“Natural refrigerants are the future, so it is important that our students learn how to handle them. This expertise increases their chances on the labour market”, says Mercy Njuki, trainer for refrigeration and air conditioning at The Nairobi National Polytechnic, Kenya.
Mercy explains: “We are equipped with a commercial refrigeration transcritical ejector CO2 training rack for supermarkets. Furthermore, we have R600a refrigerators and freezers, eight R290 split ACs, and a CO2 commercial refrigerator. They were all donated by GIZ Proklima and improve the quality of our practical training. Our students start with domestic refrigeration and later move on to the big CO2 unit."
27 other Kenyan training institutes and universities have received climate- and environmentally friendly R290 ACs for training purposes as well. However, the Polytechnic received the country's only CO2 training unit.
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CO2 has a Global Warming Potential of 1, which is hundreds of times lower than that of most synthetic refrigerants. However, due to its thermodynamic properties, CO2 requires high operating pressure which makes it complex to handle. To acquire the necessary knowledge and skills, Mercy took part in a one week CO2 training of trainers in Germany in 2024 (opens in a new window). It was organised by GIZ Proklima in cooperation with Carrier. At its core: the same training unit model that is now standing at the Nairobi National Polytechnic and that allows her to pass on her knowledge to her students.
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Country: Kenya
Project: Green Cooling Initiative
Donor: German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Climate Action, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMUKN) in the context of the International Climate Initiative (IKI).
Cooperation Partner: Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Forestry of Kenya