Marketing & communications expert shecco wishes all its supporters and partners a successful and rewarding year for 2012. For the coming months two ATMOsphere events in Washington and Brussels, as well as the launch of shecco’s publication branch and a global natural refrigerants online community will be among a number of major milestones on the way to bring climate-friendly technologies “faster to market”.
The GUIDE & other publications
The year for shecco’s activities in the field of sustainable refrigeration, heating and cooling will start with the publication of the long-awaited “GUIDE 2012: Natural Refrigerants – Market Growth for Europe”. The GUIDE will be the first in a series of easy-to-access, visually attractive publications to quantify the market potential for the “Natural Five” carbon dioxide, ammonia, hydrocarbons, water and air. It will feature the world’s first CO2transcritical supermarket map for Europe, industry expectations from 2012 to 2020, an end-users’ perspective on market growth for natural refrigerants, results from a global survey among 1300+ industry experts, and more.
Later in 2012, a GUIDE for the North American market only will be published, in addition to other publications currently in the planning stage.
2012: growing shecco’s web presence
2012 will also be a key year for shecco in terms of web development and web presence. The industry-leading platform on CO2 as a refrigerant – R744.com – has been completely reworked to be launched end-January 2012, featuring more functionalities, a revised professional online community and a new design. By Summer 2012, ammonia21.com and hydrocarbons21.com will welcome in turn their own communities, joining in with the R744.com community to create the first global online natural refrigerants community.
Further important developments over the next 12 months will be the development of a new website dedicated to the fourth natural refrigerant water and the upgrade of the electric vehicle platform cars21.com with a revamp of several features, well deserved after 3 years of existence and for the comfort of its constant growing community.
Finally, R744.com and ammonia21.com smartphone APPs will be released by Spring 2012, as well as a hydrocarbons21.com APP 1.1 version.
ATMOsphere 2012 events in Washington and Brussels
shecco will organise two ATMOsphere workshops on natural refrigerants in 2012 – one in the USA and one in Belgium. On 12-13 June ATMOsphere America will take place for the first time in Washington DC. Focused on the North American market, which is moving more and more towards natural refrigerants, the main theme will be: The Business Case for Natural Refrigerants in North America.
For the 4th time, ATMOsphere Europe will take place in September (17-19 Sept 2012, dates tbc). This time planned as a 3-day event it will feature more workshops, more discussions and first results from the “10-Point Action Plan for Natural Refrigerants” launched at the 2011 workshop.
A valued partner in international & European projects
shecco in 2012 also means more presence in projects at the European Union and national level. As one of sixELEVTRA project partners to advance the training for electric vehicle maintenance staff, shecco will be responsible for communication and dissemination activities. A newly founded Grants & Funding department in shecco will handle project monitoring, grants application and project management for its partners from A-Z.
Moreover, shecco will be involved in UN-level projects to support the phase out of ozone-damaging HCFC substances in favour of more sustainable refrigerant options.
shecco house – the hub for climate-friendly technologies
With shecco moving to new premises, new opportunities opened up not only for the shecco team, but also for all professionals that are involved in sustainable solutions. Two whole floors in the new “shecco-house” will be available for meetings, events, workshops etc to bring climate-friendly technology faster to market.
Benefiting from a prime location in Brussels surrounded by European, national and international policy decision makers, the shecco team has planned several events this year. In addition to its know-how and experience, shecco can now also offer the right location, with meeting space for up to 50 people, to bring together industry experts and policy makers from around the globe.
2012 could see policy initiatives with significant climate impact
Major milestones are also expected in the policy sphere that could have an impact on the climate friendly technologies that shecco advocates for. In the European Union (EU) a proposed regulation that would strengthen action on addressing emissions of fluorinated gases from the HVAC&R sector is expected before the summer. At the same time, there are still talks that could lead the EU to up its overall CO2 emissions savings targetfrom a 20% to 30% by 2020 compared to 1990 levels. In 2012, we are also hopeful to see momentum towards an increase of ambition with regards to CO2 emissions limits from road vehicles.
At the international level, this year marks the 25th anniversary of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, which while addressing ozone depletion has led to a wide uptake of climate damaging alternative substances. shecco will, in collaboration with its partners worldwide, play its part in advocating for a more future-proof refrigeration, heating and cooling industry.
For more information about shecco’s activities, please get in contact with us:
Marc Chasserot, Managing Director (for Public Affairs / Marketing & Communications enquiries)
marc.chasserot@shecco.eu
Nina Burhenne, Head of Market Research (for Market Research / Grants & Funding enquiries)
nina.burhenne@shecco.eu
Franziska Menten, Events Coordinator (for Events enquiries)
franziska.menten@shecco.eu