DuPont Refrigerants NEWSFLASH!
On January 4, the U.S. EPA published a proposed rule titled "Protection of Stratospheric Ozone: Adjustments to the Allowance System for Controlling HCFC Production, Import and Export". The intent of the proposed rule is to adjust and reduce HCFC allowances (i.e. the right to produce and/or import virgin R-22) over the period 2012-2014.
The reductions being proposed by the EPA are significant – ranging from 11-47% per year over the period 2012-2014. And, these proposed reductions are in-addition-to the 10% annual reductions already built into the 2009 final rule. The rationale for these proposed reductions is based upon new information received by the EPA from industry stakeholders indicating 1) there is significant, system-wide inventory in the value chain, 2) reclaim capacity has increased significantly, and 3) supermarket retrofits to HFCs have created additional supply of used R-22 for servicing existing equipment.
To put this into perspective, under this proposal, 2012 allowances would be reduced from roughly 90 million pounds (based on the 2009 rule) to somewhere between 55 to 80 million pounds, 2013 allowances would be reduced from roughly 79 million pounds to somewhere between 46 to 69 million pounds and 2014 allowances would be reduced from roughly 69 million pounds to somewhere between 36 to 58 million pounds. Unfortunately, until EPA publishes a final rule (which is likely to take several months minimum), we will not know how deep the eventual cuts will be and must, therefore, plan for significant reductions. Please continue to remind your customers of the importance of having a plan to reduce their dependence on R-22. That plan should include reclaim and retrofits to HFC alternatives such as DuPont's line of ISCEON® refrigerants.
Download DuPont's "Call to Action" (download attached PDF)