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Cover Story
Ali White’s “North Star” has always been, “Where can I make the biggest impact?” That credo has brought her to supporting the uptake of natural refrigerants as Energy Consultant for Efficiency Vermont (U.S.), an efficiency utility under the auspices of Vermont Energy Investment Corp. (VEIC). “Both for my customers and for the planet. I am so grateful that it led me to NatRefs and the passionate, brilliant, dedicated people that I work alongside every day,” she said.
Ali White Energy Consultant, Efficiency Vermont (U.S.), Vermont Energy Investment Corp. (VEIC) Key NatRef Accomplishment: Securing utility incentive funding for natural refrigerant installations.
Lidia Perez was ranked top-five in her class at the Instituto Politecnico Nacional (National Polytechnic Institute of Mexico) in Mexico City – one of the largest public universities in Mexico – where she studied mechanical engineering and specialized in thermodynamics. She has continued to excel in her professional career, which includes 15 years in the refrigeration industry. She has spent the past eight years at Kysor Warren (now Kysor Warren Epta U.S.) in Columbus, Georgia, working on natural refrigerant systems. Perez participated in the design of one of the first cascade NH3/CO2 refrigeration systems used by a U.S. supermarket (a Piggly Wiggly store in Columbus, Georgia), and has helped in the design of the majority of the transcritical systems that Kysor Warren has manufactured.
Accelerate Magazine // January 2020
Over the past two years, White has been instrumental in bringing a number of natural refrigeration installations to Vermont and Washington, D.C., and now to Delaware (U.S.). Her work has included securing utility incentive funding, incorporating energy efficiency improvements, calculating energy savings, conducting measurement and verification, and engaging with contractors and manufacturers.
White has also delivered natural refrigerant education to her “small but mighty state.” In 2018, she worked with the North American Sustainable Refrigeration Council (see page 30) to co-host a Natural Refrigerant Workshop in Burlington, Vermont; in 2019 she coordinated with Refrigeration Service Engineers Society (RSES) to bring propane (R290) certification training to Vermont contractors. And she’s working with several manufacturers in Canada and Europe to remove barriers to bringing CO 2 condensing units into the U.S. market. White acknowledges that there are “socially engrained stereotypes” about women that could cause people she meets to initially doubt her abilities. “Over time, I have trained myself to not take it personally. Instead, I engage and work to build relationships with folks; most of the time, preconceived notions dissolve fairly quickly.” MG
She was also part of the team that designed the first CO 2 transcritical system for a supermarket (Casa Ley) in Mexico. “On this project I was one of the Kysor Warren presenters giving training to the installation, service and engineering teams,” she said. Last year, Kysor Warren Epta U.S. launched the CO 2 transcritical system with FTE (Full Transcritical Efficiency) for the North American market. Perez participated in the integration of the FTE technology into Kysor Warren’s transcritical system design. As a woman, Perez feels comfortable in the refrigeration field because of “my passion and positive attitude,” she said. “I regularly try to go the extra mile on the work that I do by expanding my programming skills and applying them in the design processes. This extra mile has been greatly appreciated by my colleagues.” MG
Lidia Perez Mechanical Engineer IV, Kysor Warren Epta U.S. Key NatRef Accomplishment: Participated in the design of the majority of the transcritical CO 2 systems manufactured by Kysor Warren.