’t quit since. In these days of information overload, our commitment to producing real, vetted resources for our industry – and each other – carries that energy forward. It comes out at our meetings, where I can’t make it down a hallway without hearing a new proposal for a new fact sheet, whitepaper, policy analysis or obscure detail that needs addressing in our ever-evolving suite of standards.
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Are Natural Refrigerants Breaking Climate Change? IIAR’s Standards and the Evolving Global Cold Chain
As climate goals and efficiency become the central focus behind cold chain decisions, both at the individual and government level, natural refrigerants are becoming a global movement, increasingly unencumbered by regional political landscapes. In Latin America, a surge in CO₂ systems is happening, while in Europe, focus is growing on a policy-driven adoption of refrigerants like ammonia and hydrocarbons. The global regulatory landscapes remain uneven, but in many places, the tide is turning. Natural refrigerants are outgrowing national constraints, propelled by international climate agreements . . .
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Momentum Builds for CO2 at District Energy Conference
Nearly 900 district energy professionals from 30 countries convened in Minneapolis, Minnesota, for the Annual IDEA District Energy Conference and Trade Show, held June 2–5, 2025, where the International Institute of All-Natural Refrigeration (IIAR) was invited to attend and contribute to IDEA’s business meeting. The meeting with IIAR was organized to explore ways for IIAR members and equipment manufacturers to expand the use of natural refrigerants—particularly in heat pumps and chillers—across the district heating and cooling industry.
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IIAR Exhibitors Plan for 2026 San Antonio Conference
The International Institute of All-Natural Refrigeration will host its largest-ever Natural Refrigeration Conference & Expo from March 15 – 18, 2026, in San Antonio, Texas—featuring a packed exhibit hall, approximately 30 educational sessions, including technical papers, white papers, workshops and panels as well as educational programming for students and end users. Rym Omniewski, IIAR’s Meetings, Conference & Expo Coordinator, said three new factors, introduced this year, are attracting interest from the event’s exhibitors and attendees.
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IIAR Suite of Standards Update: IIAR 5, 6, and 7 2025 Revisions Approved
The International Institute of All-Natural Refrigeration standards revisions presently has IIAR 2 under review for its targeted 2026 revision. Standards IIAR 4, IIAR 8, and IIAR 9 are currently open for review as well, and IIAR 5, IIAR 6, and IIAR 7 revisions were ANSI “approved” in July 2025. Meanwhile, IIAR’s first hydrocarbons standard is targeted for an ANSI approval in 2025, while the ANSI/IIAR CO2-2021 Safety Standard for Closed-Circuit Carbon Dioxide Refrigeration Systems is finalizing an Addendum A soon and will sequentially be opened for its targeted 2026 revision.
Read MoreIIAR to Release CO₂ Fact Sheet
In response to growing demand for accessible, technically sound guidance, the International Institute of All-Natural Refrigeration (IIAR) has released a new CO₂ Refrigeration Fact Sheet—a concise overview of the use of CO₂, including safety considerations, system guidelines, and design considerations. Additional fact sheets for ammonia and hydrocarbons will follow. IIAR Marketing Committee Chair, Stephanie Smith, said her committee was responsible for producing the fact sheets to help business owners choose which natural refrigerant applications may fit best for them.
Read MoreIIAR Peru Chapter Meeting Draws Full House, Focuses on Sustainability and Standards
The IIAR Peru Chapter's latest International Seminar, June 4-5, drew a packed house, with almost 300 attendees from over 14 countries and a high-caliber lineup of technical presentations, underscoring the region’s growing commitment to natural refrigerants and the standards that support them. Held in Lima, the two-day event maxed out its registration capacity and delivered what organizers called “a great industry turnout” with strong engagement from engineers, end users, and government representatives.
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IIAR Represents North America at World Refrigeration Day
In a year defined by climate urgency and supply chain volatility, the International Institute of Refrigeration, IIR, said it convened a landmark event in Paris to mark World Refrigeration Day 2025. With over 170 participants from 60-plus countries, IIR said the gathering spotlighted the global cold chain as the foundation of modern civilization and called on all countries to establish National Refrigeration Committees to take climate action.
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Know Your Incident Timelines
Like a good science fiction plot, any ammonia-related incident has two parallel timelines. Making sure you’re aware of both of them, even before anything happens, can make the difference between public relations and operational horror story, and a good outcome.
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Department of Labor Advances Regulatory Reforms
As the Trump Administration enters the second half of its first year, efforts continue to reform the structure and operation of the federal government. President Trump signaled deregulation would be a priority for his administration early in his term with the signing of an Executive Order entitled “Unleashing Prosperity Through Deregulation." In his first term, President Trump implemented aggressive deregulation efforts by mandating that two federal regulations be eliminated for each new rule issued. The President has directed federal agencies to take an even bolder step by eliminating ten existing regulations for every new rule. Since the signing of the order, federal agencies have begun the process of identifying regulatory changes.
