ASHRAE & UNEP-OzonAction launch new joint workplan promoting management of refrigerants in developing economies
In margins of ASHRAE Winter Conference and in the presence of members of the ASHRAE Associate Societies Alliance (AASA) representing 60+ international refrigeration and air-conditioning engineering associations from all continents, ASHRAE and UNEP-OzonAction launched their sixth biennial joint workplan which covers 2019-2020 under the theme of “Refrigerant Management for Developing Economies”.
ASHRAE and UNEP-OzonAction have been engaged, since 2007, through a cooperation agreement aiming at promoting state-of-art technologies and practices that can support developing countries to move towards non-ODS and lower-GWP technologies as well as promote best practices and techniques that support eliminating emissions of refrigerants during servicing of refrigeration and air-conditioning applications.
ASHRAE is the largest society in the world with focus and mandate on refrigeration and air-conditioning engineering sectors with 55,000+ members and 211 chapters worldwide. UNEP-OzonAction Programme is the custodian of the clearinghouse mandate for the Montreal Protocol with 9 active networks of ODS Officers in all developing countries.
The new joint workplan, for 2019-2020, is designed to ensure best outreach and use of products and materials jointly developed over the last few years. The ASHRAE-UNEP E-Learning courses on refrigerants knowledge and practices were jointly developed and made available to National Ozone Units (NOUs) in developing countries, now the phase of translating them into other UN languages started with launching the Spanish version of the Refrigerant Literacy Course. French will follow during first quarter of 2019 while the E-Learning program will be also converted in different formats like face-to-face workshops, webinars, briefing notes, etc. This should allow wider and better access to the knowledge by different groups and at their preferred interface.
Another initiative just jointly launched is the Lower-GWP Innovative Award which promotes innovative design, research and practice, recognizing individuals and teams who have developed or implemented innovative technological or concepts that applies for developing countries aiming at advancing lower global warming potential (GWP) refrigerants.
Several other products and services are included in the 2019-2020 joint workplan that are offered and accessible to NOUs and clients at developing countries.