India has continued to block the move for a global HFC phasedown at a meeting of Montreal Protocol nations due to concerns over cost and availability of technology. Spain has approved the introduction of a tax on f-gases that will see refrigerants being taxed at up to €20 per tonne of CO2 equivalent by 2016.

With all the talk about the phaseout of R-22 — with its huge range of air conditioning and refrigeration applications — one thing that seems to be often overlooked is that the refrigerant is not going away any time soon.

Many advocates and policy makers are taking action now to find and use refrigerants with much lower GWPs than HFCs to anticipate the phase down and avoid what could be a costly double transition. 

Danfoss announced that Robert Wilkins, the company’s vice president public and industry affairs, has been elected by the members of the Alliance for Responsible Atmospheric Policy to serve as its 2014 chairman of the board.

With the ongoing phaseout of R-22 and talk of an HFC phasedown, is EPA regulation getting too burdensome?