Can you say Hydrofluoroolefins? OK, let's try HFOs for short. Get ready. They're coming, and sooner than you think.

The Air Conditioning Heating & Refrigeration NEWS looked at our rapidly changing landscape with regards to refrigerants (Link to article at the end of this posting). The seemingly innocent EU regulation to limit auto refrigerants to a max GWP of 150 has withstood the test of time and is now coming to the US auto industry with EPA's final approval of HFO - 1234yf for mobile air conditioning. This has led to a flurry of activities over the last eight months targeted at the potential use of HFOs in a broad range of stationary applications.

Not that "new" is bad. Much good comes from new. However, I fail to see the advantages here.

In addition to an array of new HFOs being evaluated, we will see new mixtures of the HFOs as well as HFOs with HFCs, and even with HCFCs. We will carefully nudge the safety limit with the addition of A2L safety rating classification by ASHRAE for these low flammability refrigerants.

Early indications are the energy efficiencies are the same or lower than current refrigerants and costs (refrigerant, oil, product, service) will be modestly/moderately higher. All this change with the inherent risks and costs to decrease the GWP value of the refrigerant?...a refrigerant which should, and can, be confined in its intended use, in which case the GWP never comes into play. Focusing on GWP is the wrong issue. Energy efficiency has a far greater impact on the environment.

Read this excellent Summary article from the NEWS titled "Is The Next Generation Refrigerant Here?" and provide your comments. Excerpts from this article include:

• "In general, the thermo physical properties of R-1234yf are very similar to those of R-134a, and not as similar to those of R-410A"
• "At the present stage, it seems that mixtures of HFO-1234ze(E) and HFC-32 are strong candidates for replacing HFC-410A in domestic heat pumps."
• "The future of government regulations for the use of HFCs is uncertain at this time."
• "The key drivers for use of HFOs in the future should be the energy efficiency in their applications. In refrigeration applications, the energy consumption is far more significant an issue than the direct emissions of the refrigerant."
• Some governments will find the low flammability an acceptable risk. Others will not."

Editor's Note: CR4 would like to thank GEA Consulting for sharing this blog entry, which originally appeared in the GEA HVAC blog article "The Next Generation of Refrigerants."