The IOR Annual Conference has announced Star Refrigeration as a Gold Sponsor for its online event taking place from 21 to 22 April 2021. Several members of the Star team will also play an integral role as key speakers at the event, presenting alongside university academics and industry experts.
This year’s conference titled ‘The Journey to Net Zero Heating and Cooling – Beyond Refrigeration 2021’ not only aims to support businesses, the UK Government and individuals to achieve their environmental goals, it will also provide expertise used to develop a road map for non-technical specialist business owners. The event will provide a varied programme featuring case studies that demonstrate how the refrigeration, air conditioning and heat pump sector is responding to the challenge of net zero heating and cooling.
Star Refrigeration’s Group Sales and Marketing Director, Dr Rob Lamb, is set to open the conference, explaining why moving to net zero emissions is essential for the industry. Dr Lamb is a past Trustee of the Institute of Refrigeration and also serves as Chair of the Membership Committee. Inspired by Greta Thunberg’s recent BBC documentary, he will set out a roadmap to achieving net zero, aiming to reverse her statement “Without action there is no hope”, to “With action there is hope”.
Dr Lamb said, “Business and industry have such a crucial role to play in climate change. This event aims to offer guidance and expertise to businesses and professionals to really start making these vital changes to the refrigeration industry and the sectors it serves. The wheels are already in motion worldwide, and those businesses which don’t invest and plan for net zero will be left behind”.
“We have pulled together in the face of unprecedented global challenges, from the Covid-19 pandemic to the global recession, forcing us to adapt and modernise as a society. We must now address our biggest threat – climate change. It is imperative that our industry acts quickly and adapts to its impact by strengthening our industry commitment to cutting emissions of carbon dioxide and other global warming gases.”
The IOR conference is set to highlight the long-term challenges facing the refrigeration industry and the solutions readily available – such as ultra-low GWP refrigerants, better system performance, improved monitoring and more effective training for engineers.
Star Technical Solution’s Dermot Cotter and David Blackhurst will chair and lead workshops on ‘Learning how to measure impact with environmental, legislative and regulative auditing’ throughout the two-day conference, while David Pearson of Star Renewable Energy will co-host the informal chat ‘How to improve net energy in cities.’
Sharing the company’s years of experience in heat pump technology, Dr Andy Pearson is due to present a case study titled ‘River source heat pumps for residential and commercial heat networks’. It presents an overview of the performance achieved by Star’s river source heat pump at Queens Quay in Clydebank. Once again Star has successfully busted the myth that big heat pumps are not effective, not efficient and not reliable. The excellent performance at Queens Quay proves that large systems like this are readily available technology for district heating networks in the UK.
Dr Pearson said, “I’m honoured to have been invited by the IOR to present at the Annual Conference once again. I’m passionate about the key role heat pump technology can play in the decarbonisation of the country’s heat networks in order to make our homes, schools and hospitals greener, warmer and more energy efficient. This case study is a great example of what can be achieved with renewable energy sources”.
Attendees will have access to a comprehensive set of conference papers, live webinars of all presentations and recordings of all sessions for six months. The annual conference programme also offers networking opportunities within its coffee lounge discussion sessions.
Fees start at £50 + VAT per person with discounted fees available for students and delegates from Article 5 countries under the Montreal Protocol and the 7 countries with economies in transition.
To find out more about the annual conference and to book your place, visit https://ior.org.uk/events/netzero
To find out more about Star Refrigeration and Star Renewable Energy go to: https://www.star-ref.co.uk/about-us/
