CO2

North American Sustainable Refrigeration Council Announces First-of-Its-Kind Refrigeration Technician Training Event

Co-hosted with Southern California Edison, the event will provide natural refrigerant technician training from multiple manufacturers and industry experts.

MILL VALLEY, California—February 15, 2023—The North American Sustainable Refrigeration Council (NASRC), a 501(c)(3) environmental nonprofit working to advance climate-friendly natural refrigerants in supermarkets, today announced the first-ever Natural Refrigerant Training Summit in Irwindale, California April 4 – 6, 2023. Created for refrigeration technicians of all experience levels, the event is free to attend and will offer comprehensive training on the latest natural refrigerant technologies.  

The summit was inspired by NASRC’s Workforce Development Assessment Report recommendations, which outlined the commercial refrigeration industry’s increasingly critical technician shortage. Published in January 2023, the report proposed data-driven solutions to improve technician recruitment, training, and retention to grow the workforce.

“A key takeaway from our workforce development assessment was the need to increase training opportunities and prepare technicians for the transition to climate-friendly refrigerants,” said Danielle Wright, executive director of NASRC. “The goal of this event is to provide convenient, comprehensive, and relevant training for technicians to ensure their ongoing success in the future.”

Leading industry experts and manufacturers will provide concurrent training sessions on CO2 fundamentals, CO2 installation, maintenance and troubleshooting, CO2 case controllers, propane (R-290) self-contained cases, and micro-distributed systems. For a complete list of training providers and up-to-date program information, visit nasrc.org/training.

While the training portion of the event is open to refrigeration technicians, local HVACR students are invited to participate in a networking session on April 4 to increase exposure to natural refrigerant technologies and build industry connections.

The training summit is offered free of charge thanks to the generous support of premium event sponsors: AHT Cooling Systems USA, BITZER US, CAREL USA, Climate Pros, CoolSys, Emerson, Hillphoenix, Parker Sporlan, Piping Industry Progress & Education (PIPE), and The Arcticom Group.

Register for the free Natural Refrigerant Training Summit.

About the North American Sustainable Refrigeration Council

The North American Sustainable Refrigeration Council (NASRC) is a 501(c)(3) environmental nonprofit working to advance climate-friendly natural refrigerants and reduce greenhouse gas emissions caused by traditional HFC refrigerants. We collaborate with stakeholders from across the industry, including over 51,000 food retail locations, to eliminate the barriers to natural refrigerants in supermarkets. For more information, visit nasrc.org, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube.

Announcing Our Nat Ref Summit Trainers!

Announcing Our Expert Trainers!

We're pleased to announce the training providers for the first-ever Natural Refrigerant Training Summit in Irwindale, California. Co-hosted with Southern California Edison (SCE), this free, 3-day event will provide refrigeration technicians with comprehensive training on the latest natural refrigerant technologies. 

Participating technicians can build their own agendas and choose from a variety of concurrent training sessions from the following providers: 

  • Hussmann

  • Kysor Warren

  • Sporlan / Micro Thermo

  • Refrigeration Mentor

  • True Manufacturing

  • Zero Zone

  • AHT Cooling Systems USA

  • BITZER US 

  • CAREL USA

  • Danfoss

  • Emerson

  • Hillphoenix

Space is limited and field technicians will receive registration priority.

Thank You to Our Sponsors!

Premium Sponsors

Basic Sponsors

Featured
Arctic Cooling Systems
Kysor Warren
M&M Carnot

Register Now! Natural Refrigerant Training Summit

Training Summit Registration Now Open!

NASRC is proud to offer the first-ever Natural Refrigerant Training Summit in Irwindale, California. Co-hosted with Southern California Edison (SCE), this free, 3-day event will provide comprehensive training for refrigeration technicians on latest natural refrigerant technologies.

Technicians will have access to concurrent trainings from multiple industry experts as well as an exhibit hall showcasing the latest natural refrigerant products and services. Local HVACR students will also be invited to participate in a networking session to increase exposure to our industry.

Space is limited and field technicians will receive registration priority.

Thank You to Our Sponsors!

Rivacold Brings Natural Refrigerant Expertise to North America as New NASRC Silver Member

Atlanta, Georgia—Rivacold America has joined the North American Sustainable Refrigeration Council (NASRC) as a silver member. Rivacold is a manufacturer of refrigeration assemblies, including compressor receiver sets, open and housed condensing units, packaged and split systems, multi-compressor packs, air cooled and compact condensers, static evaporators, and unit coolers.

Established in Italy in 1966, Rivacold has grown to have a global presence and now offers a number of natural refrigerant technologies, such as CO2 condensing units and R290 packaged units for walk-ins. The company has engineered and installed hundreds of cost effective, efficient solutions utilizing natural refrigerants. More recently, Rivacold has begun to grow their presence in the U.S. market, where they are continuing to emphasize their natural refrigerant technologies.

