A technical conference in 2012 in Bangkok, Thailand, has provided some of the most up-to-date information on a way to deal with unwanted ozone depleting and greenhouse gases. The conference was the 32nd Open Ended Working Group of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol.

Tecumseh used last fall’s Chillventa expo in Nuremberg, Germany, to highlight a number of its developments in commercial refrigeration. Among the announcements made at the event, the company showed a new range of condensing units equipped with semi-hermetic compressors.

The attention that’s being paid to HFC refrigerants used as retrofits in HCFC-22 systems is among the more positive developments in the industry. Refrigerant manufacturers are working with contractors and end users in doing such retrofits in real-world situations.

Rajan Rajendran has garnered recognition as one of the leading experts on the use of alternative refrigerants. His knowledge and ability has gained him recognition as one of The NEWS’ 2012 NEWSMakers.

Now, more than ever, the industry has been looking for alternatives to R-22 to keep the huge existing base of R-22 equipment up and running. More reclamation has been one option. But at the same time, attention is being paid to a large number of HFC refrigerants that can be retrofitted into R-22 equipment.

Because no one HFC refrigerant can be retrofitted efficiently into the entire range of R-22 equipment, a wide and sometimes changing variety of HFCs have entered the market. The NEWS contacted a number of refrigerant manufacturers asking them to discuss some of their most popular HFCs for R-22 retrofits.

My column in the Nov. 12 issue of The NEWS focused on HFCs, especially low GWP HFCs as retrofits for R-22 systems. This column will focus on what I used to call “beyond HFC” refrigerants, although these days, the term might be “other than HFC” refrigerants.

While natural refrigerants start to slowly — and cautiously — gain a foothold in North America, their impact is more forceful almost everywhere else. What do other countries have to say about this?

Two recent refrigerant developments focus on CO2 and HFOs. One relates to CO2 in refrigeration; the other is an announcement of an HFO in air conditioning.

Those of a certain age may remember the original editions of the young teen series such as The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew. Since the early 1970s, the series still around have been updated and condensed. I mention that because in the original series more attention was paid to minor details that made for interesting reading.