UNIDO: Natural solutions for developing countries

By Clémence Girard-Reydet, Nov 28, 2012, 11:56 3 minute reading

During his presentation at ATMOsphere Geneva 2012 side event to the 24th Meeting of the Parties of the Montreal Protocol, Sidi Menad Si Ahmed, from the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), outlined the organisation’s different initiatives to implement natural substances in the RAC and foam sectors.

Mr. Si Ahmed first gave a timeline of some of UNIDO’s main projects using natural substances:

  • After the launch in early 90s, through an initiative of Greenpeace (Greenfreeze) of the first domestic refrigerators using natural refrigerants in Germany demonstrating that natural substances could be used as a blowing agent as well as refrigerant . UNIDO started as early as 1994 to promote the introduction of new refrigerator manufacturing technologies using hydrocarbons refrigerants and foaming agents in Article 5 countries, including China.
  • In 1999, completion of the first projects in China with significant positive impact on ozone (794 ODP) and climate (3.3 mil. GWP).

By 2010, the majority of refrigeration and foam projects implemented by UNIDO involved the use of natural substances.

UNIDO’s mission: Global acceptance towards natural solutions

Sidi Menad Si Ahmed explained that it is the role of his agency to promote natural substances as part of the solutions for global environmental protection.

Back in the 90’s, the first concerns UNIDO needed to address, working towards the global acceptance of natural alternatives, was the problem of safety and the additional cost implied by the substitution of HCFCs by natural substances in existing installations.

What was especially important in developing countries was getting a lot of local companies on board, and getting them to co-finance these projects, so that the Multilateral Environmental Agreements Branch of the organisation could convince the Executive Committee to cover the additional costs that these projects implied.

A main challenge has been to deal with second-generation conversions in the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) usually located in the heart of the cities where safety issues were even more topical.

All natural solutions to be explored in the future

With China currently being the biggest consumer of HCFCs, recent efforts of China together with UNIDO have been targeted at reducing the use of synthetic refrigerants in the Chinese RAC sector as well as to improve the awareness toward the global policy frame regarding safety, registration of new substances and quality of the products to be exported.

A recent agreement states that 80% of the RAC sector in China will be converted to naturals refrigerants.

UNIDO is also planning to promote other natural substances such as ammonia for the industrial refrigeration or water and CO2 as a foaming agent.

Other recent projects of the agency involved CO2 refrigerants in the Philippines.

UNIDO ATMOsphere Technology Summit 2013

Mr. Si Ahmed concluded inviting participants to the upcoming UNIDO ATMOsphere Technology Summit to be held in Vienna, Austria on 3-4 June 2013.

The objectives of this event, organised by UNIDO in cooperation with shecco, are:

  • To introduce manufacturers in Article 5 countries and end-users to natural solutions already available in the RAC and foam blowing agent sectors.
  • To show what is the real cost of these solutions, the cost aspect being key to the global acceptance of the natural refrigerants.
  • To provide information about safety and training and show that training in hydrocarbons and other natural refrigerants is existing and easily accessible and to help developing countries get used to the concept of safety.

The summit, - the programme of which will include presentations, practical case studies and various occasions for debate and networking - will aim to provide information for developing country representatives to make informed choices regarding the natural solutions mostly suitable to their local needs.

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By Clémence Girard-Reydet

Nov 28, 2012, 11:56




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