The UK government is on a mission to reduce the country’s carbon emissions; one of the upshots of that mission is the introduction of EPCs to ensure that all buildings are as energy efficient as possible, another has to do with replacing HCFC refrigerants with more ozone-friendly alternatives. The UK, along with most of Europe, is already well on their way to completely phasing out HCFCs from industrial, commercial and domestic portable air conditioning units and refrigeration systems. For instance, the refrigerant R22 is in the final stages of being phased out and will be banned completely by the end of 2009.

But phasing out HCFCs is only the first step in the UK’s determination to root out all ozone depleting chemicals and it has already turned its attention to HFCs, which were once thought to a remedy to the HCFC problem and the saviour of all companies looking to reduce their emission of greenhouse gases. Indeed, HFCs are a hot topic globally, with the international community debating whether or not to include phasing down HFCs within the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer.

Many environmentalists hoped that member countries would vote in favour of phasing down HFCs during the recent meeting of the Montreal Protocol; instead all decisions have been deferred to the Kyoto Protocol meeting which will be held in Copenhagen from the 6th to the 18th December. The Kyoto Protocol is primarily concerned with reducing greenhouse gas and carbon dioxide emissions; although many feel that it has lost its touch as it fails to enforce many of its regulations.

Back in the UK, the Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Industry Board (ACRIB) has cautioned the government not to ignore the total carbon emissions that will arise from phasing out HFCs. ACRIB says that for the desired reductions in carbon emissions to be achieved, not only must the appropriate replacement refrigerant be chosen, but consideration needs to be given to the alterations to existing refrigeration and air conditioning systems as well as the production of new systems, all of which could contribute to increased carbon emissions in the long run.

Tags: carbon dioxide, carbon dioxide emission, carbon emission, carbon emissions, carbon emissions reduce, carbon emissions reducing, carbon reduction, emissions uk, greenhouse emissions, greenhouse gas, greenhouse gases

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 15th, 2009 at 7:31 am and is filed under Air Conditioning News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.