Rewind...

A digestible look back at what's been covered so far

Hey Folks,

For the seventh edition I’m planning to do a recap of the previous newsletters. I’m considering it an earned opportunity for a small rest. An idea borrowed from the very kind and insightful

Karena de Souza

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Again welcome to those that have recently joined and I appreciate there are people coming onboard with different backgrounds. Some are newcomers to the subject, while others are industry old hands. Please bear with me as some weeks I may tilt one way more than the other.

To commence the recap, I’ll ease things in and start with some of the lighter stuff.

Where the f-gas hides

Photo by Fabrizio Conti

I originally had the idea of just looking under rocks for interesting or unique applications of refrigerants, the most common of the f-gases. As I went along however, it became surprising the number of other areas where fluorinated gases are used. So I felt compelled to branch out further and here’s a recap of the last six.

• HFC refrigerant used to to provide cooling for high output EV charging cables

• SF6 as a scuba diving dry-suit insulating gas

• HFCs used as a propellant in bear (and human) defense sprays

• PFCs, SF6 and NF3 in the manufacturing of electronics and flat screens

• HCFC-22 (R22) as a chemical feedstock for PTFE used in cosmetics

• Engine oil additives using PTFE and why there is a real concern

The more I dug, the more applications appeared, and I’ll keep publishing the interesting ones here. For those doing Scope 3 emissions reporting, it might come in handy one day…

Deeper Dives

I’ve also used the Newsletter to dive a little deeper into some areas. The idea is to try and stay focused on environmental aspects around refrigerants and f-gases, rather than generic cooling or refrigeration topics. There are plenty of other good newsletters covering those already.  

Here’s a rundown of the key topics I’ve covered over the previous weeks.

• How I came to see the unseen problem of refrigerant emissions. My awakening

• The challenge of refrigerant destruction and how cement kilns can be used as a tool in that battle

• Looking back pre-COP to MOP (Montreal Protocol – the Ozone one, not the recent Biodiversity one), progress on ozone chemicals and alarming increases in some of them

• Lessons from motorsport and how well an equipment room is maintained can tell you about potential refrigerant leak rates

• Calls for even tighter ratcheting of f-gas regulations in Europe and the expected push-back

• My own experience with trying to resolve refrigerant leaks on an older heat pump and why natural refrigerants can help address

• Thoughts and takeaways on my visit to the largest global HVACR exhibition

Looking back, I’ve covered a bit of ground already, however it is still largely scratching the surface. If there is anything that you’d like me to dive into further, just let me know. You can reply directly to this email and I’ll get it, otherwise comment below or over on LinkedIn. I welcome the feedback and it will help make sure everyone continues to get value from clicking open…

One quick point to add here. I’ve been guilty of it somewhat in the past, and that is getting drawn in and losing sight of the bigger picture. Earlier in my career the focus was energy. I then zoomed out further to include the climate impacts from fluorinated greenhouse gases. But until more recently that also overlooked the triple planetary threat we are facing.

Climate, pollution, and biodiversity loss all need attention, and when we talk about refrigerants and f-gases all three come into play. Pollution especially, but also increasingly the impact on biodiversity once some of these gases degrade in the atmosphere and return to our natural systems.

This is something further highlighted in the last week with the completion of the critical COP15 conference on Biodiversity. That’s why I’ll continue to frame the conversation here around all three.

Thanks for being part of the journey so far. Season’s Greetings and ‘till next time.

Adrian.

p.s. I’ll continue picking the article titles from my music collection until it gets boring. It provides me a little distraction from some of the heavy topics at hand here…

p.p.s. I’m trying to come up with a fun or clever way to help remember the fluorinated GHGs below. If anyone has any ideas or suggestions please leave a comment 😊

Fixed stuff here for newcomers

There is lots of news every week from the cooling industry and plenty of newsletters that cover it well. The intention is to keep this newsletter focused on the most prominent f-gases, refrigerants and importantly their environmental impact. That’s the lane I’ve chosen - I’ll do my best to stick to it.

The What

Below is the seven (formal) greenhouse gases that countries and companies should track, report and hopefully reduce.

• Carbon Dioxide (CO2)

• Methane (CH4)

• Nitrous Oxide (N2O)

• Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)

• Perfluorocarbons (PFCs)

• Sulphur Hexafluoride (SF6)

• Nitrogen trifluoride (NF3)

Not to mention the still circulating, ozone damaging chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), and the ‘new-generation’ hydrofluoroolefins (HFOs).

Hopefully you can spot the pattern.

The Why

Emissions from f-gases and refrigerants have been the fastest growing greenhouse gases over the past decade (more than CO2 and methane - check out IPCC WG3 summary for policy makers). They are also classed as super pollutants given their outsized global warming and other environmental impacts.

You can find my basic primer here and a plenty more detail in the whitepaper here

Some useful permalinks

The scale of the climate challenge can often feel daunting. This piece helps me take a step back and understand where we need to focus first - recommend a read.

There are plenty of technology solutions available to address the cooling and refrigerant challenge. You can find many of them here

Beware when the same entities who have contributed to the current f-gas problem propose you new solutions… This is a good place to get up to speed.