ATMOsphere America 2018
Last updated on July 4, 12:17 PM CET.
The 7th Annual ATMOsphere America was held June 12–14 in Long Beach, California. We’re thrilled with the success of this year’s conference — we think that it was the best edition to date!
ATMO America covered myriad topics related to natural refrigerants, including market, policy and technology trends, training, future of the industry, industrial and food retail end user panels and technology case studies. The discussions that took place have big potential to shape the market in North America and the world.
Follow our coverage here on Medium with the latest session updates on top!
We’d like to thank our 315 participants from 153 organizations, 53 expert speakers and 44 sponsors & partners for contributing to the success of #ATMOAmerica 2018! We hope we’ve provided everyone with some great content and business opportunities! #GoNatRefs
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KEY TRENDS FROM ATMO AMERICA
ARTICLES
VIDEO COVERAGE
SOCIAL MEDIA COVERAGE
FUTURE OF THE INDUSTRY DEBATE
“They are all ready and committed to move to isobutene. 70% of 2021-ish. They’ve done a lot, started the training and everything. But they need EPA to confirm the review of standards to bring the big investment” — Kevin Mesner, AHAM
“We work for many years with the code writing agencies in the US. We’ve made good progress in the last years to get our standards recognized by these Agencies. This is a big deal, as it makes it a lot easier to operate [for contractors, engineers] across the country” — Dave Rule, IIAR
“The new draft standard for CO2 should be ready for the first public review by January 2020. It will then will go through at least two rounds of reviews before being submitted for consideration to the Board of IIAR.”
“Those lines between industrial and commercial are really going away” — Dave Rule, IIAR
“There is definitely potential to use low charge ammonia for chiller applications for comfort cooling” — Dave Rule, IIAR
“By far the biggest challenge I hear from the industry is labor: we just can’t find people to work in a cold environment” — Corey Rosenbush, Global Cold Chain Alliance
“We write technical stds, have a certification program, are advocates for our members, have a strong research program: currently we’re undertaking the 2nd phase of our research program on alternative refrigerants, inc hydrocarbons” — James Walters, AHRI
“We have a huge challenge ahead with the expected growth of in demand for residential air conditioning globally. The choice of technology going forward has to be consistent with the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol” — James Walters, AHRI
“We intend to create an easy to read but helpful guidelines to the use of refrigerants, simply to comply with Kigali” — Bryan Beitler, NASRC
“We’re working on a project with RETA to develop a certification program for technicians working CO2” — Bryan Beitler, NASRC
SHECCOBASE FOCUS GROUP
“If you guys are looking for a silver bullet out there, keep looking” — Terry Chapp, Danfoss #ATMOAmerica #GoNatRefs
“We’ve been there out talking w/ the industry and getting an idea about the technology & the trends for low charge ammonia. W/ the advent of low charge we are seeing a lot more opportunities for ammonia in different applications” — Derek Hamilton, shecco
CASE STUDIES: COMMERCIAL REFRIGERATION
“R290 is a fantastic refrigerant from the thermodynamic perspective” — Douglas Schmidt, Rivacold
“We obtain better results in the actual operation of the R290 waterloop units than expected compared to R404A air-cooled units. Instead of an expected COP improvement of up to 20%, the actual result showed a 35% improvement” — Douglas Schmidt, Rivacold
“We reduced energy consumption by 55%. Sound power was reduced by 14dB, totaling now 45dB, which makes it comparable with technology not using a compressor” — John Prall, Embraco
“Overall, the TEWI was reduced by 55%, mostly due to the better energy consumption of the system” — Chengzhi Tang, Helmer Scientific
“If we added parallel compression or adiabatic we could have matched or surpassed the efficiency of the R290 units. We kept it basic to have a valid benchmark” — André Patenaude, Emerson
“We’re getting ready to undertake all tests on our CO2 racks” — André Patenaude, Emerson
“We can take all this experience now and get a headstart to develop further. We’re not using the US as a testing ground to introduce new technology” — Brandon Marshall, CAREL