“While we all continued to monitor the evolution of less environmentally impactful synthetic refrigerants, it became more and more clear that natural refrigerants have a long-term place in our industry. There is a visible trend today with multi-circuited parallel hydrocarbon and CO2 split systems, both of which Rivacold has great experience with. Therefore, when given the opportunity to be a part of NASRC and help accelerate the movement in the market to a more stable and responsible position, it only seemed …… natural and we look forward to getting more engaged.”

-Doug Schmidt, President, Rivacold America

Globally, the supermarket industry has begun to transition to climate-friendly refrigerants with low global warming potential (GWP). Natural refrigerants, including carbon dioxide (CO2), ammonia (NH3) and hydrocarbons, have extremely low global warming potentials and offer technically viable solutions in supermarkets. 

However, despite the growth in natural refrigerant adoption throughout Europe, natural refrigerants are not yet widely adopted in the U.S. due to a unique set of market barriers, such as upfront costs, lack of trained service contractors, and uncertainty around lifecycle costs.

The NASRC is a 501c3 nonprofit focused on taking action to eliminate the barriers slowing the widespread adoption of natural refrigerants in supermarkets and create a more climate-friendly future for refrigeration. The organization works with Rivacold and over 125 other industry organizations to take actions that overcome the challenges associated with naturals. 

 “We are excited to welcome Rivacold to our membership network. We look forward to leveraging their global expertise to add strength to our initiatives.”

- Danielle Wright, Executive Director, NASRC

In addition to Rivacold, NASRC is supported by a strong network of members, which represents over 24,000 supermarket locations in North America, major equipment manufacturers, service contractors, and other stakeholders.

“Our network of members is the driving force that propels our mission forward,” said Wright. “Together, we can move the needle on natural refrigerant adoption in the U.S., and we are pleased to have Rivacold participate in those efforts.”

More information about Rivacold is available at www.rivacold.com/ww/en.

Howe Corporation Joins NASRC As A Silver Member, Expanding Natural Refrigerant Equipment Options for Supermarkets

Chicago, Illinois—Howe Corporation has joined the North American Sustainable Refrigeration Council (NASRC) as a silver member. The NASRC is a 501c3 nonprofit taking action address the barriers slowing the widespread adoption of natural refrigerants in supermarkets to create a more climate-friendly future for refrigeration. 

Howe Corporation is a family-owned manufacturer of ice flakers and ice bins used in retail and industrial applications. The company was founded in 1912 when “artificial ice” began to gain traction over harvested ice imported by rail, allowing Howe Corporation to quickly grow as an industry leader. Since then, Howe Corporation has demonstrated great innovation along with a commitment to natural refrigerants through their CO2 and ammonia compatible flake ice machines and ice bins. Howe Corporation, as a leader in the market, has offered CO2 flake ice machines for commercial applications since 2009.

“We are proud to join the NASRC and emphasize our commitment to low-global warming potential solutions. The NASRC provides a forum for manufacturers, end-users, and other industry stakeholders to collaborate and develop solutions to remove barriers to market adoption of low-GWP technologies. We are proud to participate in this forum with our industry partners.”

-David Barrent, Vice President of Engineering and Operations, Howe Corporation

The supermarket industry has seen a recent increase in demand for low-global warming potential (GWP) refrigerant technologies. This has led to a rise in demand for natural refrigerants, which have negligible GWPs and are exempt from all existing and pending refrigerant regulations.

As the demand for low-GWP refrigerant technologies increases, a growing number of supermarkets are looking for equipment options that can be used with natural refrigerants. Howe Corporation is helping to ease the transition to natural refrigerants through their product offerings that are compatible with natural refrigerant technologies.

“No single refrigeration technology is going to be the right choice for every store. One thing supermarkets need right now is a variety of market-ready technologies that allow them to comply with refrigerant regulations without disrupting business as usual.”

- Danielle Wright, Executive Director, NASRC

Despite the growing demand for natural refrigerants, they are not yet widely adopted in the U.S. due to a unique set of market barriers. The NASRC is focused on removing those barriers to make natural refrigerants a strong economic choice for supermarkets.

The organization works directly with the strong network of industry stakeholders that make up NASRC membership to drive initiatives that address the upfront costs of natural refrigerant technologies, remove uncertainty around lifecycle costs, and ensure availability of service technicians who are qualified to handle natural refrigerants.

“We are pleased to welcome Howe Corporation to our network,” said Wright. “A number of our supermarket members are looking for equipment that help them seamlessly transitions to natural refrigerants, and Howe Corporation is a great example of a company providing those products. 

In addition to Howe Corporation, NASRC is supported by a strong network of members, which represents over 24,000 supermarket locations in North America, major equipment manufacturers, service contractors, and other stakeholders.

More information about Howe Corporation is available at www.howecorp.com.

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