SPONSOR CPD PROGRAMME The application of lower-GWP HFC refrigerant for air conditioning Continuing professional development (CPD) is the regular maintenance, improvement and broadening of your knowledge and skills, to maintain professional competence. It is a requirement of CIBSE and other professional bodies. This Journal CPD programme can be used to meet your CPD requirements. Study the module and answer the questions on the final page. Each successfully completed module is equivalent to 1.5 hours of CPD. Modules are also available at www.cibsejournal.com/cpd This module explores the move towards lower-GWP refrigerants in heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and refrigeration applications and solutions Legislation continues to move forward to accelerate the reduction of the environmental impact of hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerants employed in heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and refrigeration (HVAC&R) applications, and this will significantly impact design decisions made by many building services engineers. This CPD article explores the key drivers for change, considers the rise of lower-flammability refrigerants specifically R32 as a lower-global warming potential (GWP) HFC and provides an example of good practice in the application of R32 in air conditioning. It was 35 years ago that the Montreal Protocol established a global phase-out schedule for the production and consumption of almost 100 ozone-depleting substances (ODS). An unintended consequence of the resulting worldwide action was the unexpected GWP of the replacements that were introduced to provide functional equivalency of the ODS that were being phased out. So, in 2016, the Kigali Amendment initiated the control of these fluorinated greenhouse gases (F-gases), calling for a global phase-down of more than 80% by 2050. In HVAC&R applications, these F-gases are principally HFCs. The EU (which, at the time, included the UK) adopted the F-gas Regulation EU 517/20141 and the mobile airconditioning systems (MACs) Directive2 that essentially: Limited the amount of HFCs that can be sold planning to phase this in stages down towards one-fifth of 2014 sales by 2030 Minimised emissions of F-gases from existing equipment by requiring robust checks and efficient servicing, together with the recovery of gases at the end of product life Prohibited use of F-gases where more environmentally friendly alternatives are available. In January 2021, post-Brexit UK-specific versions of ODS and F-gas regulations came into effect, replacing the EU regulations. All the technical rules that were applied under the European legislation have been retained, but responsibility for reporting and management were amended to UK-specific authorities. A Common Framework Agreement was established to ensure a unified approach across the four nations of the UK, although some of the reporting arrangements are different in Northern Ireland (as part of the EU single market) compared with those in Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales). Currently, the practical result is that the UK will continue to restrict ODS, in line with European legislation EC 1005/2009, and maintain the phase-down schedule for F-gas in line with EU 517/2014, reducing the placing on the market of F-gas by 79% by 2030 compared with the annual average demand during 2009-2012. As described in a recent EU report,3 the supply of HFCs in terms of their total CO2 equivalent impact, as illustrated in Figure 1 has declined in Europe by 47% between 2015 and 2019. In contrast, the supply of www.cibsejournal.com June 2022 51 CIBSE June 22 pp51-54 198 Daikin.indd 51 27/05/2022 16:59