ATMOsphere America 2019
The 8th Annual ATMOsphere America took place in Atlanta, Georgia to shape the future of the sustainable heating & cooling industry!
The largest and most successful ATMOsphere America to date saw over 400 registered delegates from 190+ organizations gathering to network, learn and exchange knowledge in Atlanta earlier this week. We’d like to thank our expert speakers, sponsors and participants for helping us shape the future of our industry!
The full conference feed is available here including key quotes, event pictures, articles & more. This page is updated regularly.
VIEW CONFERENCE PROGRAM & ACCESS ALL PRESENTATIONS
SAVE THE DATE FOR THE NEXT EDITION:
ATMO America 2020 is going to Dallas next year. We’re partnering up with GCCE (Global Cold Chain Expo) to bring 1500+industry leaders together for three days. Stay tuned for more info!
ARTICLES
CONCLUSIONS
COMMERCIAL REFRIGERATION CASE STUDIES & TECHNOMERICALS
[Talking about the experience with CO2 TC] “It’s a learning curve that we all need to be involved in. It’s been really a win for us” — Paul Burd, Weis Markets
“We have not had any leaks on the system. What is critical to good tight system is the installation specification” — Paul Burd, @WeisMarkets
“Controls pay a big part, if they are not set right the rest of the system is not going to work right” — Paul Burd, @WeisMarkets
“It’s big advantage having somebody on site that is able to handle the equipment” — Scott Martin, Hillphoenix
“I believe that by 2025 we have triple the number of CO2 TC stores in the US compared to today” — Scott Martin, Hillphoenix
“Energy savings with the CO2 transcritical installation are very close to the estimation — 6.8% better energy performance than #HFCs” — Rafael Navarro Torua, Casa Ley
“I invite all other end users to join the efforts to move to natural refrigerants so that in Mexico we can move away from #HFCs collectively” — Rafael Navarro Torua, Casa Ley
“There were some challenges — main thing in this case was procurement — we assumed that the components we can buy in the US we would be able to get in Mexico, but it was not the case” — Ignacio Chaparro, Kysor Warren
“Casa Ley has had the same contractor for about 25 years, working only with #HFCs. The attitude they had was really good, they wanted to learn and were excited about the CO2 installation” — Ignacio Chaparro, Kysor Warren
“In North America basically any new development in light commercial sector is with hydrocarbons. There are some applications where industry is not moving yet, in the food service pretty much everybody is moving to hydrocarbons” — John Prall, Embraco
“Converting to hydrocarbons is an easy way to meet the #DOE #energyefficiency requirements” — John Prall, Embraco
“The #IEC has approved 500g increase. Manufacturers will now be looking to UL, ASHRAE, and the NFPA for expedited approval of the increase in the US market” — Brandon Marshall, CAREL
“Semi-plug in R290 units with waterloop are a reality, we are seeing more installations all over the world” — Brandon Marshall, CAREL
Yoram Shabtay, Heat Transfer Technologies presented ‘Advantages of small diameter tubes in transcritical refrigeration cycles’ — see presentation
John Austin-Davies, Kysor Warren presented ‘FTE in the US, who wants to be first?’ — see presentation
Akash Bhatia, Tecumseh Products Company, presented ‘energy savings using IntelliCOOL cassette smart integrated variable speed cooling system’ — see presentation
CONTRACTORS PANEL
“There is a lot of interest in CO2 transcritical and cascade, but we are promoting transcritical so we can stay away from regulations” — Peter Comeau, RECCO (#Refrigeration Engineering & Contracting Co.)
