Participants from policy and industry that have already registered for Atmosphere 2009 now span nearly all continents, from Canada, the US, and Brazil, to Italy, Germany and the UK, to Indonesia, Bangladesh, Japan, or Nigeria. The international conference to be held in not much more than a month, is also attracting more and more interest from concerned decision makers in developing regions most threatened by the impacts of climate change, the conference organisers confirm. With its exclusive focus on real-life examples and case studies, Atmosphere 2009’s ultimate aim is to bring together policy and industry to exchange views on how and where natural refrigerants can be an effective tool to reduce environmental pressures worldwide while being cost-efficient and technologically viable.

Statements

To find out what speakers and interested individuals have to say about the future of the natural refrigerants CO₂, ammonia, and hydrocarbons, Atmosphere 2009 designed a short survey with 3 simple questions regarding their potential to replace fluorinated gases with high global warming effect. Within just two weeks, the survey brought more than 80 statements from industry and policy, associations, and concerned individuals. To get a representative sample of opinions, Atmosphere 2009 is now calling on all those that have not yet filled in the short survey. A first selection of statements is available on the Atmosphere 2009 website.

Among the 30 high-level speakers having confirmed their participation, several individuals have already submitted their clear statements in favour of natural refrigerants to the conference organisers. The identity of these speakers will be disclosed during the conference itself. Here a selection, to appear on the Atmosphere 2009 website over the coming days:

• “Natural refrigerants will finally put an end to the long and disastrous story of fluorinated substances.”
• “Large end-users have a responsibility to drive innovation for minimising the environmental impact of their cold chain. Natural refrigerants play an important role in that.”                      
• “Ammonia is such an efficient refrigerant that industry could never afford to move away from it.”
• “Natural refrigerants will dominate the market in commercial and industrial refrigeration within several years.”
• “Hydrocarbons refrigerants are an excellent alternative for HCFCs.” 
• “Natural Refrigerants provide the only environmentally acceptable alternatives to synthetic refrigerants.”
• “For commercial refrigeration applications in supermarkets, I see CO₂ as the future refrigerant.”
• “I believe that natural refrigerants offer the most efficient cooling systems.”  

New Speakers in Hydrocarbons Technology Session

The hydrocarbons technology session on Monday afternoon, moderated by HC specialist Nicholas Cox from Earthcare Products, is covering a whole range of present and future applications for hydrocarbons. Presentations will explore the use of HC in domestic fridges, ice cream retail trade, light-commercial and automotive applications, and stationary air conditioning. Over the last weeks, René van Gerwen from Unilever, and Volkmar Hasse from GTZ have confirmed their talks about the potential of HCs in retail trade, and in AC systems as a replacement for R22. A current project in China led by GTZ has sparked interest inside the HC industry increasingly looking also at emerging industries to consider the wider use of natural refrigerants.