m e d.S. EPA Strongly Supports hew, Low GWP Refrigerant

At the m o s i u m oqpmked by tks Japan Refrig- emtion and& Conditionhg Indusm Association (JRAIA) and hlrld in Kobe, Jupun in November 2008 JARN caught up with two repres~ntatiYe~

I

@om the United States Environmen~aI Prorectim 1

I &nq(EPA). Wantit~g to k~tow what will happen in thafiture, both in terms of the new President taking oflce, and rhe new regukatiotas and refrig- em- being htmduced the global market. Dr. Stcphea M m m a ~ d Ma. Xrinten ZMd& apt@ h s d a d the mark& in t smr of mguI&rp p m ~ - s m s and new teehobgSeal&wkrpen&.

L Dr. Stephen Andemen

JARN (J): Well, to b~gim, RE nwxr &h, with t m U ~ Z pIDhibitiOns Prssdent has been skctd. What is a well as dictating energy dhciency posr opinion on how the Envimn- requirements. It a150 took leadership m~n&l h&caion A p e y will be a$- in the treaty negotiations, in favor of f b ~ t d ? a~lHCFcpb-outlastyear,justlik~ S m -@A): Wa, let's not Jv. Under the Montreal Pro-4 forget that the ma of J-, there were many partnerships with President Bush is still the President. 1-e assocmm* training and And then, af&r January 20 we have our technology k w m e n e . so I expect new President. Pre--&ct Ob- that we'll hawe c o w w has that is one of three agreements, with the Japan Refrig-

*, ag fi ecw- eration and Air Conditioning Industry omy and se- sent^ Assmiation (JRAIA), especially. 'lk p~thattherewauldbenodelayin J - h a p ~ ~ ~ ~ f o r

the the ozone layer, sponsored by Minis- e.commy, md that addressing ~climak of Economy, and Industry change is a top priority. So that's what WTI) and m. we know about the president- elect. It is testing and -3 -0p-

With respect to the environment, he ing adv- all S a J w S ~ , x l o t l a t a , w e & O u l d ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ o ~ o ~ ~ l r r y c r ~ ~ s o = working to limit climate change. We V t that the United a n d J ~ m

]mow that the E ~ A is an will work very closJy together with apmy,soI,StephenAn&men,dong - m i n d ~ ~ ~ C l ~ ~ b Y with Kri~ten Taddonio work for the bTinging different ideas -I they Prwridwt m~ do more than when working alona

J:Cunppr~amo~l8nt toerph& the EPAC roh Br the p v m m m t ? SA: we work, as p r d k a l staff, not political, k the Preeident. So what this mans is that January ZOth, if the new President wants strong climate protec- t ion,hP:aalE~thisextcutiye~,the P A , '%ow can this be done?" We typi- cally provide detailed M u g s listing immediate oppomdks, B U C ~ as HFC regulations. The result is that even though the President mi@ not h o w anything about refrigerants, he does know that be. wants greenhouse gas reductions. Of mume, no one knows what will happen far sure in January, but most experts in business and the gmmment in thc Unikd St- q e c t s t m g volnntq measnrcs and mgula- tiom of-.

3: With regards to the Montreal h t o c o l , win dgie U n k d States fake u 1Bader~hip position in combathg gbhi warrrsillg? SA: Yes, considering the Montreal Protocol, Kristen Taddonio, myself, and a man namGd KM. Sarma wrote a bookaboutthelessonsoftbeMonttEal Pro- title4 Technology T w e r f o r the Ozone Layer: kssomfot. Climau C h n g a We know wheo the Unit- adStakesisapartytoakeaty,ittakes a gmat leaQdship position. Tht United Stateswntkymdthereq ' 'of the MonllEal Protocol for domestic reg-

Sk Most genius refrigeratiion design- ers take advantage of evehy c o m p m t and way control lhtitionally, when energyefficiencywasnotsoimportan~ and when it was not possible to eas- ily convert W i to direct current w i t h a n ~ a n d t o ~ a v a r h b l e speed motor, people chose whichever size motor a d number of speads, one or two, fm the compressor that is best for the system. And next they alwqs bad m- and h - s p e e d fans because the fan can change the heat s h a n g e in the eqmatm and condenser. Now, WE can have high-pwered motars with inverters, and choose the revolutions per minute, and the W a g e is that now a genius air conditioner designer ~ a n e x t r a c t m o r e ~ g y ~ h c y ~ i t h a variable-speed motor than without one. Sothe anmertoyrrurqmstioni of course yts, it will be popular m y - wbae in the world because emywhere in the world they want the most ef- ficiency, and the inverter and vmiable- speed motor is a very powerful new tool, it's a brilliant design, and simply unbelicwbk.

