Environmental impacts of

automotive refrigerants

 As efforts grow to make automobiles

friendlier to the environment, there have
been renewed efforts in several areas to
gain better understanding of the effects of
system designs.
For automotive air conditioning, this has
led to detailed analyses of the airconditioning system and efforts to devise
better designs that minimize impact on the
environment.

 More recently, the focus on global warming and the

source of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere has
prompted the reexamination of the industry's choice of
refrigerants.
R-134a is included within the basket of gases to be
governed by the Kyoto Protocol and so the study of
alternative refrigerants for automotive air-conditioning
systems is assuming greater priority.
A main issue with R-134a is the effect of refrigerant
leakage. R-134a has a global warming potential (GWP)
of 1,300, implying that when leaked, it is equivalent to
leaking 1,300 times the same amount of COZ.

 Since the consequences of refrigerant selection

need to be studied in a holistic manner, this
analysis uses the Total Equivalent Warming
Impact (TEWI) index as the basis of comparison
for environmental impact.
The evaluation is made not only on the basis of
refrigerant leakage effects, but also the effect of
energy use for providing cooling, as well as
energy consumed in transporting the airconditioning systems, as would indeed be the
case in any on-board automotive application.

Discussion
The main evidence, shown through our
analysis, is that TEWI values vary
significantly across climates, vehicle size
and key assumptions. However, for the
carefully controlled set of conditions, it
seems clear that warm climates may show
R-134a systems in better light on the
TEWI scale. COz systems, likewise, offer
better TEWI values in cooler climates.

Effects
Elevated levels of COZ can affect the comfort
and health of the driver and vehicle occupants;
other authors have looked at safety issues
resulting from leaking refrigerant into the
passenger compartment.6,7 Leaks in the
evaporator resulting in the rapid loss of the
refrigerant charge could result in COZ
concentrations high enough and of sufficient
duration to induce elevated breathing rates,
headaches, sweating, dizziness, increased
blood pressure, and nausea.

 http://search.proquest.com/docview/22051
3042/12DE573CE74E2APQ/1?
accountid=33262