The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has now formally proposed to limit certain potent greenhouse gases from use in air conditioners, refrigerators, aerosols and foams in favor of safer, more climate-friendly alternatives. The movement from high to low GWP refrigerants we outlined in a recent post (Refrigerants Update: Clarity or Confusion?) took a giant step forward with the new proposal which introduces limits on refrigerants and blends containing R-134a, 143a, 125, HCFCs and others. Among the proposed changes:
- Bans the use of R-134a in motor vehicle air-conditioning systems starting with model year 2021. R-134a had been listed as approved on the SNAP list of acceptable alternatives. The recent approval of HFO-1234yf for mvac use provided a more environmentally acceptable alternative.
- For new, stand-alone retail food refrigeration and new vending machines, as of January 1, 2016 the use of HFC-134a and certain other HFC refrigerant blends is banned.
- HFC blends R-507A and R-404A banned for new and retrofit retail food refrigeration (including stand-alone equipment, condensing units, direct supermarket systems, and indirect supermarket systems) and for new and retrofit vending machines, as of January 1, 2016.
This proposed rule is part of the Significant New Alternatives Policy (SNAP) program, under which the EPA continuously reviews alternatives to ODS to find substitutes that pose less overall risk to human health and the environment. As safer alternatives become available for particular applications, the list of acceptable substitutes is evaluated and revised.
The question being asked now is just how low a GWP does a refrigerant need to be?
Download this fact sheet for specific refrigerants, applications and dates.
Editor's Note: CR4 would like to thank Larry Butz, GEA Consulting President, for contributing this blog entry.
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