Industry

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued a final rule of a 40% cut in the production and consumption of HFC refrigerants from 2024.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) rule to ban non-refillable cylinders in the US has been invalidated by the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The ban was part of the US AIM Act, which aims to phase down the production and consumption of HFC refrigerants, and included provisions to ban the sale of disposable cylinders by the end of 2024 and to implement QR code tracking for individual cylinders in the supply chain. The EPA was challenged by three trade associations and a cylinder manufacturer, who claimed that the ban exceeded the EPA’s authority.

All common higher GWP HFC refrigerants including R134a, R404A and R410A will be banned in most new refrigeration and air conditioning applications from 2025 under new US EPA proposals.

The Washington, D.C.-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) has called on the U.S. heating and cooling sector to proactively get involved in modernizing outdated U.S. safety standards impeding the adoption of hydrocarbon air-conditioning.

The U.S. General Service Administration (GSA), a government agency that supports other federal agencies, has shortlisted a CO₂ (R744)-based heat pump from Likido as one of nine “next-generation” building technologies.

Research by BSRIA Worldwide Market Intelligence highlights the effect of inflation and the supply chain crisis on the air conditioning market. A generalised supply chain crisis is causing product shortages and longer lead times in commercial AC. This, combined with the demand surge, is generating an inflationary pressure and prices are rising in all the product categories. However, on the demand side, growth is expected to be steady throughout 2022. Exceptionally hot weather in the West of the US boosted sales in 2021.

Refrigerant manufacturers Chemours and Honeywell and green group NRDC have petitioned the US Supreme Court to review the DC Circuit Court of Appeals decision to block EPA bans on HFCs.

The US air conditioning and refrigeration industry claims that the country’s failure to ratify the Kigali Amendment to phase down HFCs will lead to job losses and a decline in US exports.

The US manufacturers’ group AHRI insists that the US withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord will not change the HVACR industry’s commitment to energy efficiency and environmental stewardship.

Fluorocarbon refrigerants are synthetic chemicals which usually have a high global warming potential, and some still have the potential to cause damage to the ozone layer as well if released to the atmosphere.