Global experts for Mobile Air Conditioning recently met in Austria to shed light on the development status of alternative refrigerants and systems. As in previous editions, this year's VDA Alternative Refrigerant Winter Meeting focused on the latest advancements in CO2 Technology.

Experts from Europe, Asia, and the U.S. discussed environmentally friendly refrigerants and their development progress. As in recent years, the use of CO2 (R744) played a key role in presentations from scientists, public authorities, and the industry. More specifically, the 150 participants gathering at the annual meeting of the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) discussed legal, environmental, safety and performance issues of R744. Besides the natural refrigerant already chosen by German carmakers for next-generation air conditioning systems, presentations also evaluated chemical alternatives.

According to the organizer’s press release, the winner of the best presentation was Mr. Christoph Walter, from Behr (“R744 Evaporator Requirements”). Dr. Carlo Burkhardt from Witzenmann (“A Decade of Hose Development for R744 - From First Prototypes to Serial Applications”) came in second place, Barbara Minor from DuPont and Mark Spatz from Honeywell  (“A Low GWP Refrigerant For MAC”) came in slightly ahead of William R. Hill from GM (“Impact of Alternative Refrigerants to Global Vehicle LCCP CO2-Equivalent Emissions”) to win third place.