Phasing out HFCs will provide no climatic benefit… other than enabling rentseekers to take better vacations.
Appliance magazine reports:
The Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) responded on May 25, 2013, to President Obama’s plan to reduce emissions from refrigeration and air-conditioning equipment.
“AHRI and its member companies have led the global effort to reduce emissions from hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, through research and development, always with an eye on maintaining comfort, safety, system efficiency, and reliability of the products that use them,” said AHRI President and CEO Stephen Yurek.
“AHRI supports the continued efforts by the United States and its North American partners to engage in discussions at the Montreal Protocol, especially the North American amendment regarding the future of HFCs,” he said. “AHRI encourages industry driven refrigerant choice, rather than federally crafted mandates.”
They make tons of money whenever the refrigerant is replaced, because you then have to change all parts of the air conditioner when the unit wears out. Used to be you only change out the compressor, but with new refrigerants the expansion unit needs to be changed as well, almost doubling the cost. Frequently the plumbing / copper tubing has to be replaced, because the molecules are smaller causing much greater and easier leakage.
I vaguely understand the CFL ban, even though I think it was overwrought, but this HFC ban is just dumb.