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October 11, 2019
Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) are man-made gases used as refrigerants in products like air conditioners and refrigerators. Despite their use as refrigerants, HFCs have up to a 9,000 times greater capacity to warm the planet than carbon dioxide. As air conditioning and refrigeration become more affordable and accessible throughout the world—the number of air conditioners is predicted to increase from 1.6 billion to 5.6 billion by 2050—finding solutions to reduce the atmospheric impact of HFCs will be essential to preventing a major increase in global temperatures.
Federal Attempts to Regulate HFCs
HFCs were introduced to refrigerant manufacturing after the Montreal Protocol, signed by 197 countries, placed a ban on chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in 1989 as a response to global concerns over ozone-layer depletion. Unlike CFCs, HFCs do not have an effect on the ozone, but their potency as a greenhouse gas does not make them a suitable long-term alternative to CFCs.
A global push to restrict HFCs culminated in the Kigali amendment to the Montreal Protocol in 2016, which started phasing out the chemicals globally in 2019. These international efforts were complemented by the Obama administration’s 2015 EPA rule restricting HFC production in order to spur adoption of more environmentally friendly alternatives to HFCs.
In August 2017, the US Appeals Court for the District of Columbia Circuit struck down the 2015 EPA rule. The court ruling contended that the provision used under the Clean Air Act to implement the HFC ban was not legally justifiable, as that provision could only regulate ozone-depleting substances. In response to the Appeals Court’s decision, the EPA published a notice stating, as of 2018, it would not enforce the Obama administration rule.
In spring 2019, major A/C and refrigeration manufacturers, including Honeywell International Inc. and Chemours Co., pushed back against the Trump rollback, indicating that abandoning the phaseout could hurt manufacturing jobs and demotivate a transition away from HFCs. The Trump administration responded in April 2019 by saying it would revise its position, but has so far not taken further action. Similarly, the Trump administration has so far not moved to either withdraw from or ratify the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, which went into effect January 1, 2019.
Chemical Substitutes for HFCs
Even if the original EPA ruling were enforced, further challenges remain with finding a safe, non-ozone depleting and non-greenhouse gas emitting option for refrigeration. One of the best substitutes for HFCs on the market today, according to the American Society of Heating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), is ammonium, a colorless natural refrigerant that biodegrades within the atmosphere. The primary drawback of ammonium is that it can be hazardous to human health in large quantities; ammonia’s toxicity was one of the reasons CFCs and HFCs were created in the first place.
Researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Catholic University of America conducted a study examining 184,000 potential HFC substitutes, and found that only 22 were eco-friendly alternatives to HFCs. However, most of the 22 candidate fluids are flammable to some degree. In order to make even some of the non-flammable alternatives feasible for broad public use, the mechanics of small A/C units would need to be redesigned, necessitating further research.
Policy Solutions for HFCs
Effective policy on HFCs could start with Congress clarifying the wording of the Clean Air Act in a way that both safely transitions industry incentives to reduce HFC usage and accounts for potential federal agency overreach. Alternatively, the EPA could write a new HFC phase-out rule under the Clean Air Act that is legally acceptable in courts. In any case, the EPA could continue and expand funding of Executive Order 13693 (Planning for Sustainability in the Next Decade) for research of HFC alternatives. Updating U.S. standards on refrigerants would also allow for more effective market penetration of HFC-free refrigerants. Finally, and most potently, substantial impact can be made in reducing emissions from HFCs by better disposing of our current equipment.
About 90 percent of greenhouse gas emissions from refrigerants comes from end-of-life leaking. By bringing old AC units and fridges to refrigerant management facilities that use liquid incinerators or other methods to destroy as much of the refrigerant as possible, those emissions can be prevented from entering the atmosphere. Project Drawdown, a research organization that reviews climate solutions, indicates that, “Over thirty years, containing 87 percent of refrigerants likely to be released could avoid emissions equivalent to 89.7 gigatons of carbon dioxide.”
A single year of handling the end of life of refrigerants via refrigerant destruction and recycling could save up to 2,990,000,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions, or the equivalent of 697 coal-fired power plants.
While political momentum on HFC restrictions seems to have sputtered, it is clear that action can still be taken to dramatically reduce the effect these harmful chemicals have on the atmosphere. Through proper refrigerant destruction, updating U.S. standards, expanding research funding for HFC alternatives, and clarifying the EPA rule seeking to phase HFCs out, there are a multitude of nonpartisan ways to advance effective change.
An international coalition of states and organizations, including the government of India, The Rocky Mountain Institute, and the Alliance for an Energy Efficient Economy (AEEE), have decided to take action and have joined forces to offer the Global Cooling Prize, which seeks to encourage the development of residential cooling solutions that have at least five times less impact on the climate than conventional air conditioners in use today. The 10 finalists will be announced on November 15; they will each receive $200,000 to help them develop their prototypes, and the grand winner will receive a $1 million prize.
Author: Mel Barnard
Top-Rated Climate Nonprofit – 4-Star Charity