Building owners in the United States last year replaced or converted 2,594 comfort cooling chillers that use chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), leaving an estimated 38,800 of the units that still rely on CFC refrigerants which were banned from production in the United States due to concerns about depletion of the Earth's protective ozone layer.
A survey of chiller manufacturers released annually by the Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Institute (ARI) showed the impact of the weak U.S. economy in 2002 as the pace slowed from earlier years. ARI said there were 379 conversions and 2,215 chillers replaced with non-CFC equipment using alternative refrigerants.