J: What do you think 01 Japa~ssa fschobgy? SA: Well, lapm invented some of the

m o s t ~ o f t h e m i a b l e ~ motor tdaohgy. Japan has been very sincere about energy efficiency, so maybe the incentive8 and the leader- ShrpofJ~matkitpossibhtoiwent a tdmdqy k i t because other people were not motivated. So it's a payment to the inventors of Japan and for the g m m m t ledenhip mkbg energy ef6ciency important. It's payback for early ilmmlmt

J: You know that the EU decided to Ban HFC-134o in new cam from 2011, and t h e also have gome EU directives to regulate rstentioa of r4frigsmnt. In t h UuitBd Sm8, do you haw solrrs phm to es&bihh suck s*reg&tiuns? SA: The h t thing to cmider is that when the European Commission de- signed their F-gas regulation, the BPA was heavily involved. We presented the technical papers about the envirw- mental l-uhltage, about what technol- ogy is mailable, and it was the BPA that made the m e far 150 GWl? The original European proposal was for GWP 5, and we said, "No it needs to be 150 so that there would be mcae re- fripmnt camp- far the choice." So even though it appears that a regula- tion happens fmt in Europe, it actually had a team from the United Statcs, the EC and Japan; everywre was involved in the d e l i b b inside Europe. And it was leadership of Germany inside Europe that got the F-gas regulation for cars, and by the E€ Commission itself. So the United States is very aware of what happened in Europe, and of course, if we sbengthen our climate protection with the new Presi- d e n t , i t w w l d b e n a t u r a l t h a t ~ ~ build on the success of the European regulation. W e might start the transi- tion to it faster thau the J3C 2011 date and we might finish more quickly than the 2017 date. That would be a natural improvement over the Euro- pean ~guhtion. The second thing we would consider, and that we. p m p e d to the European Commission, is that we would couple energy efficiency hpmwments. So tbat when you make the change between refrigerants, you increase ef6ciency to the maximum economically justifiable level. grim T'addonio and I have proposed that the system have a low GWP refriger- ant, just like Furope, but it would also ham leakage at one-half the current rate, and energy eff~ciency 30% betkx. Hopefully in 5 years people will look back and say, it started in the EC, it used Japanese technology to achieve the objective, and it was the United States' scbedule and bundling of the three parts that in the biggest ~ p r o t e c t i o n . S o , w e a r e a l l p a r t af the same international team. We are all interested in the best engineens and the best techuology.

J: I hmr tbt, for irxampk, DuPoat h IobbyiRg for a B i l l to rsgrrlote the qsarrtidg for ECFC atrags or con- rumption in thn UlFitdd S-. Some- one sahi that WrPonl and HoweywII inventtrd thr new refrigerant, so h J ~ ~ t ~ ~ ~ ~ & f i h m d s r b sell iL and they a m lob&tngfar the

guvernment to rsgulals ECFC con- smptbn.

SA: The first thing you can say is that it's absolutely true that DuPont and Hwqwell have a new chemical that baa a w y h GWandiswyattrac- tive for car air conditioning and other applications now using HPC-134a It's also true h t Daildn h o b an Ma- tim patent for Japan, for R1234yf. So Daikin is in the same position. It's also true that Japanese chemical manu- facturers may have a better pathway fm manufactwing R1234yf at a lower cost. Please note. tbat'~ for the &mi- cal part, nM the qpbtim. So many c ~ m ~ e n t b u a i a s m f o r these new, m p r h pmkts. It's natu- ral and constructiw for the environ- ment to have the compnies with the best technology to push them into the mark& W e want peopk with tbe bast envhmmtal tehmlogy to pusb them into the ma&&

The second thing that's true is that there are other competing technol- ogy that are also very appealing. For sample, HFC152a is compmble for toxicity and energy efikiwcy, but is mch less =pensive rn buy, since there are no patents what~oever for 152a. If's completely open, and it only has the problem of flammability. But you can have p d engkers sol= ih p&lem of flammability in a m, a d we Mew that by adding a secondary loop, with the entire refrigerent inside the engine compartment, it would be s a k enough to d. So D d b t has an dmast m u - flammable chemical that c m be used without a secondary loop. But if they

too much it. people will chow 15% with a wcondary loop, or they'll choose carbon dioxide, which is non- A m b l e . So there's no single com- pmy tbat holds tbe future, and maybe them's 0 t h cmipa&s that will p- ent chemicals. 1 think that we should debrate that DuPont puhes the new chanical And the E€ and tht United States.