“Modulating ejectors allows CO2 to be a viable solution for small and medium sized formats, including the small condensing unit format” — Brandon Marshall, CAREL
“Our compressors are US SNAP approved, which makes it suitable as a global solution. We have a million units running with R290 in Europe, offering up to 30% energy savings” — Vicente Guilabert, Huayi Compressor Group
“Why not use R600a? To make it easier for the customer, letting them use the same refrigerant for small and medium size cabinets (R290 in both cases)” — Vicente Guilabert, Huayi Compressor Group
“For double door cabinets, we achieved a total of 42% reduction in energy reduction, and a 38% refrigerant charge reduction” — Yoram Shabtay, MicroGroove
“For a single door display cabinet, the total energy reduction 47%, and refrigerant charge reduction 42%” — Yoram Shabtay, MicroGroove
FOOD RETAIL PANEL
“How do we decide which system is better, the low charge ammonia or the transcritical CO2 system? We use ‘SRE’ — simple, reliable & repeatable and efficient” — Ed Estberg, Raley’s
“Our failure rate is virtually zero in 25 years. So I am pretty happy with the reliability of our compressors” Ed Estberg, Raley’s
“Raley’s made the decision last week that on larger stores they’re going with ammonia over CO2 and with the smaller stores they will be going with CO2 transcritical so we’re going to use both” — Ed Estberg, Raley’s
“We have to go towards natural refrigerants” — Pete Marotta, Grocery Outlet
“We have to lobby for the change on those propane limits” — Pete Marotta, Grocery Outlet
“Our biggest challenge is CAPEX increases as it will cost us a lot to refit our store” — Pete Marotta, Grocery Outlet
“A skilled technician is a multitalented person: he knows a lot. With the Baby Boomers retiring at a rapid pace, this leaves us with a gap of knowledge and experience” — Todd Ernest, Climate Pros
“Invest in the future of your company: I am a firm believer to train them better and have them leave, than not train them and have them run around not knowing what they’re doing” — Todd Ernest, Climate Pros
CASE STUDIES: INDUSTRIAL REFRIGERATION
“You need to make sure you have a good partnership with the contractors” — Rusty Walker, Hillphoenix
“Energy can’t be looked at a snapshot, energy has to be looked at 365” — Rusty Walker, Hillphoenix
“It is very easy to add an expansion on the roof, there is a lot of flexibility with low charge ammonia. The expected energy is almost the same as the traditional system” Daryl Stauffer, Frick Industrial Refrigeration
“It’s very important that you partner w/ the right company that actually build these systems. We know to make sure that we’re working w/ the right company w/ the right skill and knowledge. We’re very proud of FRICK and the support they provided” Jean-François Labelle, Congebec
“The COP of the ammonia/CO2 system on a bad day for cooling is 5.04, pretty high COP, and for heating the COP is 6.04” — Art Sutherland, Accent Refrigeration Systems
“These numbers speak for themselves, overall I calculated 14% savings with the packaged low charge ammonia systems, and most coming due to the piping system” — Jeff Buxton, Permacold
“This project does not have the pipes on the roof, that was a big deal. By eliminating the long piping you make your system much more efficient” — Kurt Liebendorfer, Evapco
CONTRACTORS AND TRAINING PANEL
“Bottom line: to not train is not an option” — Bryan Beitler, CoolSys
“Natural refrigerants aren’t going away, the opposite is going to happen so it’s something we got to learn how to work with them.”
“Having a strong relationship with the manufactures and customers will help me get the right answers and the right solution when I need it.”
“If I can’t hire a technician who at least doesn’t have a bit of knowledge on CO2, ammonia and hydrocarbons as their baggage that they bring along, then we did not do our job.”
“It takes a village to raise a really good #HVACR technician — it’s all the little pieces that are necessary” — Lori Schiavo, #RSES
“The three most fundamental things to offer to your technician are to give them time back to allow them to train, some rewards and access to the most recent information, memberships, seminars & conferences like this one here” — Lori Schiavo, #RSES
“Do continue to provide your technicians with opportunities to get training, so they can continue to do their job.”