Read MoreApplying Psychrometrics in Refrigeration
Psychrometrics isn’t just a chart on the wall – it’s the language of air. And for many facility or production issues, speaking that language often means looking beyond refrigeration as the only option available to solve moisture control problems. “Refrigeration can only solve your moisture problem to a certain point, whereas with a desiccant, you can go way beyond what refrigeration alone can do,” said Tom Peterson, founder and CEO of Climate by Design International. Many people don’t think of applying psychrometrics as a solution to the problems they encounter because they’re just not used to a thought process that might involve beyond-the-refrigerant reasoning, he added. “Not everyone has that experience factor [that would lead them to consider psychrometrics]. They may have been taught to think only in tons of refrigeration, because our industry is so focused on refrigeration alone,” he said. “But there are limits to how dry you can get with just refrigeration before you start dealing with things like frost, sequential defrost, and other problems.”
Read More President’s Message
IIAR has created several different membership tiers to meet a wide range of needs. Individual Company membership is a single membership class where a member is registered under their company of employment. If additional employees from the company would like to join, companies can upgrade to a Group Membership, which includes up to 25 members. If companies would like to add more than 25 employees, they can do so at a significantly discounted rate, only $100.
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2025 Conference Recap: Annual Meeting Sets New Record
More than 1,850 attendees participated in the International Institute of All-Natural Refrigeration’s Natural Refrigeration Conference & Heavy Equipment Expo in Phoenix, Arizona. The event provided the latest information on industry issues, technical knowledge and networking and as well as an opportunity to see new equipment for those involved in the natural refrigeration industry.
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IIAR Gives 2025 Awards for Presentation Excellence
Karel Israel Ortiz Reyes received the 2025 award for his technical paper presentation that examined “Encontrando el balance entre consumo energético y de agua en condensadores y torres de enfriamiento” (“Finding the balance between energy and water consumption in condensers and cooling towers”). James Booth of Sustainachem (Hannibal, MO) received the 2025 award for his technical paper presentation that focused on “Understanding Water Treatment Performance.”
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AIM Act Faces Uncertainty
Portions of the American Innovation and Manufacturing (AIM) Act are under scrutiny as part of a broader deregulatory agenda, casting uncertainty over the future of U.S. climate policy for refrigerants. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced it will reconsider the Technology Transitions Rule, while Congress is reviewing the Refrigerant Management Rule—two key components of the AIM Act framework.
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A Look Inside the “Big, Beautiful Bill”
President Trump has made it a top priority to pass a tax package that would make many provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) permanent, as well as providing additional tax relief through policies such as no tax on tips. Republicans in Congress are planning to use the Budget Reconciliation process to move the “Big, Beautiful Bill” with the goal of completion before August recess.
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Mapping Global Standards for Industrial Refrigeration: IIAR’s International Committee Leads the Way
In 2023, the IIAR International Committee launched a far-reaching research initiative to catalog the standards and codes governing industrial refrigeration systems, especially those using ammonia and other natural refrigerants—across key international markets. The result of this initiative is a dataset that provides insights into the regulatory landscape of 14 countries across Latin America, Europe, Asia, and Oceania. This research is a milestone in IIAR’s international engagement and a valuable tool for advancing natural refrigerant adoption globally.
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NRF Fun Day Raises $40,000 for Scholarships and Research
The Natural Refrigeration Foundation’s Fun Day during the annual conference featured golf and Bingo, raising around $40,000 to support the foundation’s scholarships and research. “The golf event was a success with 100 golfers—68 individual golfers and eight President’s Brackets teams of four people—at the Arizona Grand Resort.
Read MoreIndustry Stakeholders Continue Work on Critical Task Guidelines
The Critical Task Guidance for Ammonia Refrigeration System Emergency Planning is a key resource designed to support employers, government regulators, and public safety responders in preparing for and mitigating ammonia-related incidents. The guidance, which was released in 2021, promotes a proactive approach to safety in facilities where ammonia refrigeration systems are in use and is currently being revised in response to feedback from users, regulatory agencies, and committee review. The first edition was developed by members of the International Institute of Ammonia Refrigeration (IIAR), Refrigerating Engineers and Technicians Association (RETA), Global Cold Chain Alliance (GCCA), and Ammonia Safety and Training Institute (ASTI). It incorporated input from multiple regulatory bodies and aimed to provide foundational safety practices.
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