EPA, we pull new chemicals by Mpihg to genesate demand. And wben everyone is pushing and pulling to- getbw, we get tbe bwt solhms, which ofwurseispiti~ehrtheclimslte.

J: You seem to call l23&fan W C , but Humbywall psmists Q calling it 'mo-1- w?&at's thedi*lrcs?

SA: Any chemist wi l l tell p u that it is an HFC by the nomenclature rules of chemistrytry Any chemist will also tell you that t h e is a fmedom in the no- mnclatm tocall it mHFO. But may- be DuPont and Honeywell like HFO because it doesn't have the negative connorationufHFC.AndIagmwith tJmt Iagm that achemid hu ld be judged by life-cycle climate perfor- mance: GW, emistiom, and fuel use. But I alwrqa list it as an HFC because I want us to make a decision about the chemical, not the name. The Life Cycle Climate Performance (LCCP) is the Bingle best metric for climate perf-: of rdiigerated ptems. It could be that a hydrocarbon is best, or perhaps an HFC, HCFC, HFO, HPB or hyh-fhmmther. We are just inter- ested in pdommce

[ContiAu~~d m p g e 61

[Continuedfrom page 4]

Special lnterview

January 25,2009

The U.S. EPA -NeWLow GIYP Refrigerant

J: Some industry insiders are øfraidthat the HFC supply will be short af-ter 2010 because of reguløtions. Whøtis your perspective?

SA: If you look at all of the history ofthe Montreal Protocol, people werealways worried that the regulation wascoming too fast. Because they wereworried, they worked hard and therenever was a problem with supply. Ifthe regulation were relaxed to 2012,then people would be relaxed until2010, and then they would be nervousfor the last 2 years. Frankly, a smartcompany would've been worried aboutHFC's and HCFC's 15 years ago. Theyshould've said we've got to avoid themwhere we are able to; we've got to stopusing them as soon as we can. So rightnow, if you are worried about thesethings it means work harder.

J: But in the market, maybe consum-ers believe that the new refrigerant istoo expensive.

SA: The cost of the refrigerant is asmall part of owning an air conditioneror a refrigerator. The biggest part is thepurchase price and the electricity. So,I think that the refrigerant costs are ofminor significance. Kristen is in chargeof trying to create circumstances wherenew technological developments arerewarded. So. Kristen. can vou tell us

about the Climate Choice program?

Kristen Taddonio: Absolutely, wehave a new program in the EPA thathelps consumers and companies tndtechnologies that have the lowestlifecycle-climate performance, so thatthey reduce greenhouse gas emissionsto the maximum extent. And this pro-gram is called Climate Choice; it's anextension of the famous Energy Starprogram that is operated by the EPA.So one thing, for example, that wedo, is help label refrigeration and airconditioning technology that has thehighest efficiency and the lowest globalwarming potential refrigerants so thatthe best technology is recognized forits energy and environmental perfor-mance.

From the right: Dr. Stephen Andersen,Ms. Kristen Taddonio and JARN lnterviewer

J: Many American products qre stillusing HCFC R22. After 2010, do youthink there wiII be some problemsmoving from HCFC to HFC or someother refrigerønt?

SA: I think what's been wrong is thatnew technology during early stagescost more money. So companies haveredesigned, but not necessarily pro-duced their products for the new refrig-erant. But the customer does not under-

ffi3æg'lÉtn-ea¡

stand that they are buying the ozone-depleting greenhouse gas HCFC-22.They think that CFC's were phasedout. They aren't looking at the back ofthe machine to find out what's inside.So some companies Íhat are ready tochange refrigerants, are being cheapwith the environment and are unneces-sarily using HCFC-2Z. Some compa-nies are waiting until the last minute.It's very disturbing from an ethicalpoint of view since if you have an en-vironmentally superior product, I thinkyou should introduce it as a matter ofprinciple.

In the end, if everyone waits to thelast minute, chemical companies maynot invest enough in capacity for thenew refrigerant. That is why smartcompanies will change early, they'llsign contracts for the new refrigerantnow, and they won't run out of refriger-ant when the time comes.

