/Policy/ Glenn Gallagher, California Air Resources Board
“Regulatory action at the national level to reduce emissions of HFCs is intensifying across the world, said Skacanova, who added that this represents “opportunities for natural refrigerants.”
CANADA PROPOSES HFC RULES René Desjardins, controls development engineer for Environment Canada, the Canadian government’s environmental agency, outlined where Canada stands today regarding HFCs and where it proposes to go. HFCs are not manufactured in Canada but are imported in bulk and in pre-charged cooling equipment and other products. Currently, federal, provincial and territorial regulations prohibit the release of HFCs in refrigeration, air-conditioning, fire-extinguishing and solvent systems. But Canada does not prevent the entry of HFCs into the market or limit their usage. However, the Canadian government has developed a series of proposed regulatory measures to reduce HFC consumption. The first is a phase-down measure for companies that import bulk HFCs, which is aligned with the North American Montreal Protocol plan. It would establish reduction steps (calculated in CO2 equivalent) from a baseline level (HFC imports in 2014 and 2015), starting with a 10% reduction in imports in 2019; a 35% reduction in 2024; a 70% reduction in 2030; and an 85% reduction in 2036, where it stops. “HFCs in pre-charged equipment would not be included in this phase down,” said Desjardins. However, imports and manufacture of pre-charged equipment and other products containing HFCs would be targeted under another proposal that establishes product-specific controls. This would prohibit, by a specific year, the import and manufacture of specific systems that contain, or are designed to contain, any HFC or HFC blend with a GWP greater than a designated limit.
For example, centralized refrigeration and stand-alone lowtemperature commercial refrigeration could not contain HFCs with a GWP above 1,500 starting in 2020; the GWP limit for stand-alone medium-temperature refrigeration would be 650 in 2020; and the GWP limit for domestic refrigeration and mobile air conditioning would be 150 by 2025 and 2021, respectively. “People could continue to use equipment currently in use,” said Desjardins. “We’re targeting manufacture and imports.” The main driver for the Canadian government is the HFC phase down, he noted. “We have used that for HCFCs and it worked very well.” The limits on specific products “are there to support the phase down.” Environment Canada has received comments on the proposals from interested stakeholders and is “currently considering the comments.” Pre-publication of a proposed final regulation, followed by by a 75-day public comment period, is expected in late 2016/early 2017.
MEXICO LOOKS TO MONTREAL PROTOCOL As a developing country, Mexico has received funding from the Multilateral Fund of the Montreal Protocol for the transition away from ozone-depleting CFCs and HCFCs. Mexico is now looking forward to an agreement within the Montreal Protocol on HFCs that would enable a similar phase down of HFCs in the country, said Agustín Sánchez Guevera, national coordinator of Mexico’s Ozone Protection Unit, who is responsible for the phase outs of CFCs and HCFCs. “To control HFC emissions, the best way is to phase down consumption and production as we do [with CFCs and HCFCs] in the Montreal Protocol,” he said. continued on p.48
July - August 2016 Accelerate America
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