“Why use ADX Ammonia? It has lower refrigerant charge, it’s a natural refrigerant, and hey, that’s what this whole conference is about, it’s a simplified operation and lastly it’s all about the location” — Rick Watters, AMS Mechanical Systems
“Challenges that we had were energy consumption, cost and tradition. We’re coming from an industry which is very traditional.”
“The number one challenge we have in this industry is finding trained technicians. So where do we find new people? One thing that worked very well is relatives who’s family members are already in the industry” — Steve Gnas, Discovery Designs Refrigeration
“Some things that I’ve learned over the years:
- Training is continuous, if you don’t continue to train you don’t grow.
- Training needs to change as they industry needs change.
- You also need to establish a culture, a mission, everybody from the top to bottom to want them to train, to have the will to continuously train.”
CASE STUDIES: HEAT PUMP
“If you design your system properly, you will have a good CO2 system working really well with great efficiency” — Marc-André Lesmerises, Carnot Refrigeration #ATMOAmerica #GoNatRefs
“[About the trans-critical CO2 heat pump system Ddstrict heating of four city buildings in Alaska] Like they say in Alaska — with this system, we ‘use nature for the profit of man’!” — Andy Baker, YourCleanEnergy
“We’re very confident with the efficiency of the system” — Dominique Monney, Emerson Commercial and Residential Solutions
INDUSTRIAL REFRIGERATION PANEL
“We have been focussing on #ammonia charge reduction for almost 10 years” — Pete Lepschat, Henningsen Cold Storage
“Contractors, you need to bring your end users here (to ATMOsphere), they need to learn from this!” — Pete Lepschat, Henningsen Cold Storage
“The industry average power consumption is 1.3kWh/cu ft/yr… our most recent low-charge ammonia facility uses 0.3kWh/cu ft/yr.”
“We want a refrigeration system that can be scaled for the future expansion of our business.”
“We had never installed a CO2 system before, but we hadn’t done a low of things before the first time we tried them.”
We selected low-charge ammonia because we wanted a refrigeration system to help meet our missions statement “Safe, Clean, and Cold” ” — David Bornemeier, Western Gateway Cold Storage
“We want to invest in natural refrigerant-based merchandisers for our ice sales” — David Bornemeier, Western Gateway Cold Storage
“There is a perceived higher cost (for low-charge ammonia packages) but I can confirm that is not the case” — David Bornemeier, Western Gateway Cold Storage
“Ultra-low charge ammonia minimized the risk and regulatory burden” — Ronnie R. Ceballos, KPAC General #ATMOAmerica #GoNatRefs
“By eliminating the machinery room, we open up more pallet space and can realize $140k-$160k in additional revenue annually” — Ronnie R. Ceballos, KPAC General
“The use of packaged ammonia systems greatly simplifies maintenance compared to a central system with a machinery room” — Ronnie R. Ceballos, KPAC General
“I want to know what my options are for HVAC and process cooling” — Aditi Joshi, Amgen
POLICY PANEL
“As part of our commitment to the environment, we had to do something about short-lived climate pollutants. #HFCs are the fastest growing source of greenhouse gas emissions in #California” — Bart Croes, California Air Resources Board
“As I can see from this show [ATMOsphere America], a lot of you are already participation in reducing the carbon footprint from refrigeration and air conditioning equipment” — Bart Croes, #California Air Resources Board
“Early next fall we’ll continue our rule-making to make sure we comply with the targets Senator Lara has set” — Bart Croes, #California Air Resources Board @RicardoLara4CA @senricardolara
“Currently California is close to 30% renewable energy out of the total electricity use.”
“Recently a letter from 15 Republican Senators was sent to President Trump to ask for ratification of the Kigali amendment to the Montreal Protocol.”
“We are looking to partner with other States to develop similar Regulations on HFC reductions.”
“After 4 years of work of the working group revising the standard [IEC 603335–2–89], we’ll know this fall if the review to raise the limit to 500 gr for A3 refrigerants goes through” — Marek Zgliczynski, International Electrotechnical Commission
“Nearly all countries in the world accept products according to IEC standards to ensure the safety of electromechanical equipment.”
