Did you know that Gold Sponsor for ATMOsphere Australia, AJ Baker & Sons, turned 100 in May?

For the Perth, Australia-based contractor specializing in refrigeration design, installation, servicing, and maintenance, it was a moment to reflect in its history, and look to future trends as a key supplier of natural refrigerant systems.

“We planned a large celebration in June 2020 and secured [Western Australia] Senator Michaelia Cash to open the cele-bration,” said Mike Baker, Managing Director at AJ Baker. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, “this has been put on hold for now.”

In recent years, AJ Baker has been regularly supplying and installing natural refrigerant-based refrigeration systems. “We started with hydrocarbon freezers for the supply to a major international supermarket chain here in Australia,” said Mike Baker.

Mike Baker said that AJ Baker’s use of transcritical CO2 systems was part of a trend in Australia to “reduce and/or eliminate the need for HFC refrigerants.”

“The growth of natural refrigerants will be inevitable, given the market forces with lowering supply of HFCs into the future, plus the replacement of HFCs by equipment manufacturers,” he said.

“It is the future – ‘old’ HFC gases are banned in Europe and market forces here in Australia will drive their price up dramatically in the future.” 

Panel: INSIGHTS FROM THE CONTRACTORS

AJ Baker will be lending their expertise to this panel.

Tune in for a conversation with Mike Baker (AJ Baker), Matthew Darby (EcoChill), and Vince Audino (Fonko NZ) as they share their views about current trends, the challenges and opportunities with natural refrigerant solutions.