The Ibero-American Congress of Air Conditioning and Refrigeration (CIAR) was held by FAIAR from June 4 to 6, 2024, in Mexico City.
by Elsa E. Yáñez*
The signs are clear: increasingly aggressive natural phenomena, melting of the poles, increasing temperatures at sea and on land, and to make the need for better indoor spaces more evident, we are experiencing a pandemic of disproportionate magnitudes.
The effects of climate change and the risk of contagion in buildings lead us to focus on the most critical areas that can make a difference quickly. When analyzing a little the sources of energy consumption, we find that buildings consume 40% of the world's energy, and within them, 40% of consumption is made by air conditioning, ventilation and refrigeration systems.
Since 1991, when the FAIAR (Federation of Ibero-American Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Associations, www.faiar.net) was created, the vision was to create a non-profit entity that could become the benchmark of the industry by bringing together the national Air Conditioning and Refrigeration associations of the various countries that make it up to find common solutions to common problems.
These include:
- ABRAVA, from Brazil.
- ACAIRE, from Colombia, and who is in charge of the Executive Secretary of FAIAR.
- ACMERD, from the Dominican Republic.
- AMERIC, from Mexico and who was in charge of the presidency in the period 2022 to 2024.
- ATEAAR, from Ecuador.
- ATECYR, from Spain.
- CACAAV, from Argentina.
- CAPAREV, from Paraguay, who received the presidency in the period 2024 to 2026.
- CChRyC, from Chile.
- EFRIARC, from Portugal.
- IRC, from Cuba.
- VENACOR, from Venezuela.
The Ibero-American Congress of Air Conditioning and Refrigeration (CIAR) was held from June 4 to 6, 2024, in Mexico City. This congress is organized by FAIAR as part of the closing of the itinerant presidency of the federation, which on this occasion was in charge of Mexico and AMERIC, as the national representative for HVAC/R issues.
The first day of the congress began with the Ordinary Assembly of the FAIAR, which by statutes must have a face-to-face meeting at least once a year. In it, the agenda was approved, continued with a greeting from the Presidency, the minutes were read and approved, a report on CIAR Mexico 2024 was given: 380 m2 of conference rooms, with representatives from 14 invited countries and more than 1,300 people registered.
The budget report continued, followed by the progress report of the councils currently active: General Council, Cold Chain Council, CAI and the recently created Women's Council, who promoted a survey of women to raise awareness about the gender gap in these industries.
In this assembly, the ceremony of change of the presidency was held, where Eng. Roberto Rosas, VP of the air conditioning sector of AMERIC, gave the flag of FAIAR to Marcos Barrios, president of CAPAREV.
Among other recognitions, congratulations were extended by the dignitaries of the member countries of the FAIAR to ATECYR. This congratulation was extended in order to commemorate its 50 years of existence.
The recognition was extended by Ernesto Díaz, current president of AMERIC, to José Porras, current president of ATECYR.
On the final remarks of the assembly, the relevance of the work of the CAI council in the global alliance, IEQ-GA, was discussed. Although it is true that this issue has not yet achieved the necessary relevance in our countries and that there is no obligation to maintain a good quality interior, the standards of ASHRAE, which is one of the founding associations of the alliance, are kept in mind. There is a lot of work to be done, but there is a clear direction to work more closely with the alliance.
Lecture Series
The program was very rich. The conference cycles began at 9 am and on June 5, the Women's Council had a discussion where they wanted to highlight the opportunities to achieve equity and inclusion.
The results of the report on the wage gap in Ibero-America were presented, in reference to a previous study generated by the United Nations focusing on certain Latin American countries.
In this way, a quick exercise was carried out to find out what the conditions were perceived in the room and remotely, and the way was opened to the comparison with the results of the study.
Subsequently, the Cold Chain Council organized a round table where the perspective of several countries was shown regarding the differences in the nomenclature of refrigerant pipes in different countries.
On the morning of the 6th, it was the turn of the Indoor Air Quality Council, which has been the council that has been most active in the FAIAR. On that day, the 6th Ibero-American Forum on Indoor Air Quality was held, which addressed critical issues such as indoor air quality in hospital and pharmaceutical facilities, from the perspective of design, installation, qualification, as well as operation and maintenance.
This council has produced several FAIAR standards. One of them, with reference to the indoor air quality that must exist in existing buildings. Additionally, a standard for the design of air conditioning systems for good indoor air quality in hospital facilities was published and in a subsequent edition, the qualification process of air conditioning systems to achieve adequate indoor air quality in such hospital facilities was addressed.
In general, there were clear thematic axes in this congress, mainly energy efficiency, the cold chain, indoor air quality, new trends in technologies for the design, installation, commissioning and operation of HVAC/R systems, both in commercial and mission-critical systems (hospitals, pharmaceuticals and data centers).
At the commercial exhibition, which was with an area adjacent to the Electric Expo 2024, the most important companies in the air conditioning sector were presented and those who opted for the presence and sponsorship to support the Ibero-American Air Conditioning Congress.
In general, there was a wide variety of information that was received with great satisfaction, exchanges of experiences, networking opportunities for the local market and to a certain extent, for the Ibero-American region. Americ says goodbye to the presidency of FAIAR, hands over the baton to CAPAREV and now it is up to them to lead the work of FAIAR and ensure that it continues, to show the progress
during the next congress to be held in the city of Asunción in May 2026.
FAIAR's job is to help all member countries develop the necessary competencies, led by the most advanced countries. The focus is on mutual support to professionalize the HVAC/R industry in all countries and thus achieve a more comfortable, comfortable, healthy, as well as environmentally and socially responsible world.
* Elsa E. Yáñez is a human being, seeking to positively impact the world, one day at a time. He is currently the leader of Belimo, for the North of Latin America, he strongly supports the associations of the FAIAR, and the normative bodies in Ibero-America. Contact: [email protected].