“The current standard for any commercial refrigeration applications is basically a copy & paste from the standard applicable to domestic refrigeration.”
“The current standard for commercial refrigeration is a problem since we have clear limitations with cooling capacity with a 150gr charge limit for A3 refrigerants [hydrocarbons].”
“After 4 years of work of the working group revising the standard [IEC 603335–2–89], we’ll know this fall if the review to raise the limit to 500gr for A3 refrigerants goes through.”
“The international vote on the review of the standard is open now, and it will close in July 13. Probably over the next two weeks all nations will vote the current draft.”
“The review of this standard is key to implement Kigali. So I ask all of you to express your support via each national committee.”
“If we fail at this stage [to revise the standard] it will take another 3 years to create another proposal.”
“If the standard review goes through, we could see the new charge limit of hydrocarbons raised to 500gr in the US as from 2020, in a best-case scenario.”
“Regardless of what the central administration does, or the situation with industry standards, there is a strong movement in the US to move the lowest GWP possible for all refrigeration applications” — Avipsa Mahapatra, EIA
“It is our responsibility that safety standards are revised according to the best knowledge we have to use refrigerants safely. Make sure you are talking to your government to incentives a transition to low GWP available” — Avipsa Mahapatra, EIA
“SNAP Rule 20 is currently on hold, but SNAP Rule 21 is still in place, covering many applications and alternatives.”
“The EPA is also developing new regulation.”
“As of yesterday, 38 countries have already ratified the Kigali Amendment. The global movement towards phasing out HFCs is underway.”
“There are several initiatives across the US in support of climate friendly legislation, so It’s not all bad news.”
“Just because something is flammable does not make it unsafe. To me, no refrigerant is completely safe. Even with water, if you drink too much of it, you can drown.”
“We believe may of the standards applicable in this industry are obsolete and need reviewing.”
“You have an opportunity to join your national committee to actively engage [in the standards review].”
“If you are not able to follow, make sure to identify members that can represent your position.”
UTILITIES PANEL
“Energy #efficiency is important for utilities, and several states have mandates on energy efficiency utility programs. GWP reduction is key, and natural refrigerants play a crucial role in that” — Ammi Amarnath, EPRI
“The Electric Program Investment Charge results in approx $125million/year to help fund a range of projects, including energy efficient natural refrigerant systems” — Virginia Lew, California Energy Commission
“We have a project to develop and test #energyefficient ultra-low charge ammonia refrigeration systems for food processing, with potential to expand to cold storage, commercial refrigeration, buildings, etc.” — Virginia Lew, California Energy Commission
“The Food Production Investment Program has a $60million fund to help food processors reduce on-site GHG emissions.”
“The Energy Comparison Tool will allow Raley’s to fine-tune their stores in a way they’ve never been able to do before” — Ed Estberg, Raley’s
“There is a culture in the supermarket industry on keeping product cold, rather than optimizing refrigeration system performance” Klas Berglöf, ClimaCheck
“Almost all refrigeration system problems can be diagnosed remotely if you measure the system performance correctly”
“The focus should be on energy optimization rather than fixing problems after they occur”
“For supermarkets, the refrigeration system is the elephant in the room. The Refrigeration Battery helps reduce peak demand and therefore energy cost” — John Lerch, Axiom Energy
“Decentralized energy, like rooftop solar, will grow 3–5 times faster than centralized generation over the next 10 years.”
“US energy storage capacity is expected to grow 70x from now to 2025.”
“The ammonia/CO2 cascade system we tested showed 30% energy savings compared to the R507 system it replaced” — Paul Delaney, Southern California Edison
MARKET TRENDS
#ATMOAmerica’s Market Trends session had #Hillphoenix #CarnotRefrigeration #Emerson and #Embraco on the stage with global market trends presentation from #shecco
“We now start seeing a development [in technologies] in many places around the globe. However we are still in early days. Concretely in the USA, what we’ve seen is a relatively low starting number but a relatively high growth in the last years, especially since 2013. This is especially driven by manufactures in the local market” — Alvaro de Oña, shecco
“One important question to see what’s going to happen with NatRefs is the current standard debates, as of how much charge will be able to use in the future.”
