Keynote Presentations

 Strengthening the RACHP sector and supporting SDGs through refrigerant transition. James S. Curlin, Acting Head of UNEP OzonAction

The global transition from ozone depleting potential (ODP) and high global warming potential (GWP) refrigerants as triggered by the Montreal Protocol, and its amendments, over the last the three decades affected significantly not only types of alternative refrigerants but also types of RACHP technologies that are/should deployed in markets. The linkage to SDGs, placing into market policies and practice regulatory measures are crucial elements in building an overarching framework that can strengthen the sector through best and sound practices during the life-cycle of RACHP applications.

A Global Perspective of the Sustainability Goals for the Refrigeration, Air Conditioning and Heat Pump Sector. Didier Coulomb is the Director General of the International Institute of Refrigeration 

This presentation will examine the various aspects of the Sustainable Development Goals adapted to the refrigeration sector. The presentation will include an overview of the International Institute of Refrigeration's research on the carbon impact of the food cold chain.  

How can we reduce the demand for energy? Ian Arbon, Engineered Solutions

When looking at how we move to ‘Net Zero’ GHG emissions, we often focus on how to improve cycle or system efficiency, make better use of monitoring/data, use alternative technologies and provide better training to the industry. All play their part in the journey but we often overlook why we need to use the energy in the first place and whether this can be reduced or in some cases eliminated.

The Energy Hierarchy, developed back in 2009 and republished by IMechE in 2020, provides a refreshing approach to tackling the challenge of ‘net zero’ by putting energy demand reduction at the top of the list of things to consider when developing a sustainable energy policy for the future. It highlights the need to challenge why we use the energy in the first place and how we can reduce or even eliminate demand. The benefits of doing this are far greater than the incremental improvements that can be made in efficiency and a kWh saved is more valuable than a kWh supplied when trying to meet the ‘net zero’ goal; the impact is also immediate and not something confined to future development. This is true for the HVACR industry where demand is often in response to existing working practices and is applied without any challenge to improving the process or in some cases eliminating it altogether.

Keynote presenters

James S. Curlin is the Acting Head of UNEP OzonAction. 

Jim Curlin is the Acting Head of the OzonAction Branch in the Law Division of the United Nations Environment Programme. He has worked at UNEP since 1995 and specializes in compliance with multilateral environmental agreements, notably the Montreal Protocol. Before that, he worked in the US for in both the private and public sectors on pollution prevention.  

Didier Coulomb is the Director General of the International Institute of Refrigeration (IIR). A qualified engineer of of the Ecole Polytechnique de Paris (1982), the Ecole Nationale du Génie Rural, des Eaux et des Forêts (1984), and of the Institut des Stratégies Industrielles (1995). He worked for the French Ministry of Agriculture and for the French Research Ministry. He was then General Secretary of the CIRAD till 2004 before becoming the Director General of the International Institute of Refrigeration (IIR).

Ian Arbon is a Chartered Mechanical Engineer, a Registered European Engineer and a Chartered Environmentalist, with an MSc in ‘Renewable Energy and the Environment’ and an MBA.  Formerly MD of several UK engineering-sector manufacturing companies (including Howden Compressors Ltd), he now runs Engineered Solutions, a Sustainable Engineering and Management consultancy.  Ian is a Fellow of IMechE; as a Founder and past Chair of its Energy, Environment & Sustainability Group, he has a long history in spearheading the Institution’s work in sustainable development; among other relevant reports, he was Lead Author of the Institution’s Reports (2009 & 2020) on ‘The Energy Hierarchy’.  He is also a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), the Energy Institute, the Institute of Refrigeration and the Institution of Engineers in Scotland. He has been a Visiting Professor in Alternative Energy at Newcastle University, an Honorary Professor in Sustainable Energy at the University of Glasgow and is currently a Visiting Professor in the Centre for Energy Policy at the University of Strathclyde.