"Perfectly Cool"

A documentary film on the environmental impacts of air conditioning

Air conditioning coolants are damaging both the ozone layer and climate system. “Perfectly Cool” is set in China, where a growing population with rising standards of living is now finding AC systems affordable, and necessary, to keep cool. Unfortunately, most consumers are unaware that the coolants used in AC systems are both bad for the ozone and bad for climate. HCFCs, the most commonly used refrigerant, were introduced as a substitute for CFCs, once it became widely known in the late 1980s that CFCs were destroying the ozone layer. Though less potent than CFCs, HCFCs still pose a significant threat to the ozone layer and are also powerful greenhouse gases. The Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer is phasing them out.

The 191 Parties agreed in 2007 to accelerate the HCFC phase-out schedule to reap significant benefits for climate – up to 16 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide-equivalent through 2040. But now there is a new problem; the substitutes for HCFCs - HFCs - pose an even greater threat to the environment.

AC industry officials in China are aware of the environmental impacts associated with HCFCs and HFCs, and at least one major company is testing possible alternatives, such as propane. While their goal is to create an environmentally-friendly product, success in sales will ultimately determine the product’s future. (Click the photo to watch the YouTube version.)

 

Heat’s on for "Perfectly Cool”

 by Lauren W. Deutsch (lwdeutsch@earthlink.net)

It’s a typical summer day in Beijing: the air is sweltering and humid. But there’s good news for the average citizen: domestically produced room air conditioners, once luxury goods, have become more affordable – throughout Asia, in fact -- and are selling like sweet beans and canned fruit cocktail over shaved ice from a street-side vendor.

While the opportunity to become “perfectly cool” feels like good news, the not-so-good news is that these affordable, status-building appliances utilize as a refrigerant a known ozone depleting substance (ODS) HCFC-22 (hydrochlorofluorocarbons).

“Operation of air conditioners can contribute to greenhouse gas emission in two ways: 1) direct emission of refrigerant, and 2) indirect emission from use of electricity to operate the appliance,” explains Atul Bagai, Regional Officer (Networking), Compliance Assistance Programme of United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Asia and Pacific Region (ROAP) OzonAction.

To read more, click here.