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All refrigerant gases with higher than 150GWP will be banned from 2022 under the new F-Gas Regulations. As a result cost is already spiraling out of control and demand has outstripped supply. Find out everything you need to know about F-Gas and ways to protect your business on this page.
Try our free Cost Comparison Calculator to find out how much you could be saving on your site with Evaporative Cooling.
Fluorinated gases (F-Gases) are a family of man-made gases used in a range of industrial applications. Because they don’t damage the atmospheric ozone layer, they are often used as substitutes for ozone-depleting substances.
However, F-gases are powerful greenhouse gases, with a global warming potential (GWP) of up to 23,000 times greater than carbon dioxide (CO2). As such, there has been tighter control on refrigeration gas production, equipment, service and maintenance - most notably the EU’s legislative action: The F-Gas Regulation - (EU) 517/2014.
The core aim of the F-Gas regulations include:
The European F-Gas regulations represent a revolution for the refrigeration, heating and cooling industry and will forever change how businesses operate.
These new rules will ensure emission reductions in the form of a HFC phase down, which has already brought rapidly reducing quotas for refrigerants on the market, such as R404A, R410A and R507.
While the F-Gas Regulation is applicable in Europe, it will actually have far-reaching consequences for international companies who will need to abide by its provisions when operating in Europe.
As the phase down of HFC gases takes place over the next ten or so years, we’ll likely see a rapid increase in cost and market decline in their availability.
Refrigerant manufacturers have been allocated quotas for the HFC gases they can produce and supply within Europe. These quotas are measured in terms of carbon equivalent rather than kg, with the target to cut the current levels down to 63% in 2018, 45% by 2021 and 21% by 2030.
As well as the phase down timeframe, companies will be under more pressure to reduce or remove refrigerant gases with higher than 150 GWP from their systems as product and service bans will come into effect over the next several years. These include a complete ban from 2020 on the use of virgin R404A and R507 gases for stationary refrigeration systems with a charge greater than 10kg.
The regulations impose greater requirements for leak testing, labeling, record keeping and so on. Read on to find out more about your legal obligations under the F-gas regulation.
Under F-Gas, it is now a criminal offence to release f-gases into the atmosphere. Illegally emitting gas could land you with a hefty fine!
Most of the key obligations are the responsibility of the duty holder, who is defined as “the natural or legal person exercising actual power over the technical functioning of the equipment and systems”.
Companies that operate or service and maintain equipment containing F-gas need to meet the following requirements.
For legal guidance on how to label equipment that contains F-gas and the records that manufacturers need to keep, click here.
Further reading:
How would the changes in the refrigeration gas laws affect your business? >
Following the discovery that some refrigerants may have disastrous consequences to the environment, they are gradually being replaced with more environmentally-friendly alternatives. However, this process isn't easy and although there are alternatives to old refrigerants, the new ones are usually not flawless and are only a temporary fix.
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The heating and cooling sector is a very diverse sector with dozens of different applications and there is no perfect refrigerant or a one-size-fits-all solution for all of these applications.
The future of R404A - an HFC refrigerant blend currently widely used in low and medium temperature refrigeration applications - is not very long. Therefore, businesses need to look at alternatives. Take a look at the table below to find out what some of your options are:
It’s important to bear in mind that some alternatives listed above may not be suitable or cost-effective for your business. For example, “naturals” such as hydrocarbon, ammonia and CO2 can only be used in new systems and cannot be retrofitted. Also remember that products with a high GWP will be vulnerable to future price pressures and availability issues, and so should only be considered as an interim solution.
For example, R32 is currently being pushed as a solution and replacement for R410A. However, with a GWP of 675 it’s not really a future-proof option. Plus it’s not readily available and it’s likely that future regulations mean it will to be phased out eventually, requiring businesses to change again.
Luckily, there is a greener, more efficient and safer version of refrigeration that eliminates the use of F-gases: Evaporative Cooling.
Evaporative cooling can completely cut out the use of refrigerants for air conditioning purposes. It can be implemented as a standalone solution or alongside your current air conditioning system in virtually any industry sector.
When expertly selected, evaporative cooling can deliver unprecedented results, both in terms of energy saving, capital investment savings and environmental benefits. Find out exactly how evaporative cooling works here.
Here at Cosaf, we can predict the performance of an evaporative cooling system in any environment, made possible by a unique evaporative cooling technology performance predicting design software known as DEN. The DEN system accepts and processes historic and current weather data from any weather station in the world and delivers real-time data for accurate predictions. Because of this, design engineers can have full confidence in specifying evaporative cooling, demonstrating the system's performance and determining which type will be most suited for a particular project.
While it’s essential for major grocery retailers to use refrigerant cooling systems to maintain produce fridges and freezers, many are still using outdated and inefficient F-gas legacy systems (or CO2) to cool their stores. These are expensive in upfront cost, service and maintenance and use large amounts of CFC, GWP and HFC gases; all of which are widely recognised as harmful to the environment and, worse, are unnecessary for environment cooling.
