There is no doubt that our industry is moving towards the consolidation of technologies that contribute significantly to energy saving and sustainability, but we must deepen our knowledge to know how to choose the best.
by Camilo Botero*
After attending the EVENTS REFRIAMÉRICAS and TECNOEDIFICIOS, in addition to what was appreciated at the AHR 2014 in New York, it seems to me that a topic that may be of interest to my kind readers is to speculate a little about the trends in the world of Air Conditioning and Refrigeration; and for simplicity in its denomination, I dare to propose the acronym that appears in the title, since the ones we have been using do not adequately describe our guild in the tropics.
In the first place, there is a great interest in the sustainability of the systems, both those related to achieving an appropriate climate, either for comfort or for any type of application: hospital, laboratory, electronics or other industry and / or process where it is essential to control the climate for its operation, as well as in the applications that have to do with the cold chain.
But what is sustainability? This concept can be given all kinds of interpretations, from the very simplistic and devalued, which says that everything must be "green", to the one that I very restrainedly propose: Use systems and technologies that have at the same time the maximum efficiency available and that consider the care of the environment, when doing the engineering, carry out the supplies, execute the assemblies, and finally, properly operate and maintain the facilities throughout their useful life.
But this in reality is nothing more than a "wishfull thinking", that is, an illusory thought, because no progress is made to the extent that circumstances as dramatic as climate change, which is an unquestionable fact, demand it.
To illustrate the above, a recent situation comes to the case. With refrigerants there have been all kinds of changes in search of sustainability. In the wake of the Montreal and Kyoto protocols, they have been concerned, in good time, to prevent further deterioration of the ozone layer and minimize the effect of global warming, both issues directly linked to climate change.
Today there is a wide variety of refrigerants, for all kinds of applications and the current trend is to go towards those that have less potential for attack on the ozone layer and lower global warming potential, so much so that the AHRI that incorporates most manufacturers of air conditioning equipment, The world's refrigeration and heating is in search of the refrigerants that best meet that condition and that effort accompanies it: scientists, governments, entrepreneurs and guild, however, what there is today is a great confusion and the ideal refrigerants do not yet appear.
But as an example of what not to do; during the events in Medellín I learned of a case in that city in which the use of a natural refrigerant prevails, which is very good, very low performance equipment was selected, which is very bad, because this impact is greater in energy consumption, which impacts the environment more in the life cycle of the system.
The trend that should prevail for these cases is maximum efficiency but accompanied by the minimum impact on global warming and deterioration of the ozone layer. For this, teams that meet these two conditions are required in all types of applications and towards that goal we must all focus without exception.
Another good example of the trend towards sustainability is the certification of buildings. Methodologies such as LEED, which advocates for leadership in the design of new and existing buildings, which take into account energy efficiency and the environment. The same happens with the SAC - Colombian Environmental Seal.
There is a very marked interest in the search for these certifications which is very good, but in my opinion there is a great lack with this trend because they are of voluntary initiative only, since in Colombia and I would dare to say that neither in Latin America, there are no codes or regulations that require all buildings and facilities to comply with the postulates that promote sustainability.
Another trend that should be the most notorious priority is the need to train our engineers and technicians in these concepts, creating a true passion for the rational use of energy, being friendly to the environment, that is, making them without exception ecological. Once they have been properly trained, there should be exams that certify their competencies.
This whole exercise of highly specialized engineering and technology must be properly standardized and regulated. I believe that in this aspect we are far below what this hypothetical trend towards sustainability demands and again everyone, without exception, must strive to reach the state of the art in these topics. Parallel to these concepts that have to do with people, the equipment related to C&R must be certified by suitable and independent institutions that guarantee that all the performance of the equipment is those presented in the catalogs of the same, in order to guarantee the long-awaited sustainability.
It is also of paramount importance to maintain the tendency to ensure that C&R systems adapt to their partial loads, which are due to occupation, construction materials and climatic factors. For this, it is necessary that the control logic specified for the system is adequate and that the equipment has the redundancy and capabilities that allow it to accommodate partial loads.
When visiting C&R facilities, of all kinds, it can be seen that in the control aspect of the system there are great deficiencies and also great opportunities. Fortunately, significant progress has been made on this issue of control and it is a matter of putting the energy supply in tune with the demand for it.
Without exception, everyone: designers, manufacturers, suppliers, contractors and users of C&R systems must have a deep understanding of the use of energy in such systems and the impact this may have on climate change. This is an urgent and inescapable task; it seems to me that we have already wasted too much energy and extremely deteriorated the environment in which we live.
* Camilo Botero is the current Secretary of the Federation of Ibero-American Associations of Air Conditioning and Refrigeration - FAIAR; he was president of ACAIRE and is president of Camilo Botero Ingenieros Consultores Ltda. He has worked as a teacher in several Colombian universities, guilds and currently in ACAIRE in diploma courses of air conditioning projects, energy efficiency in air conditioning and refrigeration, cogeneration and trigeneration, applied psychometrics, thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, heat transfer and turbomachinery. ([email protected]).
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