Who we are
The activities of Refrigerants, Naturally! are driven by its members. They are guided by the honorary board, elected every three years by the association's General Assembly. The board members represent the organization and provide strategic guidance to the activities and priorities of Refrigerants, Naturally! The board and the association members are supported by our secretariat staff.
Our board members
Dietram Oppelt (Chair)
"Heating and cooling allow comfortable living. Refrigerants are essential to power heating and cooling appliances. Appliances powered by renewable energies and using natural refrigerants allows climate-neutral cooling and heating. We must arrive at these solutions sooner rather than later. There is no time to loose for the transition to natural refrigerants. Natural refrigerants occur naturally in the environment, limit climate and environmental damage and have superior properties. Join us at Refrigerants, Naturally!"
Menno van der Hoff (Deputy chair)
''I have been in the HVAC industry during my full career. Heating and cooling of buildings is the largest source of CO2 emissions by humans. It is our obligation to do this in a natural way, avoiding fossil fuel emissions. Heat pumps are the most mature technology for this purpose. I am proud to contribute to this task with clean technology, support and my experience and consultancy. Of course, natural refrigerants are the only choice and my work for this association is part of spreading this message''
Antoine Azar (Deputy Chair)
"Energy efficient and commercially viable solutions exist for almost all subsectors in the cooling and refrigeration field. Systems with natural refrigerants are wide-spreading in developed and developing countries, from small residential appliances to large commercial and industrial installations. In most cases, there are neither technical nor economical reason to not switching to environmentally friendly solutions which eliminate direct emissions by using natural refrigerants and reduce indirect emissions due to their higher energy performance."
Our secretariat
Britta Pätzold
"The climate crisis is the biggest challenge of the coming years. At the same time, rising temperatures will increase the need for cooling and air conditioning in many countries. Natural refrigerants offer an environmentally friendly solution - Go Refrigerants, Naturally!"