Refrigerants are important to fashionable consolation and comfort — present in air conditioners, chillers, fridges and warmth pumps (which in 2022 overtook the sale of fuel furnaces within the U.S.)
Their major perform: take in and launch warmth by section altering between a liquid and a fuel.
Fairly cool stuff besides that almost all refrigerants in use occur to be super-potent greenhouse gasses. And because the planet warms and the necessity for cooling will increase, so does the usage of these chemical substances — making a vicious cycle of world warming.
Listed here are the highest three causes to care about refrigerants:
- The first sort of refrigerants used at this time are a category of chemical substances referred to as hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), the quickest rising greenhouse gasses on the planet.
- HFCs are lots of to 1000’s of occasions stronger at trapping warmth in our environment than carbon dioxide.
- The options to this drawback are instantly actionable, value efficient and impactful (extra on this beneath)
A quick historical past
I feel the refrigerant dilemma is greatest understood within the context of how we bought into the present scenario.
Nineteen Thirties — Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) have been invented and shortly grew to become the usual refrigerants utilized in air conditioners. Prior thus far, early refrigeration programs used pure refrigerants akin to ammonia, which is making a comeback.
1987 — CFCs are globally acknowledged as damaging the ozone layer and are phased out of manufacturing via the passing of the Montreal Protocol, extensively thought-about to be some of the profitable international treaties of all time.
2010 — The U.S. Environmental Safety Company bans the manufacturing and import of CFC-based refrigerants within the U.S. Air-con producers swap to R-410A, a mix of artificial fluorinated gasses (F-gasses) referred to as hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs).
2016 — The Kigali Modification to the Montreal Protocol units the stage for a world phase-down of high-potency HFCs akin to R-410A resulting from their excessive international warming potential.
The state of coverage at this time
That brings us to the current. The excellent news is that there are international, nationwide and a few state-level rules in place for phasing out HFCs — and greatest practices and expertise options are rising to get that job performed.
State Laws
As is the case with different local weather insurance policies, progressive states are main the best way sooner than the U.S. federal authorities and international organizations such because the United Nations.
- California created its Refrigerant Administration Program (RMP) in 2009. It requires refrigerant leak inspections, in addition to repairs and reviews on refrigeration programs akin to industrial chilly meals storage tools that accommodates greater than 50 kilos of excessive international warming potential refrigerant. In 2020, California adopted first-in-the-nation HFC prohibitions, together with international warming potential (GWP) limits for brand spanking new refrigeration and AC tools.
- New York state has a smattering of rules associated to refrigerants: 6 CRR-NY 361-1.5 requires correct end-of-life administration, whereas NYSDEC Half 494 regulates the usage of HFCs in new tools. The Workplace of Normal Providers has a nice web site about refrigerant administration.
- Washington state began its HFC rules in 2019 and has been steadily ratcheting up necessities for reporting, repairs and phaseouts.
For the sake of brevity I’ll cease right here, however different states together with Vermont, Maryland, Connecticut and Delaware have handed or are engaged on passing HFC rules — with many extra states more likely to observe.
Federal Insurance policies
The U.S. federal authorities’s work on this situation is roofed by The American Innovation and Manufacturing (AIM) Act. This laws approved the EPA in 2020 to develop rules for the phasedown of HFCs. The general aim is a 85 p.c discount of HFCs by 2036. The coverage mechanisms used embody establishing allowances for the manufacturing and consumption of HFCs, offering sector-specific GWP limits and writing HFC refrigerant administration practices. Every particular coverage is in varied phases of improvement, with the refrigerant administration practices anticipated to be shared this fall.
World Treaties
The worldwide work on phasing down HFCs can also be within the highlight. Final week, a working group for the Montreal Protocol held its common mid-year assembly to set the agenda for a Assembly of the Events later this yr. Life-cycle refrigerant administration was closely featured, setting the stage for what may very well be vital selections on the subsequent gathering.
The United Nations Atmosphere Programme (UNEP) additionally introduced early this yr that sustainable cooling will catch the attention of the COP28 Local weather Change Convention within the United Arab Emirates. UNEP and the COP28 presidency are engaged on a World Cooling Pledge aimed toward accelerating entry and implementation of sustainable cooling options.
Why are you ready?
Towards this backdrop of coverage evolution, there are actions constructing and amenities managers can take at this time to mitigate the greenhouse fuel emissions of refrigerants. The options fall into two classes:
- Life-cycle refrigerant administration (LRM) is a holistic, round method to the method of figuring out, monitoring and managing refrigerants all through their life cycle. Refrigerant customers can get began with LRM by finishing a list of their whole refrigerants in use, committing to stop and restore leaks, and buying solely reclaimed HFC refrigerants to service tools.
- Different refrigerants which have a low or no international warming potential embody hydrocarbons (propane or isobutane), ammonia (NH3) and carbon dioxide (CO2). Curiously these substances have been used as refrigerants earlier than the Nineteen Thirties when F-gasses have been launched. The improvements being developed are much less within the refrigerants themselves and extra within the expertise that permits these refrigerants to carry out to fashionable requirements of security and permitting us to leverage their local weather advantages. For some end-uses akin to industrial refrigeration, these options are already available and value efficient. For different sectors akin to air-con and warmth pumps, there’s restricted availability, however vital efforts are being made to carry these merchandise to market within the U.S. extra extensively.
To-do checklist
The Montreal Protocol and the next phasing out of ozone-depleting substances is a bonafide environmental success story. We will repeat that win with the following section of refrigerant administration.
Beneath are some hyperlinks to assist your organization take motion on refrigerants now.
What number of motion objects are you able to examine off? Please ahead, repost and reply to this piece with what you could have gotten performed. Let’s rejoice our successes.
