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Regulation of climate-damaging gases: Update F-Gas-Regulation
Fluorinated gases (F-Gases) are gases, that are not naturally occurring and are used in different industrial applications, especially in heating-, ventilation-, air-conditioning- and refrigeration industry. As the F-Gases do have a negative impact on the climate, the European Union took measures to control the use of F-Gases.
The F-Gas Regulation first came into effect in 2006 and was replaced by the revised version in 2015. Since then, there are regulations on European level with the purpose of:
Limiting step by step the available amount of F-Gases
Depending on available alternatives, to ban certain applications with F-Gases entirely
With an over-all aim to reduce CO-equivalent emissions
The limitation of the available amount of F-Gases is based on the reference years of 2009 to 2012. Since 2015 the amount of available F-Gases on the market is being reduced successively until 2030. Overall, it can be assumed that the actual F-Gas regulation reduces the CO2-equivalent emissions that are caused by F-Gases, by 2/3 until 2030.
The term “Phase down” appears frequently and refers to the successive reduction of F-Gases. In the heat pump- and refrigeration industry it is to be assumed, that “Phase down” equals more a “phase out”. This is based on the fact that the so called “phase down” demands for a shift toward natural refrigerants. Innovative solutions are promoted, new paths are taken, operational experience with natural refrigerants are collected. Nowadays, natural refrigerants are being used in energy- and cost-efficient ways to open up areas of applications that were hard to imagine a few years ago.
We are approaching the halfway point of the “phase down”, described in the current F-Gas Regulation. Currently, the European Commission evaluates the effect and changes caused by the F-Gas Regulation and revises it accordingly. Changes and experiences of the industry as well as political decisions from the “Kigali Amendment”, “European Green Deal” or “European Climate Law” are included. Overall, it is to be expected that the regulations towards natural refrigerants will be tighten up further. The F-Gas Regulation, revised by the European Commission, is expected for consultation by the end of 2021.
HFO-refrigerants – no alternative
The pushed solution of HFO-refrigerants (newest generation of synthetic refrigerants) by the chemical- and refrigeration industry does not represent a long-term alternative. C. Koronen und R. Tedesco of the Environmental Coalition on Standards (ECOS) outline to the European Commission in a briefing called «One step forward, two steps back» that the sole consideration of refrigerant’s GWP (Global Warming Potential) is only a fraction of the truth. One the one hand, because the determination of the GWP value alone is highly dependent on the considered time horizon and depending on the time horizon, the GWP is even three to four times higher. On the other hand, because they describe impressively that the emissions, caused by the production of F-Gases and which have not been considered so far, cause significantly higher CO2-emissions than the production of natural refrigerants.
The authors refer to already discussed decomposition products of the HFO-refrigerants and warn:
It is to be assumed, that individual degradation processes take several thousand years.
Decomposition products show partly a higher GWP value than the actual refrigerant and this is not taken into consideration in the actual GWP value.
First, HFO-refrigerants decompose in the atmosphere as highly toxic substance as for example hydrofluoric acid before they decompose to such refrigerants (R23 with GWP: 14’800), which the F-Gas Regulation is trying to combat.
Scientists can prove already today the increase of the decomposition products in the atmosphere, although the HFO-refrigerants are still used relatively rarely.
These listed aspects indicate that these HFO-refrigerants do not represent a long-term solution and that the only future-proof refrigerants are natural ones. In particular, these are carbon dioxide (CO2), ammonia (NH3) and the group of hydrocarbons (propane, etc.).
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