The Cool War - over Next Generation Air-Conditioning Refrigerant
The cool war is fought over the next generation air conditioning refrigerant gas for cars to replace current global warming chemical HFC-134a in new cars as mandated by a EU directive by January 2011.
The choices are:
- CO2, aka R744, proposed by The Alliance for CO2 Solutions (turning the problem into a solution)
- HFO-1234yf, preferred by most car manufactures with the support of the chemical industry
The reasons why CO2 is better than HFO-1234yf are:
- totally non-flammable
- higher efficiency yielding lower greenhouse gases emissions and lower energy consumption
- lower cost over the life of a car despite higher initial cost
So far only German car manufacturers have adopted CO2 while most other car manufacturers prefer HFO-1234yf because of its lower initial cost and the possibility to replace HFC-134a with minimal modifications of existing air-conditioning units, but despite very serious safety issues as shown in this video from the Alliance for CO2 Solutions:
You can read what DuPont and Honeywell say to argue in favor of HFO-1234yf here. In this paper the chemical industry fails to compare HFO-1234yf with CO2 in all tests except one.
In this other paper, from SAE International and sponsored by major car manufacturers (including Chrysler, Fiat, Ford, General Motors, Jaguar, Land Rover, Hyundai, PSA, Renault, and Toyota), but no German car manufacturer, HFO-1234yf is largely favored over CO2.
See also:
HFO-1234yf and CO2 in the focus, from R744.com.
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