United States.
The Air Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI), and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) issued a joint letter supporting SNAP-EPA in its proposal to ban R134a, R410A and R407C in new chiller systems starting in 2025 in the U.S.
EPA is preparing regulations under the Clean Air Act of the Significant New Alternatives Policy (SNAP) program with deadlines to end the use of HFCs in applications where safer alternatives are available. EPA issued a first SNAP standard in July 2015. The second SNAP standard will cover more categories of equipment, including refrigerators, and will be proposed and finalized this year.
AHRI and NRDC have participated in discussions on the importance of moving responsibly beyond high global warming potential refrigerants used in refrigeration chambers. Considerations have included the safety of alternatives, continuous improvement of the system's energy efficiency, reasonable product development timelines, and prevention of market migration.
With these factors in mind, AHRI and NRDC support EPA by finalizing the following status changes: removing R134a, R410A and R407C from the list of acceptable substitutes in all new air- and water-cooled chillers using centrifugal, screw, scroll and all other types compressors, effective January 1, 2025.
The two bodies underlined their belief that the eight-year deadline will provide sufficient time for manufacturers to develop low global warming potential alternatives that meet all required safety and technical standards.
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