The global sustainability director of the Consumer Goods Forum (CGF), Ignacio Gavilan, will visit Australia in April to deliver the keynote address at the 2016 High Performance Energy conference in Sydney.
The CGF is the leading global industry association for the retail and food manufacturing industry and represents more than 400 multinational firms.
A large proportion of CGF members have operations in Australia. The forum was created to represent the interests of firms that rely on refrigeration to do business and to promote the use of natural refrigerant-based technologies such as ammonia, carbon dioxide and hydrocarbons.
Gavilan will provide real-world examples of how these technologies are being successfully used throughout the supply chain. He will explain why CGF members consider natural refrigerants to be superior to synthetics, and how they can be used to optimise refrigeration systems.
Gavilan will also provide examples of how CGF members have converted their refrigeration systems to natural refrigerants.
"In line with the work of the Montreal Protocol and the Climate and Clean Air Coalition, CGF members are leading the way in demonstrating the value of natural refrigerant-based technology," he said.
"My presentation will also cover the regulatory and educational requirements associated with these technologies."
Gavilan said the issues faced by CGF members are the same as other segments of the HVACR industry. Therefore, the experiences shared by CGF members can provide a template for shifting the entire HVACR industry to high efficiency, low emissions technology.
He said there are significant barriers to the adoption of natural refrigerant based systems. Gavilan will describe these and explain what the CGF is doing to address them.
The High Performance Energy event also aims to provide guidance on energy efficiency across a range of sectors relevant to the built environment.
Australian Refrigeration Association president, Tim Edwards, said industry could reduce energy consumption by $8 billion per annum.
Edwards said by adopting energy efficient technology and principles Australia’s GDP could increase by as much as $38 billion by 2050.
He said these ambitious targets could be met by embracing innovate technologies and adopting other strategies such as better heat load management and improved energy measurement and control.
"Energy demand in Australia’s built environment could be halved by 2030 and potentially cut by over 70 per cent by 2050, delivering savings of 30-35 per cent over the whole building sector," Edwards said.
"Energy efficiency is the most cost effective way to reduce emissions."
Other speakers at the event, which will be held at Australian Technology Park in Redfern, include the senior sustainability officer for the City of Melbourne, Russell French.
The two-day High Performance Energy conference will be held at on April 5-6, 2016.