At the 40th Ordinary General Meeting held on June 5, the Japan Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Industry Association (JRAIA) elected Mr. Kiyonobu Toma (Senior Vice President, General Manager, Air Conditioning & Refrigeration Systems Headquarters, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, ltd.) as the new Chairman of JRAIA and replaced the officers due to the termination of their offices.

At the press conference held after the general meeting, Mr. Toma expressed his intentions as the new JRAIA Chairman: “Japan’s air conditioning & refrigeration technologies maintain their top class level and are leading the world. This year, JRAIA will take positive steps for the following  three themes: global environmental issues, globalization and product safety.”

According to JARN magazine, for the global environmental issues, Mr. Toma stressed the following measures of prevention of global warming: promotion of energy saving equipment to meet the requirements of the Revised Energy Conservation Law; promotion of fluorocarbon recovery and reduction of emissions during manufacture to meet the requirements of the Revised Fluorocarbon Recovery & Destruction Law; promotion of development of natural refrigerants or low-GWP refrigerants as fundmental measures for prevention of global warming.