AIRAH Refrigeration Engineering Conference to address ammonia training

Against a changing legislative backdrop, the Australian Institute of Refrigeration Air Conditioning and Heating (AIRAH) is organising a Refrigeration Engineering Conference, aimed at addressing forthcoming industry changes such as carbon taxes, refrigerant phase-out and skills shortages. The conference will take place in Melbourne, Australia on 27 July, and will include speakers with expertise in ammonia refrigeration.

The Australian Institute of Refrigeration Air Conditioning and Heating (AIRAH) Refrigeration Engineering Conference will focus on key issues refrigeration engineers and contractors need to keep up to date with. According to Mr David Upward, one of the Refrigeration Engineerging Conference 2011 committee members, this conference will bring to the attention of industry stakeholders legislative changes and technical issues, and thereby enable them to secure their future market position. With regard to ammonia refrigeration the key issue to be addressed will be safety.

The conference early bird rate will close on 8 July.

AIRAH conference topics

Conference topics to be discussed include:

Ammonia emergency response
Addressing the skills shortage
Benchmarking in the industry
Government update on initiatives in refrigeration
Practical aspects of using CO₂ in the field
Energy savings in industrial refrigeration
Changes to AS/NZ1677
Proving gains in energy efficiency

The conference will take place at the Telstra Conference Centre in Melbourne. Conference attendees will include refrigeration system designers, contractors, consultants, maintenance personnel, regulators, architects and occupational health and safety (OHS) personnel.

AIRAH conference speakers

The conference keynote address will be given by Dr Caroline Smith, Director of Skills Australia, on “Meeting energy efficiency needs to 2025 through workforce development”. In her presentation Ms Smith will highlight the new opportunities for energy efficiency emerging in the built environment sector, which will require development of the Australian workforce through vocational training and higher education.

Dr Michael Bellstedt will present on the “Viability of heat recovery from ammonia plant in comparison to different commonly used heat source”.

Also presenting at the conference will be Mr Klaas Visser, who over the course of his distinguished career has been involved in over 800 ammonia refrigeration projects. He is currently involved in ammonia cooling and heating for building applications.

Dr Rafiqul Islam of Austral refrigeration will present on “next generation of supermarket equipment for sustainable living – taking a sensible choice”, investigating the use of emerging technologies.

Mr Jonathan Fryer, director of ISECO Engineering Services, who has over 22 years of experience in the industrial and commercial refrigeration sector, including on large ammonia systems, will also present.

Industrial ammonia training by AIRAH

For the past nine years AIRAH has been providing training on industrial ammonia refrigeration, on ammonia safety issues and on how to handle ammonia spills. Throughout July AIRAH will organise events on ammonia safety across Australia.

Background

Australian legislation affecting the HVAC&R industry:

The Australian Prime Minister announced plans to roll out a carbon tax in July 2012, and introduce an emissions trading scheme three to five years after that. The scheme is set to make HFCs such as R134a more expensive, and may therefore have an impact on the uptake of natural refrigerants such as ammonia.
Australia was one of the first signatories to the Montreal Protocol, and has thus far exceeded all of its phase-out obligations. By 2016 Australia will have largely phased-out HCFCs, four years ahead of the schedule required by the Protocol.
On 1 July 2011, the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) became the national regulator for Australia’s vocational education and training sector.