Business as usual is a term that has never applied well to industrial refrigeration. Our economic sector is constantly changing to meet the demands of a rapidly evolving supply chain, as we examine in this month’s cover story. Regulatory change, new technology and equipment development has propelled us into ever broader markets and applications for natural refrigerants.

As change comes quickly, we’re evolving right along with it – to meet new regulatory challenges, new operational challenges, and increasingly, to harness new markets and move into entirely different environments.

That forward propulsion has only served to re-energize the traditional industrial applications of ammonia and CO2 , and it has opened the door to new opportunities to learn about nontraditional applications, consider new markets, and make our own expertise available in business areas new to natural refrigerants.

I’m proud to announce that this year, we’re broadening our conference educational program to make room for more networking, more technical papers and workshops and new outreach opportunities in the commercial as well as industrial refrigeration industry.

The 2019 conference will be fairly unique compared to the conferences we’ve produced in the past because we’re partnering for the first time ever with the North American Sustainable Refrigeration Council to develop a dual track of technical papers, panels and workshops. This partnership is one of the ways IIAR can provide members a broader look at the new technology and equipment driving the growth of natural refrigerants everywhere. And it’s also a way to expand our educational resources and commitment to safety to a new group with less extensive experience handling ammonia and other natural refrigerants.

We’ve developed our typical tech paper and educational programs to form the core of our upcoming conference so we can deliver our usual extensive review of industrial applications. Built on that base, the new educational track will also include resources for light and commercial installations in typical food processing centers, industrial cold storage industries and the newer food retail sectors of our market.

This conference will be unique in that we’ll see many new engineers and professionals working in our industry in these new areas, who will benefit from the broad experience and practical knowledge of the traditional IIAR member base.

Conversely, it will be a great opportunity for those among us in the traditional heavy industrial space to learn about the new technology, new operational challenges and educational demands of an emerging commercial sector. I’m looking forward to this opportunity to make new friends and provide a broader opportunity for networking to all IIAR and NASRC members.

At the same time, our exhibition space will be filled with our industry’s best technology and services, along with the addition of new equipment and systems that serve the commercial sector. I hope you’ll join me in learning about how natural refrigerants are evolving to meet these new industry opportunities.

The IIAR Expo itself is in a fantastic location in 2019. It’s my pleasure to invite everyone to Phoenix, including our first-timers and all of our new end users, engineers and contractors who are attending as NASRC members.

We have a great venue lined up. All major hotels are within easy walking distance of an exceptional convention center, and as usual, there will be many social activities and opportunities to enjoy surrounding restaurants and entertainment.

Our conference registration, special education and technical tracks are currently being offered at a signicantly reduced cost to members, and we’re doing this to encourage your participation in this particular conference event.

It will be unique because it represents the first time IIAR has formally participated in the food retail and commercial sector. We have the opportunity to take a leadership role in addressing the use of natural refrigerants in all markets, and there’s no better place to do that than an IIAR conference, where all of our enthusiasm and professionalism is on display.

Together, we must also make our voice heard in this time of significant change for our industry. As you will read in the following pages of this Condenser issue, there are some significant developments going on not just in the regulatory world, but also in the operating landscape defined by code development.

This conference will be an important moment – for all of us, across all sectors of our industry, old and new, to take a leadership role in defining how natural refrigerants will be used in the near future and beyond.

I’m looking forward to this challenge and hope to see you all in Phoenix!