REFRIGERANTS
The key to Earth Day targets
With the Prime Minister setting ambitious new carbon reduction targets for the UK, James Henley product development manager at Daikin Applied explains why the cooling industry has a pivotal role and how Daikin Applied is contributing.
T
he new target for the country to cut its carbon emissions by 78% (compared with 1990 levels) by 2035 announced by the Prime Minster on Earth Day shows admirable ambition, but it will be hugely challenging. The built environment is responsible for more than 40% of total UK emissions and will, therefore, need to accelerate every technology and process it has for improving energy effi ciency and reducing direct and indirect emissions. Cooling energy use in buildings has doubled since 2000
making it the fastest growing consumable in buildings and it could double again between now and 2040 without the improvements in energy effi cient operation delivered by our industry. With the phase down of HFCs continuing to gather pace, but the demand for cooling growing ever faster this puts even more pressure on the refrigeration and air conditioning sector. However, manufacturers have been working hard for some years now to develop a range of solutions that will make us key contributors to this pan- industry eff ort. Difl uoromethane is a case in point. Better known as R32 or HFC32, it is a gas that has long fascinated scientists and engineers because of its excellent properties. It transfers
14 July 2021 •
www.acr-news.com
heat very eff ectively so can reduce electricity consumption by as much as 10% in a refrigeration cycle compared with many of the popular refrigerants that are gradually disappearing from our market.
Cold chain The performance of individual refrigerants like this will become increasingly important as demand for cooling across the globe continues to accelerate. The role of the ‘cold chain’ in securing the supply of Covid-19 vaccines is just the latest example of the critical work our industry does and why our expertise and systems are in such great and growing demand. When choosing a refrigerant our choices from now on
need to be future proof. This involves fi nding that crucial balance between safety, aff ordability, and environmental impact.
There is no ‘silver bullet’ solution to fi t all applications, but the trend towards lower global warming potential (GWP) is now unstoppable thanks to the F-Gas regulations and the climate awareness of our clients. The GWP of R32 is one-third lower than R22 and R410A (the most widely used refrigerant gas for air conditioning) and it has zero ozone depletion impact. If the industry switched all its R410A equipment over to R32, the result
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