This month, IIAR’s big news is that our IIAR 2021 Natural Refrigeration Conference & Heavy Equipment Expo originally scheduled to take place March 28-31, 2021 in Palm Springs, California, has been rescheduled to be held June 20-23, 2021, in Palm Springs, California.

This change was first announced by our IIAR Chairman, Dave Schaefer, and I’d like to be the first to weigh in on the changes we’ve made to IIAR operations, and the conference, in particular, to keep pace in what has been an unprecedented year.

The later conference date will hopefully provide the needed time for a successful campaign against Covid-19 leading to a safe and successful inperson event for IIAR. We were one of the first organizations to have to cancel our 2020 conference and one of the first to hold a virtual conference. We would love to be the first organization in our industry to again hold a much-anticipated physical event.

We hope our first in-person event in 2021 is exciting for you, so please register now but feel assured you are at no risk. We realize with such an unpredictable climate; we may have to cancel the in-person event. If we do, the decision will be made in early March 2021 to avoid any costs such as shipping of materials and equipment and canceled flights. IIAR will refund all your registration, booth, and sponsorship fees 100%.

In these virtual times, the initiatives asked for by our members continue to be advanced by our committees and staff. IIAR standard updates for IIAR-2, IIAR-4, and IIAR-8 are near completion. The new standard IIAR-9, Minimum System Safety Requirements for Existing Closed-Circuit Ammonia Refrigeration Systems, was released this past spring and the new IIAR Guideline for Developing an Energy Control Plan for Manual Hand Valves in Ammonia Refrigeration Systems was just completed and is now available. Our Series I, II, and III training videos continue to be updated to match the updates to standards and guidelines and are now available for online access through the IIAR Learning Management System (LMS). Soon to be added to our LMS Academy of Natural Refrigerants online course content will be The Basic Design of Ammonia Refrigeration Systems.

We are beginning online “Talk it out” small group sessions with our members to discuss topics asked about by our members. From these and other outreach with members, we hope to learn how IIAR initiatives can be improved and what other needs remain unfulfilled. Please stay healthy, happy, and in contact with me and others regarding the activities performed by your association and how you can get involved!