LOW-GWP FREEZE OUT Flammable Refrigerants Encounter Regulatory Retardants
By Barbara Carss REGULATORY LETHARGY around moderately flammable refrigerants is dousing policy intent to reduce reliance on products with high global warming potential (GWP). That could also be undermining efforts to encourage electric heat pump options in place of gas-fired heating and domestic hot water systems. With significant steps in a global phasedown of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) looming this decade, researchers and manufacturers have now done much of the work to comply, but codes and standards will need to catch up before a new generation of lower-GWP refrigerants can be used. Speaking at the recent Canada Green Building Council (CAGBC) conference in Toronto, green building specialists acknowledged this element of uncertainty in what’s otherwise considered one of the most effective paths to fuel-switching through a variable refrigerant flow (VRF) system for heating and cooling. For now, those systems employ R-410a, an HFC with a GWP of 2,088, while the anticipated lower-GWP replacement option — R-32 (GWP 675) — is classified as A2L on ASHRAE’s scale of flammability and toxicity. It’s a category that is gaining acceptance with standard developers and health and safety regulators, but at a differing pace across worldwide jurisdictions. 28 July 2022 | Canadian Property Management
“The next three to four years are very critical,” advised Pushpinder Rana, Senior Manager, Commercial Products and Industry Relations, with Mitsubishi Canada’s HVAC division, who also chairs the technical committee of CSA B52, the Mechanical Refrigeration Code. “Currently [in Canada] you cannot sell A2L for any institutional application, and it’s inside of three kilograms for residential and 10 kilograms for commercial application.” “We’re at an inflection point where I’m quite cautious with VRF because R-410a is something that is a little bit dicey if built into a building,” observed Cara Sloat, Senior Engineer with the mechanical and electrical consulting engineering firm, Hammerschlag and Joffe. “R-32 is the flagship refrigerant that will replace R-410a so once that rolls out, if you have a VRF system at end-of-life, you’ll be able to replace the terminal units, but keep the piping.” Other options such as hybrid hydronicVRF systems, which could reduce refrigerant requirements, are expected to make a market impact relatively soon. Still, it’s considered too early to shut down any possible avenue to emissions reductions, especially when there is a high degree of certainty in the HVAC industry that A2Ls can be used safely. Rana urged all stakeholders to keep talking.
“Personally, I feel there is a lot of disconnect between people who should be connected. This has to be an ongoing effort where people are connected and they are educating the market how we should transform,” he maintained. HFC PHASE-DOWN Under the parameters of the phase-down, Canada and other developed nations that are signatories to the Kigali Amendment of the Montreal Protocol are slated to reduce production and consumption of HCFs by 40% relative to the average from the baseline years of 2011, 2012 and 2013 as of 2024. Production/consumption is to be curbed by 70% by 2029 and by 85% by 2036. However, the path for doing so is yet to be clearly established. A prohibition on the use of HFCs with GWP greater than 750 in chillers is set for January 1, 2025, along with a prohibition on HFCs with GWP greater than 2,200 in mobile refrigeration systems used in transportation. Thus far, there are no deadlines for stationary air-conditioning or VRF systems, but it’s expected that Canada may adopt the schedule recently announced in the United States. If that’s the case, manufacturers would not be able to sell new VRF systems that use R-410a as of January 1, 2027. Like the phase-
