First-ever Accelerate Japan 2019 award winners announced

Lawson, Ajinomoto Frozen Foods, Coca Cola and Mayekawa today received Accelerate Japan awards for advancing natural refrigerant adoption in the country.

The awards ceremony was held during the ATMOsphere Japan 2019 conference in Tokyo, Japan (12 February).

This is the first edition of the Accelerate Japan awards, which aim to recognise Japanese companies that have excelled in advancing natural-refrigerant technologies this past year.

The Best-in-Sector Light Commercial award went to Coca Cola.

In Japan, Coca Cola has been leading the adoption of natural refrigerants in beverage equipment such as bottle coolers and vending equipment. The company aims to be 100% HFC-free in all vending equipment in Japan by 2020.

The Best-in-Sector Food Retail award went to Lawson.

Lawson has been driving natural refrigerant adoption in Japan as one of the country's leading convenience store operators since 2010.

Today, the company is continuing to push forward boasting 3,272 CO₂ stores country wide as of December 2018. Lawson is also leading cost reduction efforts by working with several technology suppliers to test and trial several types of natural refrigerant solutions.

The Best-in-Sector Industrial award went to Ajinomoto Frozen Foods.

Ajinomoto Frozen Foods is a division of the Japanese multinational Ajinomoto Co., Inc. — a food and amino science corporation best known for creating the original monosodium glutamate (MSG) product branded 'AJI-NO-MOTO'.

The company has worked to eliminate freon use in all of its domestic food processing factory freezer systems since 2006. Today the company aims to phase out HFC use in all of its domestic and overseas facilities by 2030.

Accelerate magazines and ATMOsphere conferences are both produced by shecco, a global market accelerator for natural refrigerant systems and the publisher of this website.

Innovation of the Year

The winner of this year’s Innovation of the Year award is Mayekawa for the NewTon NH₃/CO₂ system.

"We were so surprised and honoured to receive this award. Thank you so much," said a Mayekawa representative who received the award.

"The point is how can we stop global warming. That is our mission, we believe. The refrigerant issue is of course important, but more than that, it has to be used to reduce energy consumption, so we would like to continue our effort towards that."

The public chose the Innovation of the Year in an open vote.

ATMOsphere Japan 2019 is being held today at the Shinagawa Conference Center in Tokyo, bringing together Japan's HVAC&R stakeholders to discuss natural refrigerant-based solutions for the country.

Click here for live coverage of ATMOsphere Japan 2019 on Medium.