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Government regulations can change the timing and intensity of the changes to lower GWP refrigerants. Two noteworthy developments concerning government regulations occurred since the 2014 RTOC Assessment Report, one in the US and the other one in Europe. On December 1, 2016 a significant event occurred in the United States. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) adopted a phase-out of January 1, 2024 for chillers using higher GWP refrigerants, namely, HFC-134a, R-410A and R-407C, the most common refrigerants in use today (US EPA Final Rule 21, 2016). One other major refrigerant for chillers, namely HCFC-123, already has a phase out of 2020 predicated on its (very low) ODP, despite its very low GWP. Several states like California and New York are in the process of adopting similar regulations. While the EPA ruling has been challenged in court and likely will not to be implemented, when coupled with state activities has had the effect of encouraging US compressor manufacturers to accelerate the use of lower GWP refrigerants in new product development. And since the major manufacturers in the US sell products in most international markets where consumer interest may be higher than in the US, it signals a possible accelerated timeline for broad availability of chillers that use low GWP refrigerants. For countries in the European Union, the 2014 EU F-Gas Regulation (517/2014) controls the use of certain fluorinated refrigerants in Europe and it has significant impacts for users of HFC refrigerants in chillers, namely HFC-134a and HFC-410A. By 2030, only 21% of the quantity of HFCs that were sold in 2015 will be available. The reduction scheme occurs in a series of steps and is based on “GWP-weighted” quantities (GWP x kg), meaning that higher GWP refrigerants will get the greatest pressure for reduction. The first really big cut in HFC supply occurred in 2018 when there was a cut of around 40%. The industry is obliged to manage the reduction. The chemical industry uses price and availability as the two main measures. Consequently there are reported shortages of refrigerants in some EU countries, and the cost of refrigerants increased dramatically in 2017. For example the cost of HFC-134a rose by approximately 500% from 2016 to the present. The natural consequence is that the transition to lower GWP refrigerants may be accelerated if manufacturers cannot pass along the refrigerant price increases for refrigerants currently used to consumers. Additionally, governments can use taxes, tax credits, and other financial incentives to accelerate the transition to lower GWP refrigerants. For example Norway, Denmark, Poland, and Spain have taxation schemes and there are discussions in other EU countries, notably France. There are no recent regulations related to refrigerants currently used in chillers from the Middle East, Africa, or the Asia Pacific region with the exception of Japan. A 2017 Japanese regulation prohibits the use of refrigerants with a GWP more than 100 after the year 2025 when used in centrifugal chillers. Regardless of changes in government regulation, after years of research, a more certain array of choices is emerging and chiller manufacturers seem to be moving steadily towards lower GWP alternative refrigerants. Announcements of products using lower GWP refrigerants is becoming common, see Table 9.2. It should be noted that chillers have traditionally used an array of refrigerants due to the economics associated with high performance compressors as well as physical size and manufacturing constraints over the range of capacities provided by chillers. Table 9.2 is an abbreviated table that is meant to show the dominant refrigerants that are currently used in production chillers and the refrigerants that may replace them. It may not include all niche products that may be found in all regions. Table 9-2 does not show CFC-11, CFC-12, or HCFC-22 that are banned in developed countries but may be found in Article 5 countries. Of special note is the expected phase out of widely used HCFC-22 in China in 2030. Absorption chillers are not included in the table as they are not vapour compression based chillers and as such are covered in Chapter 12. Table 9-2 is intended to show that an industry wide change to lower GWP refrigerants is underway. To be clear, the term ‘Emerging Refrigerants Used in Chillers’ means that the research 2018 TOC Refrigeration, A/C and Heat Pumps Assessment Report 173PDF Image | Heat Pumps Technical Options
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