What should you do if your cooling equipment still uses CFC refrigerants? That depends on the age & condition of your equipment and how much refrigerant you've got stockpiled. Many people with functional CFC-laden chillers are holding out until they need to replace their chiller. Others with medium-age chillers are retrofitting them to use hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFC's) or hydrofluorocarbons (HFC's). Those with the oldest chillers are replacing them with new CFC-free models.

Below are links to help answer your questions about CFC and non-CFC refrigerants and their use in chillers.

• Switch from CFC Chillers is Slower than Projected
ASHRAE Journal, June 1997
The slower-than expected conversion to non-CFC equipment raises the specter that many building owners will remain dependent on increasingly scarce reclaimed CFC refrigerants on January 1, 2000, four years after the government banned production of the ozone-depleting chemicals. Statistics on conversion rates are part of a survey released by the Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Institute (ARI).


• CFC Phaseout Implications for Commercial Cooling
Dr. Lisa Gartland, Positive Energy
Basics of CFC phaseouts, including timelines of CFC and HCFC phaseouts, EPA regulations to worry about, and what you should be doing to cope with the changing refrigerant market.


• Ozone Depletion- The Facts Behind the Phaseout
US EPA's Stratospheric Protection Program
The Earth’s ozone layer protects all life from the sun’s harmful radiation, but human activities have damaged this shield. Less protection from ultraviolet light will, over time, lead to higher skin cancer, cataract rates and crop damage. The US, in cooperation with over 140 other countries, is phasing out the production of ozone-depleting substances in an effort to safeguard the ozone layer.


• Making the CFC Phaseout Profitable with the Energy Star Buildings Program
US EPA's Office of Air and Radiation, EPA-430-F-95-072, April 1995
The Energy Star Buildings program is a voluntary profit-based program that strives to reduce energy costs and pollution in participating buildings. Examples are given showing various aspects of chiller replacement.


• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Ozone Depletion
This web site contains information about the science of ozone depletion, regulations in the US designed to protect the ozone layer, information on methyl bromide, flyers about the UV index, information for the general public, and other topics.


• U.S. EPA Ozone Protection Regulations: Substitutes for Ozone-Depleting Substances
EPA established the Significant New Alternatives Policy (SNAP) Programs to identify alternatives to ozone-depleting substances and to publish lists of acceptable and unacceptable substitutes. Several rules and notices have expanded these lists, and they are available for online reading or for downloading. In addition, fact sheets cover more fully the eight industrial use sectors included within SNAP.

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Last Updated: 24 July, 2003