Welcome to Colorado and the 2018 Natural Refrigeration Conference & Expo

Special thanks to every company who provided important financial support for IIAR through their conference participation

It’s the beginning of a new annual conference for all of us at IIAR, and that means it’s time to meet new colleagues, network, and catch up with friends and business partners at our industry’s largest event. Welcome to the 2018 IIAR Natural Refrigeration Conference & Exhibition!

As always there’s a lot going on both in our business environment and within our organization, and so I would like to take this opportunity to talk about how this event and your membership in this organization is making an important contribution to our everyday lives and the lives of others. Our great mission together is one of safety – making the world a safer place!

Having the privilege of serving on your Executive Committee has made me increasingly aware of this mission – to address climate change by promoting the use of natural refrigerants in ways that are energy efficient, and to develop safety standards and training programs that insure the safe application of natural refrigerants.

Embracing the many applications of natural refrigerants means we’re making the environment safer for ourselves and our future generations. Because of their low environmental impact and high efficiency, natural refrigerants are the best answer for doing what we do – making things cold.

Another part of our mission is to extend the reach of natural refrigerants to all sorts of refrigeration applications. That’s a goal that our membership and our board is really embracing, as evidenced by our focus on producing safety standards for not only ammonia but now carbon dioxide and soon to be hydrocarbons.

We have active committees and task forces that are currently working on producing CO2 safety standards, and a task group investigating how we can begin to develop best practice documents for hydrocarbon refrigerants.

Our industry has a long record of safety to be proud of, and our standards activity is at the core of that. We’re making refrigeration facilities safer through the development of PSM, RMP programs, education and training.

All of that work starts here, at our annual conference through the hard work and dedication of our committee members. So how can you participate in this great mission of ours? Two words . . . get involved!

The work of our committees is really the cornerstone of our institute and activities. I’d like to use this message to not only welcome you to this year’s conference, but also to encourage you to find a committee whose work you can participate in and become passionate about.

That sense of volunteer leadership just keeps growing every year. If you’re a longtime IIAR member, welcome back. And if you’re new here, I hope you enjoy the energy and enthusiasm of your colleagues. Welcome to Colorado Springs and enjoy the conference!

Best Regards,

Bruce Nelson

2018 Conference Chair