Chillventa 2022 - Jeans and Jackets

I could have also used the title – “Sausages and Beer”. They were equally abundant. It was my first visit to Chillventa since moving to Europe with the massive HVACR show having succumbed to COVID for several years.  You could sense the relief, and the release, of pent-up energy walking around the cavernous, chattering exhibition halls of the Nuremburg Messe.

It’s a big show, and a big deal. It took a while to orientate myself, and I needed a couple of coffees before I was in the mood to enter any sort of meaningful discussion with the over-eager stand hosts.

Part of my reason for visiting is I wanted to take stock of the industry and gauge just exactly where it is on the environmental pathway. To cut through all the green BS that regularly fills my inbox. How serious was the industry, given that by most studies it’s responsible for at least 7% of global emissions. As the largest exhibition of its kind in the world, in one of the most progressive countries and regions, it should be an ideal barometer.

I came away feeling both a mix of being overwhelmed and underwhelmed. Hope coupled with the nagging fear that what I witnessed was just a jazzed-up continuation of business as usual.

The pavilions and floors were still largely filled by middle-aged men (like myself…). They had swapped their suit trousers for jeans and trainers. Attempting to put a fresh modern face on the industry, which apart from a few innovators, had changed only marginally underneath.

It’s fair to say the industry is in good health (even if show numbers were down slightly given the geopolitical situation). Heat-pumps are having their moment off the back of fossil gas shortages and price rises. Need for refrigeration continues unabated with the increasing demand for packaged and prepared foods. Increasing ambient temperatures feeding the desire for more and more air-conditioning units. No wonder everyone was smiling.

I could see endless examples of compressors, chillers and racks. Huge coupled electric motors that left you wondering how the heck they got them inside. All of them ready to enter service filled with refrigerant gases of differing specifications and to draw electricity from already straining grids.

And herein lies my conundrum.

The show isn’t much interested in discussions about minimizing or re-thinking the need for cooling or whether it can be done in other ways (which I get – it’s about selling equipment save for a few monitoring and efficiency outfits). And sure, manufacturers will tout the latest efficiencies and improvements but ultimately it is a smidgen of COP here – a drop of SEER improvement there.

Perhaps the biggest shift, and the one I wanted to examine most, was the one led by the refrigerants themselves. The innovation driven by the shift to natural refrigerants, pushed along by the Kigali phase out of HFCs and more locally the EU F-Gas regulations.

This movement has been underway for a few years now and some of the natural refrigerants now feel mainstream. CO2 (the refrigerant) was front and centre and felt like the default option for many applications. Ammonia was well represented as always. That reliable workhorse of industry with the unfussy and robust systems that continue to evolve.

The refrigerants I really wanted to survey however were the two opposing flavors - the sweet and sour of refrigerants. Propane (R290) and the HFOs (i.e. R1234yf, R1234ze and their blends).

I’ll admit to being really encouraged to see the amount of R290 (and some R1270 Propylene) units coming into production from several manufacturers. Not just in the domestic space, but also in mid to large heat-pumps and cooling. What strikes me (especially when you line them up next to the CO2 units) is the simplicity. R290 is just a great, high performing refrigerant when you take the right precautions around it and the systems are reassuringly familiar to most refrigeration techs. The updated standards allowing higher charge sizes (amount of contained refrigerant) certainly helping.

Then of course we have the HFOs. There were a few manufacturers that hadn’t quite worked out which horse to back and had a few of each (naturals and HFOs) in their portfolios. The large chemical refrigerant companies showed up bravely with their big glossy stands and twee environmental messages. I walked past them quickly and suggest their time of being relevant is limited.

Along those lines it was curious to see one of the US manufacturers struggling with the naturals / HFO conundrum. One arm of its group fully behind naturals and publicly critical on the use of synthetic refrigerants (including HFOs given their environmental concerns) while the other arm of the group happily showing off the latest large chiller models containing 1234ze – go figure.

I’ll reserve special mention for Efficient Energy and their chillers using only water (R718) as a refrigerant. They appear to have cracked the code for making this technology work. I returned to their stand several times and it was always packed with curious and enquiring folks. For certain applications this makes loads of sense and it is the ultimate climate neutral refrigerant. I wish them well.

However, to come back to my conundrum. As I walked and walked it was clearer to me that the industry is still largely blind to what is coming down the road. All the banks of synthetic refrigerants – even you could argue contaminated CO2 and Propane - at some point in the future will need to be destroyed, repurposed or maybe even sequestered. If a refrigerant contributes to global warming in any shape (i.e. GWP >0.1) or potentially poisons our water (like some HFOs) then we need to re-focus our efforts on containment (leak management) and end-of-life handling.

In the hundreds of stands that I passed I eventually found one company, tucked in a corner, well off the main thoroughfares, that provided equipment for end-of-life handling. The industry is going full speed building new equipment and systems to fill with climate and environment polluting gases – with little attention paid to dealing with the eventual clean-up. I’m also dubious of the large refrigerant distribution companies that seem to want to have their cake and eat it to. To continue to sell HFCs and HCFCs while touting their green efforts in reclamation and destruction.

I wrapped up my visit to Chillventa at the ATMOsphere networking event. Sharing some drinks with those who have been leading the natural refrigerant fight for many years plus some that have just picked up the baton. It filled me with encouragement, seeing the progress first hand, grateful for the shift that had already been hard won. But knowing there is plenty left to do.

 A few shout-outs and links:

COPA – For bringing much needed focus and attention to the problem of existing and growing refrigerant banks - fruitful discussions at the show

ATMOsphere - Central to building community and awareness around natural refrigerants. Great networking event and generous support from TEKO

RefNats - Great to meet up with fellow members of the organisation working to advance the uptake of natural refrigerants

Eurammon – Supporting the use of ammonia refrigerants - thank you for kindly letting us use your stand for the meetings

Refrigeration Mentor – Pleasure to meet Trevor and his wife over from Canada. Doing a great job of building much-needed technical skills coupled with positive people development

ClimaCheck – I last saw Klas (the founder) in person over a meal together in Bangkok some years ago while doing some training there. Great to see ClimaCheck getting some well-deserved big projects and still a vital piece of technology for both energy efficiency and refrigerant leak containment