It is said that every story has two sides, and two recent conversations I had with estimable members of the refrigeration industry vividly illustrated that. Both of these gentlemen have been involved in the industry for a long time -- one on the supplier side and one on the contracting side. The topic of both conversations was the ruling by a United States court of appeals that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) cannot ban the use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) under Section 612 of the Clean Air Act. The topic was the same, but the conversations were very different.
The Chemours Co. expresses its disappointment with the decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit regarding the U.S. Environmental Association’s (EPA’s) Significant New Alternatives Policy (SNAP) program Rule 20.
The Australian government successfully passed legislation to phase down hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), which comprise up to 2 percent of Australia's greenhouse gas emissions.
The Alliance for Responsible Atmospheric Policy has sent letters to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt urging that the United States uphold its commitments to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, and the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol that was adopted in October 2016.
Bluon Energy announced the addition of new investors and the addition of a board advisor to bolster the company’s awareness and sales. This comes at a time when existing HVACR refrigerants used by the majority of the U.S. and the world are becoming obsolete due to federal regulation and global phaseouts.
R-404A is being used by OEMs in new equipment and also on retrofitted equipment. However, because of its high global-warming potential (GWP), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), under its Significant New Alternatives Policy (SNAP) program, has listed R-404A as an “unacceptable” refrigerant in a number of retail food refrigeration categories and in vending machines end-uses.
NIST’s study, entitled “Limited options for low-global warming potential [GWP] refrigerants,” focused on residential and small-commercial single-package and split air conditioning systems, but the authors said their conclusions also generally apply to room air conditioning units and other refrigeration and heat-pump systems currently using common, ozone-depleting refrigerants such as R-410A or R-22, which are still used in some developing countries today. “The takeaway is there is no perfect, easy replacement for current refrigerants,” NIST chemical engineer Mark McLinden said.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has not given any indication that it will target R-410A in residential applications, and under the Trump administration, the agency may perhaps be less aggressive than it was under the Obama administration and, therefore, less likely to push for additional refrigerant phasedowns.