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Laying the groundwork for an international refrigerant management plan.

Number: pap. 21

Author(s) : HALEL D.

Summary

Refrigeration/air conditioning applications are growing in the United States as well as worldwide, since they are critical contributors to the health, comfort, and welfare of humanity. However, the use of refrigerants has consequences for the environment if the refrigerants are not properly selected and managed throughout their lifecycle. Refrigerant manufacturers, contractors, and users are frequently accused of mismanagement and abuse of refrigerants. This report intends to lay the groundwork for a future Refrigerant Management Implementation Plan. Proper cradle to grave management is necessary to minimize the environmental impact and to ensure that suitable refrigerants are used by the HVAC&R industry to meet growing demand. In the USA, there are millions of residential refrigerators and freezers; over 90% of all households have an A/C system. Nearly all passenger vehicles and commercial trucks are equipped with air conditioning. There are over 35,000 commercial refrigeration systems, and thousands of mobile refrigeration systems on the roads. In addition, reefer ships, and thousands of commercial chillers and heat pumps are used in commercial, industrial and institutional applications. All of these applications utilize refrigerants. Some of these systems by design are not as tight as others and therefore have a larger carbon footprint. For all but high emission applications, the equipment and system efficiency will have a greater bearing on environmental impact than the GWP of the particular refrigerant used. Nevertheless, even if the lowest GWP refrigerants and/or most efficient equipment technologies are used, refrigerant releases to the environment should be minimized in order to minimize the total environmental impact.

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Format PDF

Pages: 15 p.

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Details

  • Original title: Laying the groundwork for an international refrigerant management plan.
  • Record ID : 30007999
  • Languages: English
  • Subject: Environment
  • Source: ASHRAE/NIST Refrigerants Conference: moving towards sustainability.
  • Publication date: 2012/10/29

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