The river had finally breached the dam. Since 2016, the world has awakened to the absolute reliability of CO2. Between 2018 and 2019, the demand swelled like a rising tide. We crossed the formidable 1-Megawatt threshold, pushing CO2 out of the supermarket and into the colossal arenas of heavy industry.

In 2018, Enex went across that frontier installing for the first time a large plant that included hot gas defrost, using low pressure/high temperature fluid.

Today, CO2 breathes life into massive logistics distribution centers, executing hot gas defrosts and eliminating the limitations of working with refrigerants as ammonia. It drives industrial heat pumps, churning out 60-65 degrees water with zero environmental guilt thanks to specialized hydronic circuits.

The refrigeration plant of today is an “Energy Hub,” a living organ that provides climate control for environments and heats water, recovering every single watt that was once dissipated into the atmosphere.

While the ozone hole is recovering and European regulations about F-Gasses signal the end of the synthetic era, by 2026, CO2 has become the standard solution in retail and a top choice in industry.

As we stand here today, with over 100,000 plants humming across the globe while more are being installed also in the industrial sector, we must look back at the trail we blazed. Thirty years after those first whispers in Trondheim, three profound lessons emerge like mountains from the mist:

First, the danger of artificial alchemy. As new shadows like global PFAS (forever chemicals which can be for example Teflon or CFCs or thousands of synthetic substances), contamination loom over our waters, history sternly reminds us that whenever we try to outsmart nature with synthetic compounds, she eventually collects a terrible debt.

Second, the heavy inertia of human habits. Introducing a radically new technology requires decades of bleeding against the grain. We fought alone for a long time; perhaps with bolder financial courage and louder communication, this transition could have been vastly accelerated.

And finally, the transcendent value of the natural choice. Investing in the profound, ancient mechanisms of our planet is the only truly rewarding option in the long term. Bending to the laws of physics, rather than trying to cheat them with chemistry, is the only path to a sustainable industry.

Looking back, the choice made thirty years ago was not just a technical experiment: it was the correct direction for a truly sustainable cooling industry.

Are there possibilities to push this frontier even further? Can we carve new efficiencies out of the natural order? That, my fellow travelers, is a story for another day.