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Evidence for improvements in containment of fluorinated hydrocarbons during use: an analysis of reported European emissions.

Author(s) : MCCULLOCH A.

Type of article: Article

Summary

As part of their commitment under the Rio Convention,nations are required to report annual calculated emissions of greenhouse gases. The fluorine containing members of this group, which are generally potent greenhouse gases with high Global Warming Potentials, are mainly used in refrigeration and air conditioning. They are emitted only slowly from such systems; hence long term containment is an important engineering and environmental issue. European legislation is designed to effect improvements in containment and a simple way to monitor this would be desirable.The reports submitted by European countries have been examined to determine the extent to which containment (expressed as the rate of emission from the bank remaining in equipment) has changed with time. Although there is a wide variation between countries, the annual emission rates of most of the gases used in refrigeration have improved significantly over the past 10 years and now represent between 5 and 10% of the bank still contained in equipment. This implies that it would take between 10 and 20 years for the original mass of refrigerant charged into a system to be released into the atmosphere.

Details

  • Original title: Evidence for improvements in containment of fluorinated hydrocarbons during use: an analysis of reported European emissions.
  • Record ID : 30009151
  • Languages: English
  • Subject: Regulation, HFCs alternatives
  • Source: Environmental Science & Policy - vol. 12 - n. 2
  • Publication date: 2009/04
  • DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2008.12.003

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