The paper celebrates the successes of the last 30 years and considers what further actions need to be taken to secure the future that we hope for . A vision of the refrigeration world in 20 years ’ time is presented and the paper provides a stark appraisal of the steps that need to be taken to achieve that vision within a reasonable timeframe . These steps include the adoption of new technology , implementation of best practices in design and construction , raising skills levels in the operation and maintenance workforce and reassessing the way in which risk is managed . There is clearly a lot to talk about .

1 . INTRODUCTION

Humans can be characterised as either optimists or pessimists depending on how they view the world . A strange feature of the psychology of the great engineering innovators is that they combine both of these personality traits . They recognise that the current situation is less than ideal and not functioning well ( pessimist ) but they believe with all their might that they can make a difference ( optimist ). For the last 30 years , a

massive effort has been made throughout the world to develop new methods of providing cooling in response to environmental concerns about traditional refrigeration systems . Significant progress has been made in that time but set against the ever-changing challenges that the world faces in terms of climate change , energy security , political upheaval , depletion of finite resources and population growth it is reasonable to ask two questions : ‘ have we done enough ?’ and ‘ what else needs to be done ?’.

This paper is a personal description of the journey to a better , more efficient , more reliable and more sustainable refrigeration world . It is based on 40 years of observation of the way technology and politics interact and the mechanisms used to steer them one way or the other . Those 40 years have seen more money spent on research and development in the refrigeration world than ever before and yet we seem to have been running hard to stand still . Much of the innovation in this space has been in response to specific issues and seems to have focused simply on substituting one working fluid for another rather than seeking radical , fundamental improvement in the ways that things are done . On the other hand , there have been many developments of what is called ‘ not-in-kind ’ technology where traditional methods of cooling are replaced by novel systems using a completely different approach to the cooling

process . These concepts often focus on one piece of the whole cooling requirement and fail to see the bigger picture , so they seem to have gained a reputation for over-promising and under-delivering .

2 . CHALLENGES

The pressures that have applied to refrigeration system design development over the last 30 years fall into three distinct groups . There are factors that affect the external environment , such as the ozone depletion potential or the global warming potential of the working fluid in the system . These are regulated by international agreements on substance production and consumption , for example the Montreal Protocol and the Kyoto Protocol . There are factors that affect the operating performance of the system , such as the energy efficiency of the plant . This can also affect the external environment through the emissions from the source of energy used to power the system , but it is much more difficult to regulate through international agreements . The greatest motivator of change in this regard is the cost of energy . There are factors that affect the safety and reliability of the equipment . Change in this respect is driven by national and international law , augmented by safety standards that set out actions to be taken to ensure an acceptable level of safety is achieved .

The international agreements are very slow moving – the elimination of chlorine-

Image by © Cold Link Africa

Dr Andy Pearson .

based refrigerants that harm the ozone layer will have taken more than 40 years when it is finally concluded in 2030 with the completion of the global ban of chlorodifluoromethane ( known as R-22 ) and other HCFCs . Interest in energy efficiency is less consistent than the steady progress of the international agreements . It tends to flare up when energy prices spike but it is then forgotten when