Filed under: Emerging Technologies, Etc., Legislation and Policy
What is HFO-1234yf? Well, it’s the refrigerant that recently received final approval from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and is supposedly 350-times less damaging to the atmosphere than the current HFC-134a. HFO-1234yf, which is claimed to be a non-ozone-depleting refrigerant, can now be used in air conditioning systems of all new cars and trucks sold in the U.S. The EPA says that HFO-1234yf has a global warming potential a whopping 99.7 percent less than HFC-134a and will help reduce the environmental impact of vehicle air conditioners.
HFO-1234yf was co-developed by DuPont and Honeywell and, prior to its approval here in the States, both Japan and Europe agreed to adopt this refrigerate to replace HFC-134a. You may recall (or not, that’s okay) that HFC-134a was put into widespread use in the mid-1990s as a replacement for R12, the ozone-damaging refrigerant used prior to 1994. Well, it turns out that HFC-134a wasn’t as environmentally friendly as it could be, and so now we’re dealing with a new substance. We’ll see how long it takes before this, too, is replaced.
[Source: EPA]
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EPA approves use of HFO-1234yf refrigerant in vehicles originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Fri, 04 Mar 2011 10:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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