“Its contagious, people want to learn something new, to be able to say to their peers they are working on this new, exciting stuff” — Peter Comeau, RECCO
“Low-charge NH3 and CO2 TC are equally priced in installation cost, cost of operation are rather similar. With ammonia you still have 500lbs regulation that requires high level of record-keeping. If somebody really loves ammonia we can go with that, but we can equally do CO2” — Peter Comeau, RECCO
“It is just getting over the fear factor and getting over that step. Once you take that initial first step the technicians enjoy the challenge” Ryan Welty, South-Town #Refrigeration & Mechanical
“Overall, we have around 180 technicians. We have selected a handful to train on natural refrigerants” — Ryan Welty, South-Town #Refrigeration & Mechanical
“In CA, we talk about future-proofing, not having to report to #CARB is huge — the fact that you can get the client our of that. That freedom’s hard to quantify — you aren’t exposed to fines, which’re very expensive on the grocery store side” — Ryan Welty
“It’s been a challenge, but we are developing and training more of our technicians, we want to be at the forefront, on top of our game” — Robert Leonard, Key Mechanical
“I am all for #CO2 personally, it is the best #refrigerant for retail application.” — Robert Leonard, Key Mechanical
“In the #2022 Winter #Olympics in #China, 6 out of 9 ice rinks will use #CO2 #technology” — Art Sutherland, Accent #Refrigeration Systems
“There is a lot of scare tactics against ammonia, but ammonia is probably the only long-term solution other than CO2” — Art Sutherland, Accent #Refrigeration Systems
“Most of the systems we’ve built were with NH3 but recently we are also working with CO2. We never build two systems the same” — Art Sutherland, Accent #Refrigeration Systems
INDUSTRIAL END USER PANEL
In this on-stage panel discussion, leading end users shared their experiences using different types of natural refrigerant technologies, including benefits, challenges and future plans.
Panelists included Ricardo Garcia, Frialsa; Curt Alverson, Roche Diagnostics; Pete Lepschat, Henningsen Cold Storage (via video message) and Lois Stirewalt, RETA (Refrigerating Engineers & Technicians Association) & GCCA (Global Cold Chain Alliance).
CEO INTERVIEW WITH TIM FIGGE
“There are opportunities for #CO2 and we do have CO2 installations, but we put lots of development into R290 because we see lots of benefits in #energyefficiency” — Tim Figge, Hussmann
“We definitely continue to invest in #CO2 transcritical. We see that as an option that we have in our toolkit to offer to end users” — Tim Figge, Hussmann
“The current share of business with natural refrigerants is less than 5%, but we do see that growing” — Tim Figge, Hussmann
“As we look at the US market there aren’t many new stores being built. We believe retrofit w/ R290 is a great option — it’s easy to install. It’s a great solution, couple of customers are already planning remodels this year using the R290 solution” — Tim Figge, Hussmann
“As we look at the US market there aren’t many new stores being built. We believe retrofit w/ R290 is a great option — it’s easy to install. It’s a great solution, couple of customers are already planning remodels this year using the R290 solution” — Tim Figge, Hussmann
“We have different #training programs set up for maintenance of R290 — we keep more than 1,200 of our technicians trained. We have a training facility in Dallas, Texas” — Tim Figge, Hussmann
UTILITIES PANEL
“Electric utilities across the US have around $6 bn available for incentives, which could be an opportunity for #energyefficient natural refrigerant-based technologies” — Ammi Amarnath, Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI)
“Most of our efforts in low GWP started with low charge NH3. As a utility we like safe things — so we incentivize low charge NH3 from the safety point of view as well” — Paul Delaney, Southern California Edison
“For customers going from big NH3 to low charge, #energyefficiency is not much of incentive” — Paul Delaney, Southern California Edison (SCE)
“We will follow Europe, it makes sense. This is where it is. Why should I not be looking into CO2, hydrocarbons and NH3?” — Paul Delaney, Southern California Edison
“We have only been working on natural refrigerants and other emerging technologies for the past few months” — Ali White, Efficiency #Vermont
“We have a pledge to be a ‘low-carbon’ utility. We have a rebate process to asses technologies like natural refrigerants” — Pradeep Vitta, Southern Company
“At the end of the day it has to be of benefit to the final customer. Electrification or NatRefs, it has to benefit them and then we can come up with the right program to support this introduction” — Pradeep Vitta, Southern Company
