Health & Safety
look at this new piece of legislation in a bit more detail.
Legislation in detail On 12th March 2014, the European Parliament voted to support a European Commission proposal to cut the use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) 79% below average 2009-2012 CO2
levels by 2030.
Tis has since become law, the provisions of which will come into effect in January 2015.
Tis is part of the ongoing F-gas
Regulation (officially known as the Regulation (EU) No 517/2014 of the European Parliament, repealing Regulation (EC) No 842/2006). HFCs are used in a wide variety of applications, such as refrigeration and air conditioning. However, there are also clear implications for the HFCs used in fire suppression systems, since these have some of the highest global warming potentials (GWPs) when compared to HFCs used in other situations. GWPs are calculations of how powerful
the environmental impact a greenhouse gas is over a specific timescale, when compared to carbon dioxide. Te GWP for HFC-227ea which is commonly used in fire suppression systems – is 3350, so it is 3350 times more potent than CO2
in
its potential climate impact. To provide a comparison with two HFCs used in refrigeration: HFC-134a has a GWP of 1300 and HFC-32 has a GWP of 677.
Real-world impact Until a fire suppression system is discharged, the HFCs used in fire suppression arguably have low emissions. However, the F-gas Regulation covers reduction of emissions across usage, production and importation of HFCs. Producers or providers of HFCs will be allocated a production or import quota, based on CO2
equivalent in relation to
their GWPs. Tis is where the challenge lies: the relatively high GWPs of HFCs used in fire suppression would mean that, for instance, an HFC producer would consume the same percentage of a quota by making either one tonne of HFC- 227ea, three tonnes of HFC-245fa, or five tonnes of HFC-32 (all of which are covered by the new legislation).
Not just a European issue Te F-gas Regulation is the latest in a series of worldwide initiatives to address the use of HFCs. For instance, in Malaysia, the Green Building Index (GBI) has initiated significant measures to heighten the awareness of the environmental impacts of the options available for clean agent fire suppression and, in particular, the climate impacts of HFC-227ea and HFC-125. In Spain, the Council of Ministries recently approved a tax on fluorinated greenhouse gases (Law 16/2013 from October 2013) for fluorinated gases (F-gases with GWPs above 150.
I
n the oil and gas market, there are other issues to consider. For instance, engineered clean
extinguishing agents which are fluids at room- temperature (such as FK 5-1-12) can be shipped using any form of transportation, including air cargo.
In the USA, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has previously issued its proposal to change the status of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) in certain applications. It is estimated to reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 42 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent by 2020. According to the proposal, this is equal to the carbon dioxide emissions from more than five million homes’ annual electricity use. Te Climate Action Plan website claims that without significant action, HFC emissions in the US are expected to double by 2020 and nearly triple by 2030. Te US has also made agreements with both China and India to phase down the use of HFCs.
A choice Fortunately for the oil and gas industry, there are some viable and well-established
www.engineerlive.com 69
Nor is it just new systems that are affected: recharging existing systems are also covered by the phase-down schedule. Since fire suppression systems can be in situ for twenty years or more, then users of or companies supporting systems that have already been installed also have to be consider the F-gas Regulation.
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