Henderson Engineers recently attended two conferences geared towards combatting CO2 emissions from refrigeration systems. Dustin Padget, Refrigeration Technical Director, was in attendance for both the 26^th Annual Green Chemistry and Engineering Conference (the GC&E Conference) and the ATMOsphere America Summit 2022 (ATMO America).

Refrigeration is in the spotlight, and we need to do something about it. Billions of tons of CO2 emissions in the US market are due to refrigeration systems. Direct refrigeration leak emissions, indirect energy consumption from ‘dirty’ power sources, and embodied + operational carbon from installation and maintenance over the life of these systems are all contributing factors.

The time to make a change is now. Damage is being done to the atmosphere and the Earth’s ecosystems at an alarming rate. This needs to be stopped and restored in a sustainable and even more regenerative future. The technology exists and new innovations are emerging rapidly around climate-friendly refrigerants.

GC&E Conference

Hosted by the American Chemical Society’s Green Chemistry Institute (ACS GCI), the GC&E Conference is the longest-running global conference dedicated to green chemistry and engineering. The conference focuses on green and sustainable chemistry and engineering, with a special focus on the 2022 theme “Thinking in Systems: Designing for Sustainable Use.”

A key takeaway from this conference was an interim solution to capture and reuse chemical refrigerants that have a lower GWP than those currently in use at larger scales.

The ERC (Engineering Research Center) is working to tackle this head-on. Experts from both academia and industry are partnering to research and deploy methods of gathering pollutants and incentivizing the move towards friendlier synthetic refrigerants that can be used in existing or retrofitted equipment through the remainder of their life cycle.

ATMO America

ATMO America gathered key industry experts, policy makers, end users and contractors to learn about the very latest developments in natural refrigerants-based solutions. Presentations were centered around global and regional policy, regulations and standards, market and technology trends and the latest innovations in the industry.

Natural refrigerants took center stage at ATMO America. CO2, ammonia, water and even propane will play a big role in the future of refrigeration. This big shift is turning to basic renewable resources that nature has provided with us rather than synthetic. ATMO, the NASRC, Henderson and many other organizations are working towards this shift.

What’s Next?

One thing that’s obvious coming out of these two conferences is the need to figure this out sooner rather than later for the sake of the environment and future generations. The industry is ready, vendors have solutions, and the consumers care about the environment.

With new and more stringent refrigerant regulations on the horizon, more clients are exploring alternative refrigeration systems. A natural refrigerant, CO2 has been an intriguing alternative refrigerant for quite some time, but higher costs associated with the equipment, installation, and operation have prevented CO2 from being widely adopted in the U.S. up until now. That could be changing, however, as greater familiarity and economies of scale are bringing initial costs down and as regulatory restrictions on traditional refrigerants continue to increase.

One way Henderson is helping in this fight is by working with end users and equipment manufacturers to lower the cost of “premium” solutions that they can be widely implemented in place of dated technologies.

Henderson also has a phase-out/conversion calculation software to help businesses make decisions on how to move forward. Whether it’s a single mom and pop grocery store, or a several thousand facility fleet, or anywhere in between; we can help.