“This is my first NatRef conference: I was expecting to learn about CO2, hydrocarbons and NH3 but I was not expecting to learn about water as a refrigerant. So I learned something new!” — Peter Klint, Eversource
“We have large heat pump incentive in Mass. This is to replace boilers and other fossil fuel heating products” — Peter Klint, Eversource
[Driving heat pump integration] “#Policy, #technology and programs can drive the adaption of NatRefs” — Peter Klint, Eversource
POLICY & STANDARDS SESSION
“This is an opportunity for US States to be the first mover in phasing down gases thousands time more potent that CO2” — Julie Cerqueira, U.S. Climate Alliance
“Support state leadership — they need to hear from you that you are supporting the #HFC phase down” — Julie Cerqueira, U.S. Climate Alliance
“We thought that it is very important to provide regulatory certainty to industry” — Stacy Kauk, Environment and Climate Change #Canada (ECCC)
“To support the phase out of #HFCs, we also support the product-specific controls. These prohibit some products — based on #GWP. It means you can’t charge your equipment with gasses exceeding this value” — Stacy Kauk, Environment and Climate Change Canada
“Most of the small equipment is going low #GWP very quickly. The challenge is — how do we get existing stores to go low GWP?” — Glenn Gallagher, #California Air Resources Board (CARB)
“CARB will hold a workshop this fall. We definitely welcome feedback from all” — Glenn Gallagher, #California Air Resources Board (CARB)
“What do we do about HFOs? Unfortunately, nothing. There is a lot of studies out there. It is on our radar” — Glenn Gallagher, #California Air Resources Board (CARB)
“Developing the standard was a long process. It required lot of tests, money and involved many experts” — Marek Zgliczynski, International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC)
“The standard is now approved and will be published in next months. It will have to be a guide for manufactures of self contained systems. Once the UL standard is done, it has to be also connected to #ASHRAE 15. It is not possible for me to say how this will take” — Marek Zgliczynski, International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) / Embraco
“In my opinion, all refrigeration cabinets should have mandatory doors. This would have tremendous effect on conserving energy globally” — Marek Zgliczynski, International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) / Embraco
Eric Smith, International Institute of Ammonia Refrigeration (IIAR) gave a presentation outlining IIAR’s works with developing standards.
CEO INTERVIEW WITH DAMON WYATT
“My prediction is that 5 years from now in 2024 all new stores and +50% all stores will use natural refrigerants in North America in some shape or form” — Damon Wyatt, Kysor Warren
“We are introducing EPTA’s CO2 transcritical FTE in North America — it is a novel idea that with some adjustments you can have peak #efficiency in all ambient climates” — Damon Wyatt, Kysor Warren
FOOD RETAIL PANEL
“Hannaford is in the process of building a new store in NY with less than 150g of propane, same in Vermont — equipment that is available for sale right now” — Harrison Horning, Hannaford
“The initial cost of CO2 TC has come down in Europe and in the US it’s getting close to parity — on the CO2 side it’s on track. With R290 micro-distributed systems the technology becomes much more cost effective” — Harrison Horning, Hannaford
“Future proof aspect was the biggest selling point for us, with all regulations coming up in California and the rest of the world” — John Stuit, DeCA
“Cost penalty for CO2 will go away; we ask the manufactures to really embrace the technology; we like CO2 TC because of the ease of maintenance, that is more important than the initial cost”- John Stuit, DeCA
“With R290 we have seen substantial improvements in #energy performance reaching about 25% compared to traditional systems, exceeding our expectations” — Gary Cooper, Lowe’s
“In warmer regions, a store of a similar size are on par in terms of #energyefficiency with other systems that we have done” Charlie Wernette, H-E-B
“Around 25% out of 700+ stores of ours use CO2 transcritical #technology. In the longer run — CO2 TC systems will be adopted everywhere” — Asad Omar, METRO
“Policy is important, that brought our attention to this topic [natural refrigerants]. However, corporate responsibility and #sustainability together with the total cost of ownership are also key. Combining all is how we got where we are now” — Asad Omar, METRO
ACCELERATE AMERICA AWARDS
Congratulations to the winners of Accelerate America Awards!