“Moving to Industrial Refrigeration, we’re seeing a lot of development in this market. Now we’re seeing a variety of options, from NH3 low charge, CO2 TC and NH2/CO2.”
“The return on investment for the even user is becoming more and more important, and the competition is growing, which is also helping to push the prices more and more down for those (NatRef) solutions.”
“65% of all applications in the HVACR are HVAC, so 65% of applications are basically in their infancy of their development, so there we expect strong development in the coming years.”
“There’s a lot of interest for low charge ammonia, we almost can’t handle the requests — it’s really exciting the market interest” — Scott Martin, Hillphoenix
“We have 6 large CO2 TC systems in the US already, some of them already existing, some in progress. One of our biggest sector for us is data centers” — Marc-André Lesmerises, Carnot Refrigeration
“The digital shoppers are changing the market. Convenience is all about making it fast and making it easy. End users also expect us to invest, as it’s also a lot of investment on their side. We need to invest in better systems” — André Patenaude, Emerson
“You can see that R290 are still best in performance, compared to the other A2L refrigerants… [Charge limits] With most applications on smaller formats we’re covered, but larger applications are a bit tougher” — John Prall, Embraco
KEYNOTE SPEECH BY CALIFORNIA STATE SENATOR LARA
“For us in #California we have a trajectory of not waiting for the Federal legislators to take leadership in environmental issues. The development Electric cars is an example of that” — California State Senator Ricardo Lara
“Super pollutants are much more harmful to the #environment and to the detriment of our health. We are linking climate legislation to our health. Reducing the use of #HFCs is part of our efforts to reduce #superpollutants emissions” — Ricardo Lara
“Our cooling act allows us to use our market signals and our cap and trade system to create an incentive program to switch into low GWP technology for refrigeration, and move away from HFCs.”
”We actually believe in science here in #California! Our long-term goal is to reach our #climate goals. Our short-term goal is to reduce emissions from super pollutants” — Senator Ricardo Lara
“We are the 5th largest economy in the World. Our cap and trade system allows us to send a signal to the market. No matter what happens at the Federal level, California is not going to go back on environmental legislation.”
“We want to help you out in your transition to low GWP solutions.”
“We have a sense of urgency because these technologies [refrigeration] tend to stay for long time.”
“We’ve done incentive programs before in California successfully, for example to incentivize clean and more efficient trucks, investing over a billion dollars. Now we continue to expand the framework to HFCs.”
“We understand our global responsibility to contribute to leave a planet in better shape than what we received.”
“If you are interested in supporting the legislation we can help you draft a letter of support. It makes a world of a difference, especially with our more moderate and Republican representatives. We would greatly appreciate your letters of support.”
“In California we tripled our number of jobs in the last few years thanks to our environmental policies compared to traditional industries.”
“We find it’s much easier to engage business in an incentive program rather than creating new taxes, in an already high tax State such as California.”
“If the conversation stays only in this room it goes nowhere.”
[About incentives] “We want to make sure we give you the certainty that we are going to keep investing in these technologies over several years.”
Congratulations to Senator Ricardo Lara - an inspirational environmental leader and politician on his Accelerate America Person of the Year Award! We hope that other leaders will follow your footsteps Senator! @RicardoLara4CA
It was an honor and privilege to have had Senator Lara set the tone for the rest of our conference — we greatly value his enthusiasm, dedication to the environment and good character! Check out the rest of his speech here: https://bit.ly/2t1bW9m
TECHNOLOGY TRENDS BY PEGA HRNJAK
“Hydrocarbons, carbon dioxide and ammonia have become mainstream options” — Pega Hrnjak, CTS & University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Hydrocarbons: “Interest in hydrocarbons is increasing because of the low cost of the technology.
“Hydrocarbons are easy to work with, and a great replacement for R22.”
CO2: “We have known for over 10 years that, below 25degC, CO2 is more efficient than R134a in automotive applications.”
“CO2 has become a mainstream refrigerant in supermarket applications, and is now being used in a wider range of climate zones.”
