Articles Tagged with ''EPA (Environmental Protection Agency)''

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its seventh-annual list of the top 25 U.S. metropolitan areas with the most Energy Star certified buildings in 2014. This year, Washington, District of Columbia, debuted in the top spot with 480 buildings.

In many ways, refrigerant recovery and reclamation is an example of human ingenuity at its best. An innovative and essential product is created, and then a way is devised to prolong its usefulness by collecting it after years of service, purifying it, and using it again.

The ongoing phaseout of hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), such as R-22, holds many unknowns for the HVACR industry as 2020 approaches, but at least one sector of the industry anticipates tremendous opportunity: the reclamation sector. 

As California goes, so goes the rest of the country. That adage has often proved true especially when it comes to regulations related to refrigeration and refrigerants. The state's aggressive environmental and regulatory positions have caused the rest of the United States to monitor policy making and enforcement out West.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is considering changes to its Section 608 requirements for refrigerant handling, including technician certification. The changes being considered would subject HFC refrigerants to the same handling regulations that are currently imposed on CFCs and HCFCs.

The inability or unwillingness of the DOE and the EPA to coordinate rulemakings and coalesce around energy-efficiency and environmental goals will “devastate” the industry, Anderson said.

In testimony before the House Small Business Committee, Viktor Anderson, chief engineer for Muskegon, Michigan-based Structural Concepts, a commercial refrigeration manufacturer, said that, left unchecked, the inability or unwillingness of the DOE and EPA to coordinate rulemakings will “devastate” the HVACR industry.

The EPA announced it’s increasing the options for refrigerants used in various types of refrigeration and air conditioning equipment in the U.S. to offer alternatives with low global warming potential. 

There is no way that refrigerant reclamation can work the way the EPA has mishandled the program during the past few years. Businesses must be able to make money, or they will fail. Refrigerant reclaim is a business that is being hindered by government actions, or the lack of more appropriate actions.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced it is increasing the options for refrigerants used in various types of refrigeration and air conditioning equipment in the United States to offer alternatives with low global warming potential (GWP).