The North American Sustainable Refrigeration Council (NASRC), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit working to advance natural refrigerants in supermarkets, has opened registration for their next Natural Refrigerant Training Summit in St. Louis, Missouri, November 14–16, 2023. Co-hosted with Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 562, the free event will offer comprehensive training for refrigeration technicians on the latest natural refrigerant technologies.

Leading industry manufacturers will provide training on CO₂ fundamentals, installation, and maintenance, as well as propane self-contained cases and micro-distributed systems. The three-day event is open to all refrigeration technicians. Local HVACR students and faculty are invited to participate in a free networking session with event participants on November 15 to increase exposure to natural refrigerant technologies and build industry connections.

“Our first-ever training summit in April was an overwhelming success,” said Danielle Wright, executive director of NASRC. “Over 200 technicians participated in 17 free training sessions, more than 100 HVACR students and faculty networked with industry leaders, and we received countless requests to bring this event to other parts of the country.”

These events were inspired by NASRC’s Workforce Development Assessment, which investigated data-driven solutions to improve technician recruitment, training, and retention to address the critical technician shortage.

“Our assessment identified access to training on the latest technologies as a key solution to support our technician workforce, and we’re excited to help scale that solution nationwide,” said Wright.

NASRC will host additional training summits on March 19–21, 2024, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and April 30–May 2, 2024, in Irwindale, California.

The St. Louis Training Summit is offered free of charge thanks to the support of premium event sponsors BITZER US, Climate Pros, Copeland, and Hillphoenix. To register for the St. Louis Training Summit, visit nasrc.org/stlouis-training.