NATIONAL SECRETARY ’ S MESSAGE :
At this meeting National Council awarded the following Awards :
• Meritorious Award to Mr C Knottenbelt of Port Elizabeth and Mr C . Elston of Durban .
• The SAIRAC Gold Award to Mr Grant . K . Laidlaw
• The Life Vice President award to Mr John . Ackermann .
Also at the Breakfast meeting , Johannesburg Centre Committee awarded a Mike Veldon Award to Mr Jaco Pieterse .
ASHRAE 2018 Mr Laidlaw took the opportunity to congratulate AHRAE and the newly formed South African ASHRAE chapter under the leadership of the new South African ASHRAE Chapter president : Richard Humphrey .
On the 24 th of July , SAIRAC President Grant K Laidlaw met with the ASHRAE President Sheila J . Hayter , and senior ASHRAE members in Johannesburg to plot out the course for the new South African ASHRAE chapter . The two organisations met in a spirit of co-operation to ensure that activities are to the benefit of all members and to industry as a whole .
2019
IOR ( The International Institute of Refrigeration ) MOU with SAIRAC 2019 An organisation almost as old and well established in the HVAC & R sector is the Institute of Refrigeration ( IOR ) from the UK . Mr La Grange believes SAIRAC and IOR have much in common in that our members vary from trade backgrounds and experience to practitioners involved in manufacturing , contracting , consulting to name a few . They have vast resources in terms of research documents , case studies and guidelines . With European countries going through the changes that the South African Industry is faced with at the moment , a keen learner has much to gain from the material available . SAIRAC members have the option to register as an E-affiliate for a cost of only GBP20 per year and gain access to the publications on their website that would normally be on offer at a fee and not for free . This is very good value for money .
Trade skills - Refrigeration and air conditioning 2019 At the WorldSkills event held in Durban from 23 to 25 February , David La Grange bagged the top spot in the field of Refrigeration and air conditioning . Very well done , David ! SAIRAC awarded him the Best Student Award .
PE Best student - Thermodynamics 2019 Ruth Serfontein from the Nelson Mandela Bay University received SAIRAC ’ s award as Best University Student for 2019 for her results in Thermodynamic . Thanks is also due to Mr Piet Le Roux for liaising with the university to establish the best student in this specific field .
Dreosti Memorial Lectures ‘ Issues Around Cooling Systems with R290 as an Alternative Refrigerant with a very low Global Warming Potential ’ – Presenter : Dr Volkmar Hasse , PhD in Applied Biology from the University of Giessen . His last position held was GIZ senior programme director of the Chinese-German Low Carbon Urban Development Programme
based in China .
2020
Western Cape Government World Refrigeration 2020 Building on our relations from the year prior SAIRAC joined forces with the Western Cape ( WC ) governmental departments concerned with air quality for the 2020 world refrigeration day on the 26th of June . This was hosted ( online ) by Sally Benson and her departmental colleges and we were invited to participate . The cooperation between the Western Cape government , the Bavarian state ministry of environment and GIZ to continues to plan and work on a several projects that had a specific focus on natural refrigerant applications . One of their projects covered the gathering of statistics regarding current refrigerant volumes in use in the retail sector within the WC .
Community outreach 2020 With the Covid-19 level-5 lockdown in place , many of our communities found themselves in even more desperate times than usual . With no means to try and earn an income and nothing in reserve , many people had little if anything to eat for extended periods of time . Children make up a big portion of these communities . Much should have been provided from government departments , but hungry children and elderly people have few options , so we thought it good to help even if it was a small offer . This is the most basic of needs and the NC members approved a donation of R12 000 to the Potchefstroom chamber of commerce in support of their community-based ATMs to help alleviate the desperate need .
Centre course activities 2014 to-date Each Centre continues a diverse programme of technical meetings , enrichment courses and social events . Technical meetings that address issues around new generation refrigerants and changes in industry legislation have attracted high attendance numbers . Centres are encouraged to continue with SAIRAC ’ s important role of keeping its members and the industry informed of technological and regulatory changes .
2021
Frigair Exhibition 2021 has been postponed to 2022 due to Covid-19
CELEBRATING 70 YEARS OF SERVICE TO THE HERVAC INDUSTRY 21