J: HCFCs include R123, which is stillused in Trøne centrifusøl chillers,ønd Trune's chillers øre selling verywell. What ß your opini.on on the cir-cumstances with chillers, etc.?

SA: This is a very interesting casebecause under the Montreal Protocol,there is an essential use provision forthe chemicals already phased out.CFC, Halon and metal chloroformall have essential use. Essential useexemptions are used where there's acompelling environmental, health, ortechnical reason to keep a chemical. Sofar, there's no essential use for HCFCsbecause the phase-out comes manyyears into the future. Most peoplebelieve there will be an essential useexemption for HCFC. And if that wererrue, and rhe HCFC-123 building airconditioners retained their competitiveadvantage for high energy efficiency,then they probably would get thatexemption. So you could keep using123 until a better refrigerant comes.But here's the more important ques-tion, why would someone believe thatHFC-134a will be in the market lonserthan HCFC-123?

J: WelI, it's ø good refrigerant. It hasvery good properties: Iow GWP, IowODP, and is ølso fficient. But policyregulated that øII HCFCs are to bebønned.

SA: There is no plan to further ac-celerate the HCFC phase-out, butthere is every intention to acceleratethe HFC-134a phase down. So HFC-I34a may be gone from chillers beforeHCFC-123. Today when you go tobuy, and you ask the question, whichrefrigerant will last the longest in themarket. I don't think it's HFC-134a.HFC-I234yf should work anywhereHFC-134a is working today. BothHCFC-123 and HFC-134a are in resu-

JAR.Nlatory jeopard¡ but the difference isthat HCFC-123 gets higher energy ef-ficiency. For large chillers, it's the top-runner.

J: Until Januøry 2010, you cøn stillbuy HCFC-123 in the market, right?SA: Under the Montreal Protocol,you can make the refrigerant until thephase out. You can make the productsuntil you run out of refrigerant, andyou can stockpile refrigerant under theprotocol. And the HCFC-123 chillersare almost leak-tight. So here's what Ithink is going to happen: they are go-ing to allow the best chiller for LCCPto remain in the market as long as it isneeded. And then Kristen Taddonio'sproject and the engineers of Japanwill find a new technology, and whenthat new technology is better thanHCFC-123 or better than HFC-134a,or better than HFC-1234yf, then it willchange again. Environmental authori-ties are not going to take away the bestrefrigerant and replace it with an infe-rior refrþrant. And the only disadvan-tage of HCFC-123 is that it is ozone-depleting. So this is something foryour readers to think about: it's almostleak-free, and from an environmentalpoint of view, you're not concernedabout the use, you're concerned aboutthe emissions. So if the emissions ap-proach zero, there are no environmen-tal effects. The second thing to thinkabout is that there is a huge amount ofCFC in the market that's leaking fromrefrigerator foam and refrigerants. Itwould be easy to imagine that youcould have an ozone-neutral (like car-bon-neutral) HCFC-123 chiller. Andthe way that would work is the TraneCompany would collect two ODP unitsof refrigerant and destroy it, and thenproduce HCFC-123 to replace it witha much better climate performance,and they can do that indefinitely. Sothey could remove the CFC-il fromold chillersand destroy it. And theycould make the HCFC-123 while off-setting only a portion of what they'redestroyed. So there are emissions trad-ing opportunities that are not yet final,but your readers should understand thatwhile no refrigerant is guaranteed tolast forever, HCFC-123 is currently thebest in the market. With 134a underphase-out worldwide for cars, station-ary is next. It's exciting!

J: We really appreciøte you takingthe time to expløin not just the EPA'sstrategies ønd goøIs moving forward,but ølso a little more øbout the indas-try in generø|.

SA: No, thank you for asking pertinentquestions. It was my pleasure speakingwith you today, and I really enjoy yourpublication-it is an excellent outlet forcurrent news and events.

Source: AHAM: Association of Home Appliance ManufacturersAHRI: Air-Condit¡oning, Heating, and Refrigeration lnstirute

Copyright 2009 by JARN Ltd.No part of this magazine may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by anymeans without prior permission from the publisher.

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U.S. Factory Shipments : August 2008

ItemThis month Yearto Date

Ouantity units Comp.(%) Quantity un¡ts Comp.(%)Room AC(Window type) 94,s00 352.2 8,836,300 qEA

Unitary AC(includingHeat Pumþs)

544,179 95.2 4,616,686 115.0