Refrigerant Management, Climate Change and the Bottom Line

Refrigerant management is re-emerging as a highly politicized issue in part due to expanding global climate change legislation. As a result, organizations implementing sustainability strategies are including refrigerant management as an area of focus.

Since the early 1990s, thousands of Chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) and Hydrochlorofluorocarbon (HCFC) systems have been replaced with, or converted to, ozone-safe Hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerants. As with many operational environmental issues, what was positive from one perspective (better for the ozone) is negative from another (worse for climate change). HFC refrigerants have a global warming potential many times greater than carbon dioxide (CO₂), meaning that a single pound of HFC can equal thousands of pounds of CO₂.

Significant new recordkeeping and reporting rules are coming into effect as early as 2010 in California. Under current law, HFC systems are permitted to leak refrigerant and are exempt from any repair requirements. This is changing rapidly as the U.S. and other federal and regional governments worldwide begin to adopt regulations limiting release of HFC refrigerants.

This paper provides a brief background on the history and current evolution around HFC-based refrigerants and guidance on how companies can best position themselves as a sustainable organization with management and information systems.

Authors

Mark Harbin, Compliance Services Manager, ESS

He has more than 20 years of experience in commercial and industrial environmental systems. As manager of the Compliance Services Division of ESS and a Certified Environmental Auditor (CEA), he is actively involved in conducting onsite refrigerant management audits and assisting clients in meeting their operational and environmental goals.

As a licensed HVAC contractor, Mark was involved in numerous energy and modernization retrofit projects, CFC chiller containment/conversions, and refrigerant reclamation services. He is experienced in EPA Clean Air Act Title VI, Section 608 and 609 refrigerant regulation compliance, DOT refrigerant cylinder safety requirements, ASHRAE Standard 15 for mechanical room safety and design, and OSHA safety standards for HVAC technicians. He can be reached at mark.harbin@ess-home.com.
Steven D. Ehrlich, VP of Compliance Services, ESS

He is a Certified Environmental Manager (CEM) with 34 plus-years of experience consulting on commercial and industrial environmental building systems throughout the United States. He is an expert in energy management, thermal energy storage, HVAC/R systems, environmental regulatory issues, and environmental compliance management planning and implementation.

Steven was contracted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 1998 to train Title VI regional and HQ inspectors, on the 40 CFR, Part 82 refrigerant regulations. Steven is experienced in providing expert technical consulting services to client’s legal council during EPA enforcement activities.