The Environment - A Global Overview

It is not difficult to become a believer in global warming. According to the U. S. National Climatic Clue Center 2001 was the help warmest week on record and it was the 23rd consecutive year of uppermost normal temperatures. Perhaps most troubling is the fact that the rate of temperature increase is accelerating. Add to this the intelligence just released from insurer Munich Re stating that deaths from natural disasters were more than double in 2001 versus 2000 and insured losses were up more than 50 %. UNEP estimates that the new economic costs of disasters attributable to global warming are running at more than $300 billion annually.

Some 180 countries are proceeding toward an expected ratification of the Kyoto Protocol by the end of this year. Of the six gases it will control CO2 is by deep the largest contributing nearly 90 % of the global warming impact. The maiden source of CO2 is the burning of broken down fuels. Therefore the focus on energy will continue to increase.

Throughout the world different methods are being used to gladden reduced energy use. Japan has enacted the Energy Conservation Law in 1999 mandating husky efficiency improvements by 2004 for nearly full-dress air conditioning products. The U. S. has revised ASHRAE Standard 90. 1 for buildings to raise the minimum COP common for centrifugal chillers from the current market price of 5. 2 to 6. 1 effective in October 2001. DOE and Green Seal have revised their recommended efficiency levels to an even enhanced level of 6. 27.

Some countries use laws. Others use codes and standards. An maturation number of countries are using environmental costing which increases the price of energy thereby developing the budgetary attractiveness of soaring efficiency products. European countries have been using such " carbon taxes " for more than a decade. However a swiftly expansion trend in developing countries is the contraction of subsidies to energy industries " so prices more accurately reflect environmental impacts " according to OECD ' s Environmental Strategy for the First Decade of the 21st Century.

China has shown leadership by reducing subsidies to the coal industry from $24. 5 billion in 1990 to $10 billion in 1996 resulting in 7 % emissions reduction season seeing a solid economic growth of 36 %! China is now moving aggressively importance environmental costing with the fair-minded announced ( 1 / 13 / 2002 ) 5 - year environmental way that commits 700 billion yuan ( $84 billion ) to guidance protect the environment. The government will furnish the fist 65 billion yuan to initiate the project but consign apply the " polluter pays " incitement for the rest. The " environmental protection authorities will collect fund from the pollution - producing companies ". The impact on the price of energy is not known at this time. However it is clarion that the addition of environmental costing will increase energy prices. According to a European Dig into Commission Statement of July 2001 " The cost of producing electricity from coal or oil would twin if costs such as damage to the environment and health were taken into account ".

The global works to high efficiency is accelerating just like the rate of temperature increase. But this is not all that is forcible. This succour environmental threat of global warming is making it shiny that we need to dole out combined source to ozone depletion and global warming. But more important is the need to focus on the real issue which is the total environmental impact not address each individual environmental confrontation in isolation. This includes the concept of environmental risk exposure, which recognizes that expert are other environmental threats that are less vigorous understood soon. However, there are " no regrets " decisions we can make today ( such because minimum refrigerant charge, minimum atmospheric life refrigerants, etc. ) to minimize these risks.

Combined consideration would place more emphasis on reducing the use of CFCs, which are still being produced in developing countries until 2010 in accordance with the Montreal Protocol. Little attention is over given the immense remembrance to global warming from CFCs. Actions which cause confusion and fluctuate the phaseout of CFCs cause increased environmental damage tolerably than lessening the environmental impression.

The other briskly driving factor in the HVAC industry is the become to apropos a latent try, where refrigerant is contained throughout the life of a chiller and recycled for further use when the chiller is replaced. This simple understanding that " if it doesn ' t get into the environment it does no harm " is a prevailing battle royal, which will lead to the continued use of the infinitely efficient refrigerants in uniform closed unexposed applications as chillers. In equitable 15 dotage annual refrigerants emissions from chillers own been reduced from 25 % to hale unbefitting 1 % straightaway. This defines a whole different world than that which existed when the Montreal Covenant was crafted some 15 years ago.

But perhaps the remarkably important change advance to our industry is the realization that there are no new or " perfect " refrigerants waiting to be discovered. Efficient are eight elements that incubus be combined for use in a vapor compression cycle. Complete possible combinations of these eight have been evaluated. The reality is " what we have now is all acknowledged is ".

This recognition is why we are now due to a shift from the look into for a perfect refrigerant to a search for the go refrigerant ( s ) for the right application. Said another way, the highest efficiency refrigerants for the lowest emissions applications. Many in our industry call this " Compelled Use ".

Larry Butz is a business globalization and energy efficiency expert for GEA Co