REFRIGERANTS
Planning for the future: natural refrigerants
Bernd Kaltenbrunner, chairman of the eurammon executive board, and Dave Rule, president of the International Institute of Ammonia Refrigeration (IIAR), take a look at the growth of natural refrigerants in the marketplace.
How is the market for natural refrigerants developing in Europe and the US? What are the similarities and differences?
Bernd Kaltenbrunner (BK): In Europe, requirements and restrictions set out by the government and authorities are the most important drivers for the industry. State funding for systems with natural refrigerants also helps promote and incentivise their use.
We’re seeing a positive effect from growing environmental awareness in the general public, which is increasingly taken into account when making purchasing decisions. As a consequence, sustainable supply chains are becoming more and more important to companies, which proactively communicate their use of eco-friendly technologies externally – particularly when they manufacture eco-friendly or organic products. For companies which offer organic meat and cheese, for example, refrigeration with natural refrigerants is a part of their corporate identity. Dave Rule (DR): While environmental factors such as global warming and depletion of the ozone layer do play a role in the current discussion, in the US the transition to natural refrigerants is primarily driven by regulatory authorities. It was ratification of the Montreal Protocol and the associated widespread
phase-out of the
R22 refrigerant that first motivated industry to search
for alternatives which don’t have any impact on the ozone layer.
However, the conditions for climate-friendly solutions have recently got worse again due to the United States’ withdrawal from the Paris Agreement. Financial cuts in environmental protection can also be expected. But it’s still unclear to what degree further regulations and their implementation will be affected in the future.
Which other influential factors will promote the success of natural refrigerants? BK: One of the key difficulties for companies is the highly variable life cycle costs of a system. Component manufacturers, refrigeration specialists and operators have different views and concepts, so there’s no objectively comparable data available to the market. Just like in the US, we in Europe also view investment security as an important success factor for natural refrigerants. Companies realise that policymakers are serious about the phase-out, which is why the market is searching for refrigerants that will offer security for the next 10 to 15 years and beyond. Systems with natural refrigerants such as ammonia, hydrocarbons and CO2
are ideal candidates. No
new regulatory requirements are currently in the pipeline for them and lots of practical experience has already been gained with the corresponding systems. DR: In addition to government regulations, energy costs have also proven to be a strong driver. People and companies are increasingly thinking about the type and amount of energy used. Following the R22 ban, many companies switched to HFCs, which are currently being discussed at great length in the context of global warming. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is now advising against the use
L-r: Bernd 20 April 2018
Kaltenbrunner and Dave Rule.
www.acr-news.com
of certain HFCs, which may eventually be affected by a phase-out. As a result, companies are once again wondering which refrigerant to invest in.
What are some of the unique characteristics of the European and US markets that we should be looking out for? BK: There’s currently a large market for natural refrigerants in the US and most of the key players are pulling together. In Europe we have the same technical expertise and know in great detail how the systems work but decisions are often very carefully weighed and discussed at great length, which means it can take a long time for new EU standards and regulations to be adopted, some of which then need to be transposed into national law.
But the Montreal Protocol, for example, had immediate impacts on the EU and Germany, and has since been joined by the Kigali Agreement. The result is a commitment to actively and financially support the agreed multiphase reduction of HFCs particularly in emerging countries. The EU has plenty of experience and a long tradition of using natural refrigerants such as ammonia, carbon dioxide and hydrocarbons. Systems with natural refrigerants are already in operation around the world, built with European expertise and components. Europe can assume a key role in this international market. DR: At the beginning, the environmental aspects of refrigeration and air conditioning technology played a much smaller role in the US than in Europe. But that has changed over the last several years. Even if it’s still unclear what effects the US government’s decision will have in the future, we’re already taking on a leading role in many areas, including the reduction of HFCs.
The full interview is available on
www.acr-news.com
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