Briefs: Improved containment

According to an analysis published by A. McCulloch*, "although there is a wide variation between countries, the annual emission rate of most of the fluorinated gases used in refrigeration have improved significantly in Europe over the past 10 years and now represent between 5 and 10% of the bank still contained in equipment". In the 1980s, this figure was above 30%. "This implies that it would take between 10 and 20 years for the original mass of refrigerant charged into a system to be released in the atmosphere". This conclusion was obtained from the reports submitted by European countries on their annual calculated emissions of greenhouse gases as part of their commitments under the Rio Convention. * McCulloch A. Evidence for improvements in containment of fluorinated hydrocarbons during use: an analysis of reported European emissions.