On 28 October 2021 in Cankarjev dom, Ljubljana, the Mechanical Engineering Academy, an event organised by the Association of Mechanical Engineers of Slovenia, brought together engineers to celebrate and award the most outstanding professionals in the field. The Lifetime Achievement Award was given to the President of the Slovenian Energy Association, Prof. Dr Alojz Poredoš, for his selfless lifelong dedication to engineering and mechanical engineering. This is one of the most prominent, honourable accolades for outstanding achievement in mechanical engineering.
The award winner was selected by a 125-member Academy of engineers from business and public life. As the lifetime achievement award recipient, Prof. Dr Poredoš was given a reproduction of the 5,200-year-old wooden wheel with an axle discovered in the Ljubljana marshes, the oldest known wheel of the kind. Made using the latest 3D technology, the reproduction was painted by the City Museum of Ljubljana restorer, Ms Katarina Toman Kracina.
In his acceptance speech, Prof. Dr Alojz Poredoš highlighted the importance of working together—a relevant topic today as well as a message to our divided society. “We engineers are very well aware of the importance of working together, since complex engineering problems can only be solved through the cooperation of people from different backgrounds. In my life, I’ve realised that to achieve your goals, you sometimes need to take a step back, and work with others before you can move three or four steps forward.”
Global impact awards for Slovenian engineering and other distinctions were also presented. The awards ceremony was followed by a round-table where leading engineers discussed the main topic of the event: Working together for sustainable solutions.
Our heartfelt congratulations go to the SZE President!
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Prof. Dr Alojz Poredoš
Professor Alojz Poredoš was born in Ižakovci, Slovenia, in 1953. While in primary school, he first took an interest in crafts, especially ship model making, and went on to become the Slovenian model making champion in the last year of primary school. After graduating from the Secondary School of Engineering in Lendava, he enrolled at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in Ljubljana in 1972. In term 6, he decided to focus his studies on Refrigeration and Air-conditioning Techniques. In November 1976, he successfully defended his graduation thesis and decided to pursue a postgraduate degree.
In 1980, just after completing his military service, Professor Poredoš was elected Teaching Assistant for Refrigeration, heating and air-conditioning engineering and systems at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. As part of his doctoral thesis, which he defended in 1990, he developed a generalised mathematical model for plate heat exchanger dimensioning and calculation in different operating conditions. His research results were applied to the refrigeration and air-conditioning industry in Slovenia. The manufacturing of plate heat exchangers in Slovenia is still based on these results. Professor Poredoš was elected Assistant Professor in 1991, Associate Professor in 1997, and Full Professor for Refrigeration, heating and air-conditioning engineering and systems, and for Heat and mass transfer in 2002. In 1992, he set up the Laboratory for Refrigeration at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Ljubljana. From 2002 to his retirement, he was the department chair of Thermal and Environmental Engineering.
Professor Dr Alojz Poredoš has always put a lot of effort into transferring his research results to industry, thereby building the foundation for fruitful engineering collaboration between academia and industry. He was the first in the world to develop exergy loss modelling in heat distribution as a basis for differential price factors, and applied it to some district heating systems. He was also the first and only one in Slovenia to introduce a district cooling system. Installed in the town centre of the Velenje community, the system still supplies cooling energy, which is now produced using waste heat from the Šoštanj thermal power plant. As a consultant for such a cooling system, he works with the University Medical Centre Ljubljana, the largest energy system in a public infrastructure building in Slovenia. Professor Poredoš has collaborated with many companies, including Energetika Ljubljana, Energetika Velenje, Energetika Celje, TOM Maribor, Gorenje, LTH Škofja Loka, IMP Klimat, Hidria, and SMM Maribor, and has established ties with universities and institutes worldwide.
The results of Professor Poredoš’s tireless scientific work include as many as 80 published scientific papers, 153 conference papers, four books, four patent applications and as many validations.
Realising the importance of the energy sector for the country, Professor Poredoš has put his wealth of experience and international connections to use by holding the following positions: President of the Energy Council at the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SASA), SASA Scientific Associate, President of the SASA National Development Council for Energy, and member of the EASAC Energy Steering Panel. He is the founder and President of the Slovenian Energy Association (SZE), where he strives to achieve stronger energy sector integration.
