This month’s editorial calendar focuses on “refrigerants in transition,” so I thought I’d offer up my thoughts on refrigerants and their impact on ozone-depleting potential (ODP) and global warming potential (GWP).
I am familiar with ASHRAE’s position document on refrigerants and its responsible use, but I was unaware that Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) formed a refrigerant transition taskforce to address every step of the supply chain in the safe refrigerant transition to low-GWP refrigerants. The organization also addressed refrigerants, in general, relative to their handling, application, management, and disposal. AHRI has drawn upon “fact sheets,” such as, “A Guide to the Safe Refrigerant Transition” and its discussion on the changing world of hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) regulations and the chemical physical and environmental properties of a relatively new class of A2L refrigerants. This A2L grouping of refrigerants has lower toxicity and flammability when compared with A2 or A3 refrigerants. Class A1 refrigerants are noted to offer “no flame propagation,” but they are toxic.