Air conditioning and refrigeration face decarbonisation of facilities
José Porras Aguilera, president of the Spanish Technical Association of Air Conditioning and Refrigeration (ATECYR), states in the association's 2023 yearbook that one of the challenges facing the air conditioning and refrigeration sector is the contribution to the decarbonisation of thermal installations in buildings, limiting the use of fossil fuels by 2040.
The challenge facing the sector is 'a historic milestone, as it poses very significant changes, above all, in the way we have traditionally carried out heating and hot water production', says José Porras.
The F-GAS regulation, which foresees the total elimination of hydrofluorocarbons by 2050, will also have a major impact on the air conditioning and refrigeration sector, according to José Porras Aguilera. 'These are very demanding requirements, so the commitment of all players involved in the process is needed. Public administrations and professional associations must join strategies and efforts to achieve these important objectives'.
Porras explains that 'for this new stage, we are promoting a new governance programme in ATECYR, in which we will touch on all the important points that affect professionals in the sector: increasing the quality and quantity of our courses, promoting everything related to refrigeration, improving technical documentation and digital tools, setting up an observatory of the most relevant innovations affecting the sector, strengthening relations and collaborations with other associations, seeking to achieve increasing relevance with institutions and the administration, and promoting internal and external communication, to show all members, and those who are not yet members, the importance of the sector and the vital role that we professionals will play in upcoming years'.