German OEM TEKO, a leader in the production of transcritical CO2 (R744) refrigeration systems for commercial and industrial uses, has become the first company to receive the Natural Refrigerants Label from ATMOsphere, a market accelerator of clean cooling and heating solutions, and publisher of R744.com.
ATMOsphere (formerly shecco) launched the label in June as a global gold standard highlighting best-in-class manufacturers of natural refrigerant systems and components around the world.
Once approved, companies can place the ATMOsphere Natural Refrigerant Label in a myriad of places, such as directly on products, marketing material, email signatures, and company pitches and trade show booths.
The label is designed to help qualified manufacturers to market products to new customers and regions in the natural refrigerants marketplace, including products using CO2. In addition, the label is meant to helpend users to identify best-in-class suppliers.
“The label will be very visible in the global marketplace, and companies can take advantage of this to strengthen their brand,” noted Marc Chasserot, ATMOsphere Founder and CEO.
“By being global and multi-application, this label can help to create trust across the new applications and regions,” added Chasserot. “We want to use this multi-year label process to help move the market to cleaner solutions with natural refrigerant solutions over time.”
Andreas Meier, Managing Director of TEKO, said the company applied for the label “because we believe that if you show dedication towards natural refrigerants, it should be neutrally validated. Not only words, reality counts.”
Over the past decade, TEKO has completely transformed its commercial and industrial refrigeration offering, mostly transitioning from super-polluting f-gases like R22 to natural refrigerants like CO2, ammonia and hydrocarbons. This mirrors Meier’s view that “the future is natural.”
According to data presented by Meier during an interview with Chasserot on March 30 at ATMOsphere’s ATMO World Summit, around 96% of TEKO’s retail applications in 2021 utilized CO2 as a refrigerant, up from around 14% in 2012, when most of its applications were f-gas-based. To date, 6,431 TEKO CO2 systems are in use worldwide, according to the company’s website.
Meier attributed TEKO’s shift to natural refrigerants to the EU’s F-gas Regulation and to end users’ desire to have future-proof systems.
As an internationally active company, TEKO is represented by subsidiaries and affiliates in Europe, Asia and Latin America.
Three pillars
To qualify for an ATMOsphere label, manufacturers have to demonstrate excellence across three pillars:
1) company vision;
2) customer satisfaction (measured via testimonials from multiple end users confirming the reliability, performance and service of these companies and products); and
3) measurable impact.
In regard to TEKO, one customer representative, Jan Geeraerts, Head of Engineering for Carrefour Belgium, commented that a TEKO installation “has an even better performance than initially thought,” adding, “The commissioning and ‘fine-tuning’ on site were carried out by very capable people and with the necessary care.”
Companies can apply for the label on the label’s webpage.
ATMOsphere has been active in the natural refrigerant space for nearly 20 years. During this time, the company has:
- published dozens of natural refrigerant-related market reports on market players, technologies, and solutions worldwide across multiple applications;
- hosted over 60 international natural refrigerant conferences, bringing together thousands of experts and hundreds of speakers over nearly 15 years, covering all the latest trends and players;
- written thousands of articles reporting on natural refrigerant companies and products in the industry;
- sent representatives to hundreds of trade shows around the world, meeting with natural refrigerant experts face-to-face (in addition to countless individual meetings outside official events).
“We feel that, as an independent player with a global mindset and a global presence, across all natural refrigerants and multiple applications, we are very well suited to provide this level of approval for the label,” explained Chasserot.
“We believe that if you show dedication towards natural refrigerants, it should be neutrally validated.”
Andreas Meier, TEKO
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