MILL VALLEY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The North American Sustainable Refrigeration Council (NASRC) announced the successful conclusion of its Train the Trainer pilot program. The program, aimed at equipping HVACR school faculty with training on climate-friendly refrigeration technologies, was generously supported by the SoCalGas Climate Champions Grant, which recognizes programs, projects and research submissions that address climate solutions for communities in SoCalGas service areas.
Supermarkets face a growing technician shortage as the industry transitions from refrigerants with high global warming potential. The shrinking workforce is creating a bottleneck, slowing the transition to climate-friendly technologies and threatening to disrupt essential operations and food security. While many strong HVACR programs exist nationwide, most focus on HVAC with little or no focus on supermarket refrigeration or natural refrigerants.
“Our Train the Trainer program was designed to prepare school faculty to integrate both supermarket refrigeration and climate-friendly refrigerants into HVACR coursework, fostering a new generation of refrigeration technicians with the skillset to install and service natural refrigerant technologies,” says Morgan Vanzo, senior director of NASRC.
Launched in January 2024, the program provided Southern California HVACR school faculty and instructors with opportunities for online and field training on market refrigeration and CO2 refrigeration systems. The program concluded in August with a two-day field training and knowledge assessment at the CoolSys training center in Fullerton, California.
Thirteen faculty members from seven local schools participated. All participants reported significant improvement in their knowledge of CO2 refrigerants, and nearly all reported significant improvement in their supermarket refrigeration knowledge. NASRC is working with two participating schools to expand their curriculum to include supermarket refrigeration and climate-friendly refrigerants; other participating schools have expressed interest.
NASRC is committed to supporting the development of faculty education programs beyond the grant’s duration and plans to extend the program to more regions. Visit nasrc.org to sign up for program updates.
About the North American Sustainable Refrigeration Council
The North American Sustainable Refrigeration Council (NASRC) is a 501(c)(3) environmental nonprofit working to advance climate-friendly natural refrigerants and reduce greenhouse gas emissions caused by traditional HFC refrigerants. We collaborate with stakeholders from across the industry, including over 55,000 food retail locations, to eliminate the barriers to natural refrigerants in supermarkets. For more information, visit nasrc.org, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, X and YouTube.
