In an analysis of demand for training in Europe related to natural refrigerants, the recent GUIDE to Natural Refrigerants Training in Europe 2017 published by shecco identifies the most popular topics and refrigerants as per market demand.
Refrigeration appeared as the most desired application, whereas safety aspects came up as the most wanted topic, and CO2 clearly emerged as the most requested refrigerant, ahead of hydrocarbons and ammonia.
To better understand the current market for natural refrigerant training, shecco’s industry survey investigated different aspects of the training offer among training providers, including which refrigerants, topics and applications. Receivers of natural refrigerants training were asked similar questions, to evaluate whether there is a match in demand and supply or if there are any gaps.
The survey consolidated the responses of 340 individuals. More than 150 respondents indicated they provide training on natural refrigerants, in terms of theoretical and/or practical courses. Of the rest of the respondents, approximately 65 replied that they had received some type of natural refrigerants training.
CO2 training is a clear leader
Both groups of respondents indicated strong involvement in CO2 training, with over 80% of providers offering this training and a similar proportion of training receivers indicating that they had participated in such training. The second most popular is training for hydrocarbons, whereas ammonia comes in third place for both groups of survey respondents.
Natural refrigerant training for refrigeration applications prevail
Commercial, industrial and light commercial refrigeration rank the highest for both groups of respondents in terms of applications most desired and offered for training. This clearly correlates with the market uptake of natural refrigerants in these sectors. A slight discrepancy can be observed for the sector of industrial refrigeration, where the natural refrigerant providers have indicated significantly higher supply compared to demand from the training receivers side.
Surprisingly, 20% of training receivers indicated they would be interested in general training on natural refrigerants that would cover a wider spectrum of applications. However, such training is currently only offered by around 10% of training providers, according to the survey findings, which seems to indicate a gap in the training market.
Training providers cover a wide range of topics…
Most of the respondents who provide training on natural refrigerants said that their courses include safety aspects, regulations and standards, application areas and case studies, basic thermodynamics & physics, system design, installation, operation and maintenance. Topics that are covered less widely include practical refrigerant handling and material compatibility.
…receivers are mostly interested in safety
With regard to the topics that training receivers are most interested in, safety aspects ranked the highest, followed by system design, installation, operation and maintenance. Respondents also indicated interest in efficiency and COP evaluation as well as regulations and standards. The least popular topics were basic thermodynamics, physics and material compatibility.
Background
Published on 8 May 2017, the GUIDE to Natural Refrigerants Training in Europe examines the state of training on natural refrigerants, including a detailed analysis of the offer and demand based on an industry-wide survey of over 340 individuals.
For more information and data about this topic and many more, click here to read the GUIDE to Natural Refrigerants Training in Europe 2017.
