Germany sees drop in fluorocarbon use

GERMANY: Usage of HFCs, HCFCs and SF6 reduced by 7% in Germany in 2013, according to latest figures from the German government.

The figures show that the use of fluorocarbons dropped from 9,847 tonnes in 2012 to 9,145 tonnes in 2013. While the greatest demand was for use as refrigerants, it was this area that showed the largest fall, dropping by 9% from 7,562 tonnes in 2012 to 6,897 in 2013.

The use of fluorocarbons decreased by 5.4% in the plastics and foam industry but showed a slight increase of 3% for use as propellants in aerosols.

The climate impact of the 2013 fluorocarbons used corresponded to a total of around 17 million tonnes of CO2 equivalents, with R134a accounting for just under 8.9 million tonnes of CO2 equivalents. R 404A use corresponded to another 3.9 million tonnes of CO2 equivalents.