Cosaf is committed to reducing energy inefficient systems in any application of comfort cooling. Our Air2O system provides the solution to this industry-wide problem and ongoing challenge, by using an environmentally-friendly combination of direct and indirect evaporation cooling, which eliminates the use of harmful gases. It also utilises IDEC technology to eliminate stale air recycling, delivering 100% hygienic fresh air into your environment.
We’ve had great success working with a number of highly-acclaimed brands to help them realise the full potential evaporative cooling can have on their business, seeing energy savings of more than 80% than conventional air conditioning. Check out our case study to find out how we helped Tesco end refrigerant use for air conditioning >
A key element of the F-Gas regulation is the HFC phase down, which will reduce the consumption of HFCs by 79% by 2030.
This will be achieved by a gradual phase down on the use of F-gases, as illustrated in the table below. The proposed reduction each year up to 2030 will be a percentage of average annual total quantity of F-Gases placed on the market during reference period. What this means is the amount in 2016-17 will be reduced with 91% of the 2015 amount and then going down in steps each year.
During this step-by-step approach, the quantities of HFCs, expressed in CO2 equivalent that are placed on the market, are gradually reduced through the allocation of quotas. The quotas are set by the European Commission, allocated to each producer and importer of bulk HFCs. Quotas are expressed in CO2 equivalent. This means that the higher the global warming potential (GWP) of a refrigerant, the higher the amount of CO2 equivalent for a given number of kilograms released in the atmosphere, and the higher the quota required.
To calculate the CO2 equivalent of a quantity of F-gas you multiply the mass of the gas (in tonnes) by its global warming potential (GWP). For example, 10kg of the refrigerant R-134A, which has a GWP of 1,430, will correspond to a quantity of 10kg x GWP1,430 = 14,300kg of CO2 equivalent.
Since the HFC phase down is based on CO2 equivalent, it does not specify the types of refrigerant that need to be phased down. In this way, it grants flexibility to industry and end users when making their refrigerant choice. But its goals are extremely ambitious, particularly in the short term.
This year (2018), HFC consumptions must be reduced by over one third, and by 2021 it needs to be more than halved. To achieve these huge cuts, the industry needs to take action on the following areas:
Looking at the various market sectors where HFCs are used, commercial refrigeration and stationary air-conditioning are particularly critical. In the very short term, however, commercial refrigeration is the top priority and there are three necessary actions that need to be taken:
In stationary air conditioning applications, the priority is on new equipment. There is a need to switch from refrigerants, such as R-410A, to lower GWP alternatives, which will in turn lead to a wider use of flammable and mildly flammable refrigerants. As such, safety and building codes need to be addressed to allow this wider user of flammable refrigerants, accompanied by suitable training for employees.
Considering the points above, businesses would be wise to look for alternatives to refrigerants and reduce their use where possible in order to comply with F-gas.
Whatever solution you choose, the following criteria should be considered in order to future-proof your business and stay F-gas compliant:
When adapting to the new energy efficiency and F-Gas regulations, consolidating the cooling and heating needs of your entire building into an intelligent and symbiotic temperature control solution would be the most important factor to consider.
To be able to achieve this, you need to be smart when choosing your HVAC supplier. Working with a company that is not restricted by traditional design and is able to provide expertise and advice on how to remove heat from one area of your facility and distribute it to another location or re-use it for a different purpose is crucial in creating a sustainable building that is compliant with regulations and operates efficiently.
High GWP refrigerants will become harder to source over the next five years, and incredibly expensive as they will be in high demand. 2017 faced record price rises of up to 60% on gases such as R404A and R507A.
It’s important to understand that HFC refrigerants are not a viable long term solution, therefore, businesses that continue to operate cooling systems with HFCs will face the risk of escalating running costs and even having no access to certain gases due to the quota reduction.
Businesses need to start preparing for the future now. There are a number of options available for the users of HFC refrigeration systems, whether it’s, retrofitting or replacing. Our advice is simple: look to reduce or remove refrigerants where possible.
Cosaf are leading experts in the application, design, installation and commissioning of leading edge evaporative cooling, heating, smoke/fire ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems.
We don’t just provide a one-size-fits-all solution - we take a holistic approach to your business and tailor a solution that suits you. Being solution agnostic allows us to design and specify the best in class systems and adopt cutting edge technologies to meet the highest possible levels of compliance and legislative regulation.
This means we’re well-equipped to find the ideal solution to all the implications emerging from the F gas regulations. While the rest of the industry is struggling to find a long-term solution and is suggesting short-term fixes, such as replacing R404a with R32, we have a solution that can genuinely eliminate any current and future refrigerant related issues, as well as save you money in the long-run.
Cosaf’s experienced design technicians and engineers can advise on a solution, whether it’s reducing the number of cooling systems in your facility or incorporating more efficient technologies. If your business still needs refrigerant support, for example to achieve very low temperatures, we can split your cooling technology with 50% refrigerants and 50% evaporative cooling. This will help you achieve the perfect temperature, while reducing costs, energy usage and carbon footprint.
Remember that implementing change as soon as possible is likely to save you money in the future. For more information and support in selecting the way forward for your refrigeration system, get in touch with one of our highly qualified Design Engineers today.
Discuss your concerns related to F-Gas with one of our highly qualified experts.
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