The end is nigh for hfcs

Major users and EU regulations signal the 'beginning of the end' for hydrofluorocarbons (hfcs). The F-Gas Regulation will be the first step towards a total ban on hfc refrigerants as major end-users seek to move away from the use of global warming gases in refrigeration and air conditioning, the industry heard this summer.

Manufacturers, suppliers and installers were urged to act now to avoid a scramble to get out of hfcs. These were the main messages emerging from two significant meetings. The Natural Refrigerants Forum hosted by European trade association Eurammon and John Gummer MP in London heard the former Environment Minister admonish the industry for not taking the initiative. He said suppliers should be "banging on the doors" of end-users rather than waiting for its own customers and regulators to lead the push for "technologies that avoid permanent damage to our planet".

The following day in Brussels, Gummer chaired a conference supported by Greenpeace and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) where Coca Cola, McDonald's and Unilever – three of the world's largest users of refrigerants – announced they were aiming for an hfc-free future and were pinning their hopes on technologies based around natural refrigerants such as hydrocarbons and carbon dioxide.

It was the first time that the food and drink industry, its supply chain, international organisations and non-governmental organisations had gathered to announce measures to reduce the environmental impact of commercial refrigeration.

The three companies, who between them operate 12 million coolers and freezers, told the conference they had been developing hfc-free refrigeration technologies with their suppliers over the past four years.
"HFCs are gases that have strong global warming potential," a joint statement said. "According to independent research [unveiled by Greenpeace], if current trends were to continue in the industry, the contribution of hfcs to global warming would increase from 1·5% today to between 6·2% and 8·6% by 2050¹."

As well as hydrocarbons and carbon dioxide, other hfc-free refrigeration technologies such as Stirling, thermoacoustic and solar cooling are being looked at by the major users.

"Developments and tests confirm that these technologies, while at different stages of commercial availability, are viable, efficient and reliable," the statement added. “Other options are also being explored.

"Whereas technologies like hydrocarbons and carbon dioxide are already, or will soon be, operating in the marketplace, others need further development and optimisation. Commercial availability of Stirling is likely to be for the medium term and thermoacoustics for the long term."

Greenpeace welcomed the commitments made by the three users and called on other companies to follow suit.

"However, corporate action is only half of the picture," said executive director Gerd Leipold. "For a complete solution, governments must act. Politicians cannot sit back and wait for the market to deliver, because on its own, it will not."

Gummer said these initiatives showed that the days of hfc refrigerants were numbered and users wanted alternatives.

"You [the air conditioning and refrigeration industry] cannot afford to leave this to others," he added. "The George W Bush approach is to say it is too expensive and will damage the economy, but it is not like that at all and we should be looking to lead this drive for new technologies and systems."

Stricter measures
Eric Johnson, a scientific advisor to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, told the Eurammon Forum that the F-Gas Regulation, which has now been adopted by the European parliament, is only the first stage in a process that could eventually lead to a total phase-out of hfcs.

"The regulation is a first step, but we will quickly get to a point where stricter measures will be needed – with a ban in place possibly as early as 2015," he added. "History shows that banning substances works...containment

If current trends were to continue in the industry, the contribution of hfcs to global warming would increase from 1·5% today to between 6·2% and 8·6% by 2050.

doesn't and it is very costly. Where you can link cause and effect, a ban tends to follow – this was the case with lead in petrol, chlorofluorocarbons (cfcs) and others. HFCs are significant global warmers and alternatives exist so, if we are taking global warming seriously, then hfcs are low hanging fruit and will be picked off."

Attempts to reduce leakage rates by improving system containment had failed, he added, and the UK government was under-reporting its hfc emissions. R134a is leaking at the same rate cfcs did in the mid-80s with some systems losing over 100% of their charge during a year, said Johnson.

The UK's annual consumption of refrigerant gases is 9000 tonnes and rising with as much as 60% used to top up leaking systems. A 10% loss of gas charge can push energy consumption up by 20% and nearly a third of all systems are operating with a depleted refrigerant charge, the meetings heard. This adds to the power generation problem, which is responsible for 75% of all CO₂ emissions.

The London Forum heard that governments were determined to avoid another 'fridge mountain' where refrigerant leakages of up to 70% were recorded in 2003. An EU consultation exercise also revised estimated rates of leakage from car air conditioning upwards by 40%. "HCFC22 is already doomed and 134a is already on the way out of car air conditioning," said Johnson.

Cost-effective
Eurammon, which is an alliance of equipment manufacturers, scientists and international trade associations, said the take up of new technologies would have to be "cost-effective" under the terms of the F-Gas Regulation, but there were major cost and environmental benefits to be gained in the commercial and mobile air conditioning fields by switching to natural refrigerants.

"The regulation will drive up the cost of hfc equipment," said Eurammon chairman Holger Koenig. "And the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive will make the efficiency rating of equipment more important. This will inevitably lead to an increasing market share for natural refrigerants."

He added that improved understanding of alternative technologies along with the impact of new standards and regulations meant natural refrigerants were now more cost-effective for a growing range of applications. Former Greenpeace deputy director Chris Rose told the forum that hfcs were "annoying and unnecessary" because non-global warming alternatives exist.

Rose said the rise in use of R134a was "inexorable" and that like cfcs "most of it will end up in the atmosphere". He said that once the public became aware of the hfc issue, it would be regarded as a "scandal".

There has been a 23-fold increase in the production of 134a since 1992 and a 20% rise in concentration levels of hfcs in the atmosphere was detected above Norway from 2001 to 2002 – last year's preliminary figures show the trend continuing.

"At current rates, hfcs will account for 15% of our global warming emissions by 2040 and will have the same impact as pollution from cars by 2050," said Rose. "This will become a target for policy makers because it is a relatively easy problem to solve – much easier than applying fuel taxes or trying to restrain housebuilding, for example."

He reminded the audience that today 90% of all domestic fridges in UK showrooms used hydrocarbons and said it was now down to the commercial and industrial sectors to follow suit.

For more information on Eurammon visit: www.eurammon.com