Best in Sector/Food Retail: Hannaford Supermarkets
Best in Sector/Industrial: Frialsa Frigoríficos
Best Contractor: South-Town Refrigeration & Mechanical
Innovation of the Year: Hussmann
Person of the Year: Julie Cerqueira
INDUSTRIAL REFRIGERATION CASE STUDIES & TECHNOMERCIALS
Michael Lau, Yosemite Foods & Bryan Beitler, CoolSys, Maximize subcritical hours with adiabatic technology
“It was a long thought process for us before making a decision to for CO2 transcritical in the industrial refrigeration facility. We looked at lots of aspects — once we realised the benefits of CO2 and the future of regulations it was not a hard decision to make” — Michael Lau, Yosemite Foods
Anthony Leo, RLS Logistics & John Miranda, Emergent Cold Technologies, RLS Logistics futureproofs with CO2
“As we were deciding what to do we looked at #CO2 and ultimately made that decision — we like the fact that it’s environmentally-friendly and compliant with future #regulations” — Anthony Leo, RLS Logistics
Darryl Schaefermeyer, Alaska SeaLife Center & Andy Baker, YourCleanEnergy, Enhancing performance of transcritical CO2heat pumps with heat recovery
“With the #CO2 heat pump, the Alaska SeaLife Centre has achieved significant energy savings of $135,000 compared to the conventional electric boilers used before” — Darryl Schaefermeyer, #Alaska SeaLife Centre
“At #Alaska SeaLife Centre we’re expecting around 8–9 years payback on CO2 system. For a new system we might achieve better payback of about 5–6 years — if we can pre-plan the heating loads we get a more consistent performance” Andy Baker, YourCleanEnergy
John Gallaher, Güntner US, Application of adiabactic gas coolers for refrigerated warehouse applications
“Thanks to Guentner’s adiabatic gas coolers, CO2-based installation at Henningsen Cold Storage runs only 8–10h / year in super-critical state. Without the gas cooler you would be running about 2,000h in super-critical state” — John Gallaher, Guntner US
Kurt Liebendorfer, Evapco, Low charged ammonia — Market adoption accelerating
“Packaged low charge #ammonia is moving past the adoption phase and is becoming a proven #technology in industrial #refrigeration markets” — Kurt Liebendorfer
“Taller and high rise cold storages are rapidly growing due to automated material handling systems and packaged low-charge ammonia is a perfect fit” — Kurt Liebendorfer, Evapco
Daryl Stauffer, Johnson Controls, 100+ year journey of using ammonia, carbon dioxide, and hydrocarbons
“A process plant in West Virginia saves about 17% in electricity consumption with #R290 compared to an #HFC-based system” — Daryl Stauffer, Johnson Controls
“In larger applications, #ammonia is stable and will continue to be used at wide scale. We do believe in smaller industrial sector there is going to a cross-over with #CO2” — Daryl Stauffer, Johnson Controls
Jürgen Süss, Efficient Energy, Mechanical subcooling of R744 processes with R718 in industrial and commercial applications
“Combination of water and #CO2 is safe and sustainable way for the future, which can be accepted globally and used in applications where you need to go below zero” Jurgen Suss, efficient energy
“Combination of the two refrigerants can contribute to #CO2 equivalent reduction of the #HVACR industry” — Jurgen Suss, efficient energy
“With the eChiller we are mainly working in electronic cooling, IT tech (data cooling), comfort #cooling, sub cooling of #CO2 system in commercial refrigeration” — Jurgen Suss, #efficient energy
Paul Delaney, Southern California Edison, Energy efficiency aspects of low-charge ammonia refrigeration in food processing facilities
“I am looking for projects to incentivize if you are in #California” — Paul Delaney, Southern California Edison
CEO INTERVIEW WITH PAUL SINDONI
“Hydrocarbons are starting to gain significant traction especially with the charge limits increasing. Dover will launch certain products with hydrocarbons this year” — Paul Sindoni, Dover Food Retail
“We expect to have around 600 transcritical installations in North America this year” — Paul Sindoni, Dover Food Retail
TECHNOLOGY TRENDS BY PROF. PEGA HRNJAK
Prof. Pega Hrnjak expects major trends for low-charge ammonia not only in refrigeration but also in HVAC; CO2 not only in supermarkets, but increasingly more in industrial refrigeration with a huge potential in electric cars and residential HVAC.
