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NAMA Partners With DOE On More Energy-Efficient Vending Machines

OAK RIDGE, TN - The National Automatic Merchandising Association , the NAMA Foundation and the Department of Energy (DOE) officially entered into a cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) focused on improving the design and manufacturing of refrigerated vending machines in the United States. On Dec. 11, NAMA senior vice-president of external affairs Eric Dell and NAMA Foundation director Terri Bruce participated in an official signing ceremony with the DOE at Oak Ridge National Laboratory...

December 16, 2019 by Emily Jed

OAK RIDGE, TN - The National Automatic Merchandising Association, the NAMA Foundation and the Department of Energy (DOE) officially entered into a cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) focused on improving the design and manufacturing of refrigerated vending machines in the United States.

On Dec. 11, NAMA senior vice-president of external affairs Eric Dell and NAMA Foundation director Terri Bruce participated in an official signing ceremony with the DOE at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, TN. Research at ORLN will officially begin on Jan. 1.

The CRADA with NAMA is a two-year, $400,000 research and development agreement. It will be conducted by the scientists and engineers of the DOE at ORLN and will focus on the design and risk mitigation of vending machines using R-290 propane refrigerants to assess potential hazards including flammability. It includes machines and products for testing donated by NAMA members.

"NAMA and the NAMA Foundation are collaborating with researchers at ORNL because they have the recognized expertise needed to assist owners and operators of vending machine, equipment manufacturers and distributors throughout North America with the use and production of equipment that safely and efficiently uses next generation refrigerants," said Dell.

States throughout the country and nations overseas are pushing new requirements for appliances to have a lower global warming potential, and are passing laws and regulations to phase out the use of hydrofluorocarbons, the refrigerant most commonly used in refrigerated vending machines.

Manufacturers of refrigerated machines and operators in the industry are eager to adopt new technologies to increase energy efficiency. Unfortunately, the use of new technologies, such as R-290 refrigerants, are restricted in public or commercial buildings due to outdated safety standards.

In addition to its partnership with NAMA, ORLN is working with four other leading building equipment industries to improve the energy performance of heating, air conditioning and ventilation systems and investigate climate-friendly alternative refrigerants.

Click here to read the official DOE statement.

Through CRADAs, scientists at the Department of Energy's only designated national user facility for buildings research -- the Building Technologies Research and Integration Center at ORNL -- will conduct research and development with NAMA, Taylor Commercial Foodservice, Emerson Climate Technologies, Enginuity Power Systems and Baltimore Aircoil Company.

"CRADAs are among the U.S. Department of Energy's chief instruments to connect the ingenuity of our national labs with industry's leading companies to produce innovations at the scale we need to make a difference," said David Nemtzow, building technologies office director, DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.

Improving the energy efficiency of buildings and equipment is a priority for DOE's Building Technologies Office (BTO) because the 127 million buildings in the United States consume nearly 40% of the nation's total energy at a cost of $415 billion annually, accounting for 36% of carbon emissions. BTO's goal is to create marketable technologies and design approaches that address energy consumption in existing and new buildings to reduce the average energy use in all U.S. buildings by 30% by 2030.

"We are pleased to apply the expertise and capabilities of Oak Ridge National Laboratory to develop energy-saving technologies in collaboration with these industry leaders," said Moe Khaleel, associate laboratory director for Energy and Environmental Sciences at ORNL. "These collaborations are just the beginning of what we anticipate being a record number of industry partnerships over the next year to develop breakthroughs for energy-efficient buildings and a more secure, resilient power grid."

ORNL's BTRIC facility, established in 1993, has 40,000 square feet of laboratory space dedicated to early-stage research and development in building technologies, with the goal of improving the energy efficiency and environmental compatibility of residential and commercial buildings by focusing on building envelopes, equipment, building systems integration, energy storage and grid-interactive efficient buildings, sensors, transactive controls, and data modeling and simulation.

"Oak Ridge National Laboratory excels at translating scientific discoveries into new technology partnerships with industry," said Daniel R Simmons, assistant secretary for the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy at the DOE. "These collaborations drive new innovations that address challenges and speed deployment of technologies into the marketplace where they will have the greatest impact in saving energy and boosting the American economy."

NAMA is engaged at all levels of government in the United States to assist the industry during the transition away from HFCs while protecting operators as viable alternatives are researched.

For more information, email Mike Goscinski at mgoscinski@namanow.org .

GREEN TEAM:ORNL and leading building equipment industries signed collaboration agreements to improve the energy performance of HVAC systems and investigate alternative refrigerants. Seated from left, Eric Dell, executive vice president, National Automatic Merchandising Association; Stephen Wadle, senior project engineer, Taylor Commercial Foodservice; Hung Pham, integrated technologies director, Emerson Climate Technologies; and Jacques Beaudry-Losique, president, Enginuity Power Systems. Standing from left, Ron Ott, building technologies program manager, ORNL; Moe Khaleel, associate laboratory director, ORNL; Xin Sun, energy transportation science division director, ORNL; Karma Sawyer, building technologies office program manager, DOE; and Tony Bouza, building technologies office technology manager, DOE.