INCORPORATING COLD CHAIN
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
REAL Alternatives 4 LIFE achievements
By the International Institute of Refrigeration
Three years ago, the European
Commission announced that it would
be co-funding a project to develop
EU wide training on low GPW alternatives
refrigerants as part of its LIFE climate
action programme.
REAL Alternatives 4 LIFE was the project
and it would incorporate the principles of
a blended learning programme (booklets,
e-learning and practical teaching). In
addition, it would run a programme of
‘train the trainer’ events and study days
across Europe.
All of this is supported by a highawareness
campaign to encourage
recognition of this training amongst
employers, wholesalers, manufacturers,
end users and policy makers – increasing
confidence in the application of these
new refrigerants.
What’s more, it would offer certification
for technicians who had completed
REAL Alternatives standard assessments
providing a consistent and high standard
for training across Europe. All of this in
multiple languages as well. So, what did
the project achieve? Three years on and a
total of over 1 600 working days between
the eight organisations, has resulted in:
• 9 free learning modules available
online – with 5 000 individual learners
registered
• 7 training events and 4 study day
events for teachers resulting in 200
certified trainers
• 23 national organisations now able to
accredit trainers and their courses has
so far resulted in 500 certificates being
issued to technicians
As the demand for
cooling services
continues to
grow across the
globe, the need
to switch to lower
GWP refrigerants
for environmental
reasons is clear.
Our communications have reached
several hundred thousand people globally
through co-ordinate awareness campaign
of talks delivered online and at meetings,
international exhibitions and conferences,
regular web articles, press releases, social
media and newsletters.
Each of the national organisations has
had regular meetings with their national
and international policy makers including
various presentations at COP global summit
meetings, the International Congress of
Refrigeration and ASHRAE meetings.
Creative Commons
The training resources will soon be available globally and have already been developed in 17 languages.
As the demand for cooling services
continues to grow across the globe, the
need to switch to lower GWP refrigerants for
environmental reasons is clear. However,
in addition the higher GWP F Gases are
already becoming less readily available
due to international phase down sin supply.
As a result, the market has to adapt
rapidly to the use of low GWP refrigerants.
But this is not always straightforward:
carbon dioxide operates at higher
pressures, hydrocarbons, R32and HFOs
have various degrees of flammability and
ammonia is toxic. A massive retraining
exercise is needed for installers and service
technicians. REAL Alternatives took on the
challenge of developing training materials
that will teach technicians how to use
alternative refrigerants in a safe, efficient,
and reliable manner.
These training resources have been
translated and are now available in 17
languages to make them accessible
throughout most of the EU and, in the
future, globally. REAL Alternatives is
also operating a network of licenced
training providers and National Leads
worldwide to monitor training take up
and certification standards.
Earlier this year the project carried out a
survey of the market to see how attitudes
to the use of low GWP refrigerants have
developed and a growing demand for
these refrigerants in the future. We found
that the transition to low GWP refrigerant
technologies is happening rapidly.
The main driver for this change is of
course legislative action by policy makers
but there is an increasing awareness that
climate-friendly alternatives are available
and businesses are under more social
pressure to address climate change
impact of their activity. Those in the RACHP
are expecting a continued growth in
demand for low GWP alternatives at least
for the next 3-5 years, and that these types
of refrigerants will become mainstream in
the future.
Employers appear to be more aware of
the need to have good quality, practical
training in this area in order to address
their safety, reliability and efficiency
concerns. Up until February 2020 when
physical training ceased in most of Europe,
we were seeing a trend of growth in the
capacity of trainers to deliver practical
courses and for technician to achieve
certification since the REAL Alternatives
practical training became available in
June 2019.
As the number of licenced training
providers offering practical training across
our 23 countries of national lead countries
increases, so the number of certified
The team behind REAL Alternatives expect
the global impact of this training material
to extend rapidly both within and beyond
Europe in the next few years, and are
currently in negotiation with a wide range
of both developing and developed
countries to adapt the material for their
use, and to arrange train the trainer
sessions for their technical teachers. This
project has confirmed that the EU and UK
are leading the way in tacking climate
change for the RACHP sector.
NOTES
The Project Management team
includes The Institute of Refrigeration
and London South Bank University in
the UK, University College Limburg in
Belgium, IKKE Regional Training Centre
in Germany, ATF Trade Association in
Italy, PROZON Foundation for climate
protection refrigerant reclamation
organisation, International Institute of
Refrigeration in France, AREA European
Contractors Association in Belgium.
The LIFE programme is the EU's
funding instrument for environment and
climate action. It promotes innovative
solutions and spread best practices
in reducing emission and adapting to
climate change across the European
changed over the past 3 years. The
findings support the need for the kinds of
free accessible resources that the project
technicians who have attended such
training is likely to increase rapidly in the
coming years.
Union. CLA
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