Manufacturers, regulators and researchers in the refrigeration and air conditioning sector will meet on Wednesday 22nd and Thursday 23rd September to discuss the future of the current production model and its transition towards a more eco-sustainable model.
We are all familiar with air conditioners, car air conditioners or, even more so, the fridges and freezers we have in our homes, but, apart from cooling the air, what do they have in common? These devices and many others use gases, the so-called fluorinated gases, to cool the air through a chemical reaction, and they are in the middle of a green revolution.
In recent years, many international organisations and environmental agencies have pointed to these gases as responsible for greenhouse gas emissions with a strong impact on global warming, largely due to the improper disposal of the equipment that contains them. Specifically, the European Commission decided to tackle this problem in 2014 by setting quotas for the production, distribution and marketing of these compounds, with the aim of reducing emissions by 55% compared to the 2015 baseline and by 79% by 2030.
However, many scientists and researchers are focusing beyond the quota policy, opting for more sustainable alternatives through the recycling and use of waste. This is the origin of the KET4F[1]Gas project, funded by the European Commission’s Interreg Suode programme. An international alliance to develop technologies and practices to improve the management of fluorinated gases and the future of the air conditioning sector in Europe. The project will present its results this Thursday 22-23 September at the Lessons learned from KET4F-Gas event, an international event with representatives from industry, administration and academia in Bayonne (France) with free online broadcasting and participation open to everyone.
The event will be attended by some of the leading manufacturers, installers and waste management companies, such as Chemours, Climalife, FCC Ámbito and ERP (European Recycling Platform), as well as the two main associations of the refrigeration sector in Spain (AEFYT) and Portugal (APIRAC). They will be joined by representatives of public administrations and industrial and environmental institutions to exchange best practices, ideas and proposals on the future of the sector from an economic, environmental and social point of view. The French Agency for
Ecological Transition (ADEME), the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA), the Environment Department of the Xunta de Galicia and the Climate Change Office of the Generalitat de Catalunya will provide the public sector’s point of view.
In order to follow the event online, the interested public can register in the following link: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_QFAIPXQBT-iDsEXKkVCr6Q. The Wednesday September 22nd program will run from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and from 10:30 a.m. to 12:00h on Thursday 23. Simultaneous translation will be available in Spanish, English, French and Portuguese.
