Summertime and the Livin’ is Eco-Friendly
Global warming is a fact, despite what some say to the contrary, but heat has been a problem for the global population since time began, and only with the development of electricity could a way be found to reduce the temperature in homes and businesses to any significant degree. In 1901 Willis Carrier built the first modern air conditioning system and by 1931 window-ledge AC units became a household want, despite their exorbitant cost ($416 then which is the equivalent of $8,295 today). As the home air conditioning market developed, the refrigerant used to allow those units to cool everything from homes to food storage facilities, migrated from a number of toxic and/or flammable gases to the commonplace refrigerant known as R-22 or Freon.
Little attention was given to the fact that the release of Freon, a hydrofluorocarbon, was detrimental to the ozone layer and some of the replacements that were touted as ‘non-ozone layer toxic’ turned out to be so but still had extremely high GWP (Global Warming Potential) with atmospheric lifetimes lasting for multiple decades. As of 2020 Freon production was halted (mostly) and R-410A, known as Puron was the alternative refrigerant used in all residential A/C units produced however Puron also has a high GWP index and as of 2023, there will be another switch to R454B, known as Opteon, or R32 (No product name and today we noticed that LG Electronics (066570.KS) was advertising what it calls “Korea’s first eco-friendly refrigerant system air conditioner” starting next month
The new system, which uses R32 as a refrigerant, is cited as having a GWP that is only 30% of the previous refrigerants (meaning Puron) and uses 20% less overall refrigerant, all of which is true, but LG has been using R32 in Europe and India since 2018 as it was classified as a ‘weakly flammable material’ in Korean until the safety standard was changed in August of last year. As of January 2023 Puron will be replaced with either R32 or R454B in many countries including the US so LG seems to be making a push to capture the ‘first mover’ share in Korea, but the rest of the world, or at least much of it has already made the soon-to-be-mandated change with many opting for R454B, such as Carrier (CARR) in the US.
Little attention was given to the fact that the release of Freon, a hydrofluorocarbon, was detrimental to the ozone layer and some of the replacements that were touted as ‘non-ozone layer toxic’ turned out to be so but still had extremely high GWP (Global Warming Potential) with atmospheric lifetimes lasting for multiple decades. As of 2020 Freon production was halted (mostly) and R-410A, known as Puron was the alternative refrigerant used in all residential A/C units produced however Puron also has a high GWP index and as of 2023, there will be another switch to R454B, known as Opteon, or R32 (No product name and today we noticed that LG Electronics (066570.KS) was advertising what it calls “Korea’s first eco-friendly refrigerant system air conditioner” starting next month
The new system, which uses R32 as a refrigerant, is cited as having a GWP that is only 30% of the previous refrigerants (meaning Puron) and uses 20% less overall refrigerant, all of which is true, but LG has been using R32 in Europe and India since 2018 as it was classified as a ‘weakly flammable material’ in Korean until the safety standard was changed in August of last year. As of January 2023 Puron will be replaced with either R32 or R454B in many countries including the US so LG seems to be making a push to capture the ‘first mover’ share in Korea, but the rest of the world, or at least much of it has already made the soon-to-be-mandated change with many opting for R454B, such as Carrier (CARR) in the US.
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