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The quest for a green solution to the changing future of refrigeration and air-conditioning: the hydrocarbon white paper.

Type of monograph: Report

Summary

Around the world hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), which are powerful greenhouse gases, have started to come under increasing regulatory pressure and ultimately will be phased out altogether. As a result, the refrigerant industry should confront its use of HFCs now and plan to do without them in the near future. HFCs have been found to have a potential for global warming that can be much more destructive than carbon dioxide. At first, these compounds were hailed when they were introduced to replace hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), which were used as a substitute for chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). In the 1970s, CFCs had been found to be causing a huge hole in the ozone layer above Antarctica. As a result of that disturbing scientific finding, the Montreal Protocol was established by the United Nations to phase out CFCs—and its success in this regard has been noteworthy. But researchers have since learned that HCFCs are not the solution, and they should be totally phased out by 2030 under the Copenhagen amendment to the Montreal Protocol. Recently some environmentalists and government officials have proposed expanding the Montreal Protocol’s mandate to phase out HFCs as well. And so the search continues. The refrigeration business is on the front line of this shift from using gases with a high global warming potential to adopting substitutes that are better for the Earth’s atmosphere. Finding a replacement remains a daunting challenge because the new material must meet ever tightening national and international environmental standards and prove both economical and safe to operate. Among the promising alternatives in cooling technologies, hydrocarbons are showing increasing prominence due to their green energy properties and their ability to out-perform other refrigerants.

Details

  • Original title: The quest for a green solution to the changing future of refrigeration and air-conditioning: the hydrocarbon white paper.
  • Record ID : 30015728
  • Languages: English
  • Subject: Regulation, Environment, General information, HFCs alternatives
  • Publication: Morey publishing - United states/United states
  • Publication date: 2015/01

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