“CO2 is going into commercial #refrigeration very strong especially in larger systems — it’s 1% of a huge industry that’s very stable. We should look into number of NR in new-built systems, that’s where the number would be much bigger” — Pega Hrnjak
“We still do not have a definition of low-charge #ammonia — I believe it will be based on max allowed concentration in the room” — Pega Hrnjak
“Thanks to electric cars that really need heatpumps (because that’s the only way to function) — in my view that is the only application where heatpumps improve the basic performance of a unit [range of an electric car] — CO2 is now back in the game” — Pega Hrnjak
MEET OUR PROUD SPONSORS
FINAL PROGRAM
MONDAY, 17 JUNE
GLOBAL TRENDS BY SHECCOBASE
Latest market and policy trends from around the world on natural refrigerant technologies, including selected statistics from sheccoBase.
TECHNOLOGY TRENDS
Industry’s leading expert on natural refrigerants Pega Hrnjak will give the audience an exclusive in-depth look at the latest technology trends.
CEO INTERVIEW
shecco CEO Marc Chasserot will hold an exclusive interview with Paul Sindoni of Dover Food Retail.
INDUSTRIAL REFRIGERATION CASE STUDIES
- Yosemite Foods & CoolSys
- RLS Logistics & Emergent Cold Technologies
- Alaska SeaLife Center & YourCleanEnergy
INDUSTRIAL REFRIGERATION TECHNOMERCIALS
- Guntner US
- Evapco
- Johnson Controls
- Efficient Energy
- Southern California Edison
(PRIVATE) COMMERCIAL END USERS BEST PRACTICE SESSION
Only end users are allowed to participate in this closed-door discussion moderated by Ed Estberg (former Raley’s).
FOOD RETAIL PANEL
Co-moderated by shecco & North American Sustainable Refrigeration Council (NASRC).
- Hannaford
- Defence Commissary Agency (DeCA)
- Lowe’s
- H-E-B
- METRO
CEO INTERVIEW
shecco CEO Marc Chasserot will hold an exclusive interview with Damon Wyatt of Kysor Warren.
ACCELERATE AMERICA AWARDS CEREMONY
4th Annual Accelerate America Awards, recognizing companies and individuals leading the transition to natural refrigerant-based technologies.
NETWORKING DRINKS & DINNER RECEPTION AT THE COCA-COLA MUSEUM
Drinks & casual dinner reception at the World of Coca-Cola from 6:30–9:30 pm. Attendees will be able to explore Pop Culture, Perfect Pauses, 4D Theater, Milestones of Refreshment, the Vault and Bottle Works exhibits.
TUESDAY, 18 JUNE
POLICY AND STANDARDS SESSION
- U.S. Climate Alliance
- Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC)
- California Air Resources Board (CARB)
- International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC)
- International Institute of Ammonia Refrigeration (IIAR)
UTILITIES PANEL
Co-moderated by shecco & EPRI.
- Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI)
- Southern California Edison (SCE)
- Efficiency Vermont
- Southern Company
- Eversource
CEO INTERVIEW
shecco CEO Marc Chasserot will hold an exclusive interview with Tim Figge of Hussmann.
CONTRACTORS PANEL
- RECCO (Refrigeration Engineering & Contracting Co.)
- South-Town Refrigeration & Mechanical
- Key Mechanical
- Accent Refrigeration Systems
COMMERCIAL REFRIGERATION CASE STUDIES
- Weis Markets & Hillphoenix
- Casa Ley & Kysor Warren
COMMERCIAL REFRIGERATION TECHNOMERCIALS
- Embraco
- CAREL USA
- Huayi Compressor Barcelona
- Heat Transfer Technologies
- Kysor Warren
(PRIVATE) INDUSTRIAL END USERS BEST PRACTICE SESSION
Only end users are allowed to participate in this closed-door discussion moderated by Pete Lepschat (Henningsen Cold Storage).
INDUSTRIAL END USER PANEL
- Frialsa
- Roche Diagnostics
- Henningsen Cold Storage
- RETA (Refrigerating Engineers & Technicians Association) & GCCA (Global Cold Chain Alliance)
WEDNESDAY, 19 JUNE
HILLPHOENIX FACILITY TOUR & SYMPOSIUM
For pre-registered attendees only. Site visit and symposium taking place in Hillphoenix’s Conyers facility.
