Train the Trainer Pilot Program Equips Trade Schools with Climate-Friendly Refrigeration Training
In early 2024, the North American Sustainable Refrigeration Council launched Train the Trainer, a pilot program aimed at equipping HVACR school faculty with training on climate-friendly refrigeration technologies. The program concluded in December 2024 and was supported by the SoCalGas Climate Champions Grant, which recognizes programs, projects and research submissions that address climate solutions for communities in SoCalGas service areas.
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.
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,” said Morgan Vanzo, senior director of NASRC. Learn more here.
