The introduction of this award supports one of the most important priorities for IOR members – to address the challenges of net zero as well as facilitating the sharing of innovation, raising awareness of best practice and promoting the advancement of technology for the good of society.  Not only will the winning project, company and team be recognised before their peers at the IOR Annual Dinner each year, they will be invited to give a technical paper on the IOR written papers programme to ensure that awareness of innovative and successful solutions is maximised.

IOR president Graeme Fox commented: “The IOR Board and Environment Committee see this award, which will be supported by an IOR technical talk, as an important way of encouraging knowledge transfer within the industry and the adoption of innovative environmental solutions.”

The award is linked to the practical application of the IOR’s Beyond Refrigeration priorities that are aimed at supporting the sector towards net zero. The award is open to companies or a collaboration between companies. Entries can be for a single or multi-site innovation or project in any refrigeration, air conditioning or heat pump field (industrial, commercial or domestic). The project must have been installed and must be operational. Entries must provide robust data on performance, energy usage and environmental impact.

It is anticipated that a successful project will address at least four of the seven critical areas for addressing climate change as outlined in the IOR’s Beyond Refrigeration template.  These are: maximising system performance, using best technology, balancing heating and cooling, reducing the need for cooling, intelligent energy use, developing the best people and skills, working together and whole system lifetime.

For more information on the seven critical areas for addressing climate change as outlined in the IOR's 'Beyond Refrigeration' template, please visit www.ior.org.uk/beyondrefrigeration.

Entries will be judged on:

• Demonstration of Beyond Refrigeration principles cited
• Scale and benefits of environmental savings achieved (eg compared to previous installations or industry benchmarks)
• Potential for replicability or wider application
• Innovative nature of the approach.

The IOR sees this award as a critical step in sharing advancement and raising awareness of successful approaches towards low emission and net zero for businesses.

For full details of the award nomination process see www.ior.org.uk/annualdinner. Closing date for entries is 14 November 2023.  A list of finalists and the winning entry will be announced by the President at the IOR Annual Dinner on 22 February 2024.