{"id":8661,"date":"2010-07-23T08:11:09","date_gmt":"2010-07-23T13:11:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/caddyinfo.com\/wordpress\/?p=8661"},"modified":"2010-07-23T08:12:32","modified_gmt":"2010-07-23T13:12:32","slug":"new-refrigerant-as-cool-as-r-134-but-safer-if-released","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.caddyinfo.com\/wordpress\/new-refrigerant-as-cool-as-r-134-but-safer-if-released\/","title":{"rendered":"New refrigerant as cool as R-134 but safer if released"},"content":{"rendered":"
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So why is GM switching from R-134 to HFO-1234yf?\u00a0 The new refrigerant provides lower “global warming potential” (GWP), which is to say it is better for the environment.\u00a0 It cools as well or better than R-134.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Current automotive air conditioners use hydrofluorocarbon HFC-134a, which has a GWP of 1430. The European Union\u2019s Mobile Air Conditioning Directive requires that, starting in 2011, all new vehicle models use a refrigerant with a GWP below 150, and by 2017, all new automobiles sold in Europe will be required to use a low-GWP refrigerant. The new refrigerant, developed by DuPont and Honeywell, has a GWP of 4, which is 97% less GWP than the new regulation requires.<\/p>\n

Remember the old R-12?\u00a0 It had a GWP of 8100.\u00a0 So yes, R-134 was better than R-12, but HFO-1234yf is a large improvement over both.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The other alternative was CO2 (R744); here is a comparison of HFO-1234yf and R744:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

HFO-1234yf: the better choice<\/strong><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\nHFO-1234yf<\/strong><\/td>\nCO2<\/sub> (R744)<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Environmental Impact<\/td>\nLower lifetime GHG emissions than 134a or CO2<\/sub>\"\"<\/td>\n20% more lifetime greenhouse gas emissions than 1234yf\t\"\"<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Atmospheric Lifetime<\/td>\n11 days \"\"<\/td>\n>500 years<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Compatibility with Current A\/C Equipment<\/td>\nYes, with minor change \"\"<\/td>\nNo; new high-pressure system required \"\"<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Cooling Efficiency<\/td>\nComparable to 134a in all climates \"\"<\/td>\nLess efficient in hot climates where A\/C is needed and used most \"\"<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Ease of Adoption<\/td>\nHigh; minimal additional design changes or delay \"\"<\/td>\nLow; significant engineering and re-tooling required \"\"<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Safety<\/td>\nSafe for use in automotive air conditioning applications \"\"<\/td>\nSafe for use in automotive air conditioning applications \"\"<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

So it looks like HFO-1234yf is a good choice going forward.\u00a0 A concern has been the relatively high cost of the new refrigerant, but with widespread usage and new factories online that should resolve itself (supply and demand).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So why is GM switching from R-134 to HFO-1234yf?\u00a0 The new refrigerant provides lower “global warming potential” (GWP), which is to say it is better for the environment.\u00a0 It cools as well or better than R-134. Current automotive air conditioners … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-site-info-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.caddyinfo.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.caddyinfo.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.caddyinfo.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.caddyinfo.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.caddyinfo.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8661"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"http:\/\/www.caddyinfo.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8661\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8675,"href":"http:\/\/www.caddyinfo.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8661\/revisions\/8675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.caddyinfo.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.caddyinfo.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.caddyinfo.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}