“As electric cars become more popular, the advantages of CO2 heat pumps become important.”
“With CO2 heat pumps, you can extend the winter driving range of an electric vehicle by 30%”
“In the research field, activity in CO2 heat pumps for mobile air conditioning is like a beehive.”
“We can make CO2 systems efficient and low cost. We have already demonstrated that.”
Ammonia: “Ammonia charge should be reduced, and the industry has made a very strong start.”
“Ammonia is an excellent refrigerant for chillers, and the industry should focus more on HVAC.”
“Today we have built a 10TR ammonia chiller with less than 1 lb of ammonia.”
“Ammonia allows a very low charge in heat exchangers due to its favorable thermophysical properties.”
“There is a race to build low, lower and ultra low-charge ammonia systems.”
System Evaluations: “We are working on proving the performance of low-charge ammonia packages through lab testing.”
“CTS have 100,000 sq ft of lab space where are are currently testing a variety of low-charge ammonia systems.”
“Even our first results (of low-charge ammonia testing) show very good numbers in capacity and efficiency.”
Ammonia Chillers: “The market for HVAC is huge, compared to industrial refrigeration, and growing at 5–10% per year.”
“In 2017 there was a $400 million market for air cooled chillers in the US.”
WELCOME & INTRODUCTION
Welcome to the 7th edition of ATMOsphere America! We’re excited to host this year’s event with great content and new innovations. This year, we have allocated more time for networking during #ATMOAmerica to allow you to connect and create #business opportunities! #GoNatRefs
“With the Future of the Industry debate on Thursday we want to look beyond naturals and offer an overall view from the market” — Marc Chasserot, shecco
Good morning from Long Beach! #ATMOAmerica has officially started! Follow our live coverage here on Twitter and on Medium https://bit.ly/2t1bW9m
The 7th Annual ATMOsphere America will be returning to California once more to shape the future of the industry!
ATMOsphere America 2018 will be held at the Hyatt Regency Long Beach, CA on June 12–14 where key experts, policy makers and end users will gather to learn about the very latest developments in the industry.
We are returning to California at a time when environmental policy at federal level remains uncertain: this makes California’s place as the leader in progressive policy more important than ever before.
Our 2018 conference highlights include:
- Keynote interview with Senator Ricardo Lara
- Technology trends by keynote speaker Prof. Pega Hrnjak
- Networking, technomericals and expo hall tours
- The latest news on California and federal policy trends
- Updates on incentive programs to accelerate natural refrigerant adoption
- Presentation of the “Ammonia21.com World Guide to Low Charge Ammonia”
- Insight into the growing trend for CO2 transcritical in larger applications
- Latest news on the revision of hydrocarbon charge limits
ENVIRONMENTAL LEADER SENATOR RICARDO LARA TO KEYNOTE ATMOSPHERE AMERICA CONFERENCE ON NATURAL REFRIGERANTS IN LONG BEACH JUNE 12
California Senator Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens), a leading advocate for reducing harmful emissions of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) in the atmosphere, will be the keynote speaker on June 12 at 11:30 am at the ATMOsphere America 2018 conference.
ATMOsphere America, now in its seventh year, will be held June 12–14 at the Hyatt Regency Long Beach. Hosted by Belgium-based shecco, the conference focuses on natural refrigerant replacements for HFCs, which are potent greenhouse gases contributing to global warming, and for ozone-depleting gases that are being phased out in the U.S. and globally.
Last November, Lara, author of the Super Pollutant Reduction Act (Senate Bill 1383), announced the California Cooling Act (CCA) to combat what he termed the “silent assassin” of HFCs in refrigerators and air conditioners “that threaten our global climate.”
The CCA establishes financial incentives for businesses such as supermarkets and cold-storage warehouses that are switching to climate-friendly refrigeration from HFCs.
Lara will discuss the CCA in his keynote remarks; he and his staff are seeking feedback on the CCA from stakeholders attending the event. He also encourages end users of refrigeration and air conditioning equipment to send letters of support (preferably on official letterhead) to mike.peterson@sen.ca.gov and attend hearings on the bill at the legislature.
