Awardees 2011

 The award highlights outstanding contributions to the advancement of international collaboration in research, policy and market development and applications for energy-efficient heat pumping technologies that result in environmental benefits. It is awarded every three years in conjunction with the International IEA Heat Pump Conference. Due to the cancellation of the 2011 Heat Pump Conference scheduled for Japan, the awardees received the awards at a special banquet held in Paris.

The 2011 Rittinger awardees

Professor Per-Erling Frivik of Trondheim, Norway, for his outstanding achievements in the heat pump market development. As the Research Director at the SINTEF Refrigeration Engineering Division he built up a large group in heat pumps and refrigeration engineering. It is within this group the idea of using CO2 as a working fluid was developed. Professor Frivik was instrumental for raising the funding necessary for the research and technology transfer with major international equipment manufacturers.

Professor Hermann Halozan of Graz, Austria, for providing his vast expertise in heat pumps to international associations and organizations for more than three decades. He has strongly influenced the European heat pump industry by supporting the development and dissemination of quality standards for heat pumps at European and national levels, but also pushing heat pumps in national and international political agendas. His role in heat pump market penetration in Europe has been indispensible.

And finally Mr John D. Ryan of Bethesda, Maryland (U.S.), for his life-long devotion to develop and promote adoption of heat pump technologies. Mr John Ryan was one of the initiators of the IEA Heat Pump Programme shortly after he joined the U.S. Department of Energy in 1978 and served as the US delegate to the Executive Committee until his retirement in 2007. Furthermore, Mr Ryan was chairman of the International Organizing Committee (IOC) for the 1996 and 2002 International Heat Pump Conferences.