The Alternate Refrigerant Systems Symposium in Arizona, traditionally a meeting place for proponents of chemical refrigerant solutions, has been cancelled due to the “high number of uncertainties in the marketplace”. Given an approaching EU deadline and unsolved safety issues of HFO-1234yf, the cancellation comes as a surprise.
A fixed event on the annual agenda for decision makers and experts in the area of Mobile Air Conditioning (MAC) – the SAE Alternate Refrigerant Systems Symposium – is not going to take place this summer. According to the official events website, the symposium was cancelled “due to the economic climate and high number of uncertainties in the marketplace”. The event, originally scheduled for 14-16 July in Scottsdale, Arizona, is hence going to take place in the June/July timeframe of 2010.
This year the event was meant to investigate ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and discuss ways to achieve compliance with upcoming international regulatory requirements. The latter, and here specifically the EU deadline to phase-out the current refrigerant R134a as from 2011 on, has put the industry under pressure to decide for a global refrigerant solution capable of meeting global environmental and consumer demands.
Discussions on viability & safety of HFO put on hold?
As last year, the SAE Alternate Refrigerant event was set to further explore the economic and technical viability of the chemical alternative HFO-1234yf, traditionally a preferred option above the natural refrigerant CO
2 in the US where leading chemical makers are based. As the invitation put it, “with the immense challenges our industry is facing”, participants were expected to continue discussions on the risk analysis, and safety mitigation of this proposed refrigerant.
Given that the EU deadline is not going to change, as clearly confirmed by the European Commission in an official document some weeks ago, and with the time running out for global carmakers to account for the change of the MAC system by 2011, the cancellation comes as a surprise. Unsolved issues regarding the technical accommodations for HFO systems, as well as rising doubts regarding its safety for car passengers remain. Therefore, the question arises if the cancellation of this cornerstone event might point to a delay in the process of disproving or approving HFO, or if it might be an indicator for a slowed-down decision making process in the global automotive industry.
Background: SAE Phoenix 2008
Last year, a majority of presentations were focusing on the life cycle performance, emission scenarios, technical viability, and the safety of HFO as a proposed alternative to R134a. CO
2 as a solution already close to or ready for serial production, was hardly represented. Speaking on behalf of all carmakers united in the German Automotive Association VDA, Hans Hammer from Audi confirmed CO
2 as the safest and most reliable option. He repeated that German carmakers are not evaluating 1234yf.
