www . refrigerationandaircon . co . za RACA Journal I January 2025 7
Associations such as the ozone depletion potential or the global warming potential of the working fluid in the system . These are regulated by international agreements on substance production and consumption , for example the Montreal Protocol and the Kyoto Protocol . There are factors that affect the operating performance of the system , such as the energy efficiency of the plant . This can also affect the external environment through the emissions from the source of energy used to power the system , but it is much more difficult to regulate through international agreements . The greatest motivator of change in this regard is the cost of energy . There are factors that affect the safety and reliability of the equipment . Change in this respect is driven by national and international law , augmented by safety standards that set out actions to be taken to ensure an acceptable level of safety is achieved .
The international agreements are very slow moving – the elimination of chlorine-based refrigerants that harm the ozone layer will have taken more than 40 years when it is finally concluded in 2030 with the completion of the global ban of chlorodifluoromethane ( known as R-22 ) and other HCFCs . Interest in energy efficiency is less consistent than the steady progress of the international agreements . It tends to flare up when energy prices spike but it is then forgotten when normality is restored ( or when the higher prices become the new normal ). It is also difficult to sell the concept of more efficient systems because there is an expectation that any additional capital cost will be funded by savings made . The capital cost is concrete but the savings are forecasts and therefore subject to a degree of caution , scepticism or even cynicism . Worthy efficiency projects are sometimes stalled or even cancelled because the projected savings are dialled back to such an extent that the expenditure can no longer be justified in simple payback terms . Safety and reliability are even more difficult concepts to justify in terms of any additional expenditure required to achieve the objective . The cost of business disruption caused by an accident or the cost of product spoilage caused by plant downtime can be many times higher than the cost of the investment proposed but everyone hopes that it won ’ t happen to them . This exploration of the achievements of the last 30 years and the expectations for the next 20 will examine them in terms of all three of these factors : environmental , efficiency and safety .
They are not independent variables – each has an effect on the other two .
3 . NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE LAST 30 YEARS The Montreal Protocol has been hailed as one of the most
successful international treaties in history . It was published just 14 years after publication of the scientific paper that explained the magnitude of the problem .
It was then signed initially by 21 countries on the date of publication , 16 September 1987 , including Egypt , Togo , Ghana and Senegal in addition to the US , Mexico , Canada and many of the European Union countries . Over the following year a further 25 countries signed up including Morocco , Burkina Faso , Uganda and Congo as well as more European and South American countries . This meant that the treaty had sufficient international support to enter into force on 1 January 1989 . South Africa was the 52nd country to sign , on 15th January 1990 , and the Protocol has subsequently been ratified by every member of the United Nations ( UN ) as well as the Cook Islands , Niue , the Holy See and the European Union , one of the first universally ratified treaties in the history of the UN .
Since 1987 the Montreal Protocol has been amended nine times , initially speeding up the phase out of the most harmful substances , the CFCs such as R-11 and R-12 , then extending the original provisions to include HCFCs such as R-22 and most recently , in the Kigali Amendment of 2016 , broadening the scope to incorporate global warming substances such as HFCs , even though they have no ozone depleting potential . This was a very significant move because it recognised the success of the Montreal process in controlling and reducing emissions of harmful substances and adopted that mechanism to address the problem of climate change caused by man-made global warming . The Kyoto Protocol , adopted in December 1997 , had sought to control emissions under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change but it was fundamentally unsuitable for application to working fluids in sealed systems because it was intended to regulate planned emissions from power stations and other industrial sources .
This mechanism has resulted in three transition waves as new options have become available . At first the transition was from CFCs to HCFCs which with their lower ODP were said at the time to be “ part of the solution , not part of the problem ” ( a direct quote from a seminar run by one of the refrigerant manufacturers ). The second transition , which overlapped significantly with the first , was to working fluids that contained
“ Change in this respect is driven by national and international law , augmented by safety standards that set out actions to be taken to ensure an acceptable level of safety is achieved .”
www . refrigerationandaircon . co . za RACA Journal I January 2025 7