A Syracuse University Environmental Engineering professor says there could be some challenges to Governor Cuomo’s plan to cut a greenhouse gas used in certain refrigerants. New regulations ban the sale, installation, and commercial use of hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, in food refrigeration and large air conditioning equipment in an effort to reduce emissions by more than 40 percent by 2030.
Professor Charles Driscoll calls the move a “reasonably ambitious” goal but, it won’t be easy.
“Walk the line in terms of coming up with a product that will walk through this space but won’t deplete stratospheric ozone. It will have limited greenhouse gas warming potential, it won’t be highly flammable, and it won’t be highly toxic.”
Professor Driscoll adds other states and European countries are working on similar initiatives. He says manufacturing standards also must limit flammable materials that have the ability to deplete ozone. The tough part - there are a very limited class of compounds that can be used as refrigerants in products.
“There won’t be one size fits all. There probably will be different refrigerants that will be used for different types of equipment, appliances, things like that to try to minimize these various issues. But it is a complicated problem.”
Driscoll says regulations and provisions must also change if the goal is to address climate change. Even with lack of support to address environmental concerns at the federal level, that’s where he says states can be leaders.
“States like New York and states like California can drive a lot of national policy because we have pretty high populations; where if materials are purchased within the state, then that can have a significant impact and drive what the industry does.”
He suggests another goal should be to eliminate the use of highly flammable and toxic chemicals. Governor Cuomo recently unveiled the $3 million Next Generation HVAC Innovation Challenge to entice researchers and manufacturers to come up with environmentally friendly solutions.
