Keeping up the dialogue
February 1, 2016 | By Luc Boily
Industry stakeholders take advantage of an opportunity to hear from industry experts.
Refrigeration is a constant moving industry with its changing regulations, “green” requirements and higher system performance targets. In order to keep people informed about technology trends and the latest breakthroughs, Emerson Climate Technologies (ECT) holds its interactive E360 forums across Canada and the U.S. As part of that initiative, Emerson staff together with third party experts in the field of refrigeration were in Montreal last autumn to update and train about 75 industry players, including OEMs, contractors, wholesalers and end users.
ISSUES AND CHALLENGES
The main topic was the challenge faced by food service businesses and supermarkets. André Patenaude, head of the Emerson’s CO2 Strategy Department, broke the ice by discussing current challenges and explaining the latest developments in that field.
“The dialogue with the industry is based on four mainstays, which work closely together: energy efficiency, environmental protection, equipment reliability/safety and economic issues,” said Patenaude.
He noted that of the approximately 6500 stores currently using CO2 (carbon dioxide) refrigeration systems in the world, about 5200 are based in Europe and 1000 in Japan (see Figure 1). These figures provide an excellent picture of the potential of this ecofriendly technology. Patenaude highlighted the tremendously low GWP (global warming potential) of that refrigerant: 1.0 compared to the GWP of around 1000 for several HFCs (hydrofluorocarbon). This was already remarkably better than the GWP of around 5000 for HCFCs (chlorofluorohydrocarbon), which are being phased out.
IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUIRED
“There are currently about 140 CO2 systems in Canada – a figure that is quite good when compared to the 50 systems or so operating across the United States,” said Patenaude. Although HFCs are globally responsible for only two per cent of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), without immediate action, they could represent as much as 19 per cent of them by 2050, noted Dennis Kozina, ECT sales manager.
“Based on 2012 figures, which stated that HFC emissions across Canada were eight megatons (MT) CO2 equivalent, this amount would then climb up to 15 MT by 2020 and 25 MT by 2030,” said Kozina. “It’s quite obvious that corrective actions can’t wait any longer.”
In the province of Quebec, the 2013-2020 Climate Change Action Plan aims to reduce GHG emissions by 20 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020. To reach that target, 30 priorities have been set by the government, the Western Climate Initiative has been signed, and the carbon market has been addressed in partnership with the State of California, said Sébastien Bonneau, lobbyist and president of Consultant SJB. “Combining five environmental initiatives, the ÉcoPerformance program, for instance, supports contractors’ efforts in several ways, including refrigeration optimization in supermarkets. An overall $344.25 million fund has been granted to support this program which aims to reduce GHG emissions by 1.5 MT CO2 equivalent,” said Bonneau.
www.emersonclimate.com www.mern.gouv.qc.ca
