Atlanta, Georgia: In light of recent action by 197 countries agreeing to amend the Montreal Protocol to phase-down the production and consumption of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) globally, industry experts will share guidance on how to incorporate low-GWP (global warming potential) refrigerants at the 2017 ASHRAE Winter Conference, according to a press communiqué from ASHRAE. The Conference, the communiqué added, is scheduled to take place from January 28 to February 1, 2017, at Caesars Palace, while the co-sponsored AHR Expo will be held from January 30 to February 1, 2017, at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

The Technical Program, the communiqué said, will feature eight tracks, 86 papers, 28 technical papers presented via poster session, 248 presentations and 331 speakers. The tracks, it revealed, are Water-Energy Nexus, Advances in Mission Critical Design and Operation, Climate Change and Its Effects on HVAC&R Design and Technologies, Energy Efficient Industrial Buildings, Fundamentals and Applications, HVAC&R Systems and Equipment, Commercial and Industrial IAQ and Building Operation and Performance: Meeting the Modeling Expectations.

The communiqué further said that among the sessions is a two-part seminar – “Low-GWP Alternative Refrigerants and Their Applications.” The seminars, the communiqué highlighted, feature six papers included in the November 2016 issue of ASHRAE’s Science and Technology for the Built Environment, focusing on thermophysical properties, modelling, heat transfer performance, lubricant/refrigerant miscibility and system applications of low-GWP halocarbon refrigerants containing unsaturated carbon bonds.

ASHRAE provided the following information on sessions pertaining to refrigerants in the Technical Program:

• Seminar 64: Research Update on Activities Toward the Safe Use of Low GWP Flammable Refrigerants
• Seminars 40/56: Low-GWP Alternative Refrigerants and Their Applications: Parts 1 and 2
• Workshop 2: Optimization of Direct AC Systems with Low GWP Refrigerants
• Seminar 6: Recent Action in Evaporative Cooling
• Conference Paper Session 22: Refrigeration Systems and Low GWP Refrigerants

“Providing technical expertise for ASHRAE’s members and their clients continues to be the core of the Conference Technical Program,” said Leon Shapiro, Conference Chair. “Climate change will compel ASHRAE members to rethink HVAC&R for the future. In addition to sessions on low GWP refrigerants, the Technical Program will also focus on the water-energy nexus and designing for maximum efficiency, energy efficiency and IAQ in industrial spaces, and achieving projected results after all the modeling is completed.”

ASHRAE has provided the following link to register for the Conference: www.ashrae.org/lasvegas.