US industry supporting HFC phase down
10th July 2017
THAILAND: An influential group representing US businesses maintains it is working closely with the Trump administration to continue support for the Montreal Protocol.
Kevin Fay, executive director of the Alliance for Responsible Atmospheric Policy, told delegates to a meeting at today’s Montreal Protocol meeting in Bangkok that US industry was strongly supportive of the Montreal Protocol process and the newly-negotiated Kigali amendment.
“It is imperative that we use the successful process started 30 years ago to protect the ozone layer and to ensure consumer access to technologies worldwide that contribute to health, safety and energy efficiency,” he told delegates.
His remarks were made at a workshop held as part of the Montreal Protocol Open-Ended Working Group meeting organised to address the role of global safety standards in the introduction of low GWP technologies. National governments are already allowing lower-GWP alternatives with different safety characteristics than incumbent technologies to be sold domestically in some parts of the world.
In addition to training servicing contractors to safely handle alternatives, Fay said that relevant codes and standards must be carefully updated to assure safe use of these compounds.
“This unprecedented testing programme will accelerate the updating of codes and standards by three to five years,” he said.
The Alliance for Responsible Atmospheric Policy was established in 1980, its member companies representing more than 95% of US HFC production and a significant majority of the major manufacturers. These include all the major refrigerant manufacturers and HVAC companies including Daikin, Carrier, Danfoss, Emerson Climate Technologies, Hussmann, Ingersoll Rand, Johnson Controls, Lennox and Mitsubishi Electric.
