Held during the 33^rd OEWG meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol on 28 June 2013 in Bangkok, Thailand, ATMOsphere Bangkok 2013 provided an update on policy initiatives in Australia and the EU driving the uptake of natural refrigerants, as well as examples of recently implemented projects with ammonia, for example a large-scale AC system at an administration building and a dairy processing plant in Australia.

With a focus on “Natural Refrigerant Solutions – Policy drivers and examples from around the globe”, the side-event to the 33^rd Open-Ended Working Group (33rd OEWG) gathered over 80 participants, mainly UN-level ozone & climate negotiators looking for technologically viable, safe and efficient alternatives to HCFCs that are soon to be phased-out in developing countries. The Green Cooling Association highlighted the impact of the Australian HFC levy in the uptake of natural refrigerants, while shecco presented an update on the recent status of the F-Gas Regulation proposal.

Impacts of the HFC levy in Australia

The effect of the CO₂ equivalent pricing on HFCs in Australia that was introduced in July 2012 was the focus of a presentation by Mr. Brent Hoare from the Green Cooling Association. As the HFC levy has been in place for just one year, it is difficult to quantify the impacts, however, some changes in the market can already be observed. The sales of HFCs have fallen significantly presumably because of greatly increased preventative maintenance, recovery and reuse. On the other side, the uptake of natural refrigerants has risen in different sectors. Supermarkets have long been planning for the carbon price and the need to reduce high maintenance costs. As a result, all new systems now deploy CO₂ cascade technology.

Mr. Hoare made reference to several projects with natural refrigerants recently implemented in Australia: For example, ammonia was recently used as the primary refrigerant in a large-scale air-conditioning system servicing a local Council administration building in Queensland, Australia. Suitable for high ambient temperature regions, the new system reduces energy consumption by 50%, resulting in $100,000 (€71,313) savings.

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