Congratulations to R744.com for establishing this facility, I hope we can all put it to good use! To kick things off, here's a question -
In the wake of the accelerated HCFC phase out decided at the 19th Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol in Montreal last September, there is an intense debate raging about the choice between the use of HFCs and the so called Not-In-Kind-Alternatives (NIKA) such as CO2. The next venue for this debate will be at the 28th Open-Ended Working Group of the Montreal Protocol from 7-11 July in Bangkok, Thailand.
I'm hopeful of being able to generate some funding and support to be able to attend, and hope to be able to participate in a side event with Greenpeace and the Environmental Investigation Agency.
These meetings are heavily stacked with HFC lobbyists, and the low-GWP solutions voice is not being heard, or certainly not as much as it should be.
If anyone is going, or thinking of going, I'd be very keen to hear from you, and would appreciate any perspectives, questions or comments on the need to engage with this process.
i wold suggest that you inform relevant companies and organisations about this new forum and get them to start using it as an international debate platform...... good luck...if you kick it off i will join you.
Anonymous posted on 2008-05-19 22:48:02: Brent,
i wold suggest that you inform relevant companies and organisations about this new forum and get them to start using it as an international ... Jump to Post
Brent,
i understand that you attended the Bangkok meeting this month. Based on your comment to the article today, is there any chance you could update other Community members of what happened.
Thanks for the prompt, and for publishing my report on the meeting in the news section of the site. I'm hoping that this will generate some attention from relevant companies and organisations and draw in some more traffic to the site and forums.
I'm aware that many people with an interest in CO2 refrigerant are increasingly using the site. It would be great to see it become a more active platform for debate and exchange of ideas, and I guess this will take some time to develop.
In the interests of stirring up some debate, I'd like to build on the observations made in my report that the fluorolobby understand the importance of these negotiations and turn up in significant numbers, yet the CO2 industry (and natural refrigerants more generally) is virtually unrepresented.
We need to ask if we are serious about replacing HCFCs and HFCs, and providing the solutions the world needs to meet our RAC needs without contributing to an increased risk of catastrophic climate change? If so, surely we ought not leave the task of convincing the world community of policymakers that natural refrigerants are available, affordable and appropriate solutions to the few Environmental NGOs that understand the F-gas problem, and a tiny handful of progressive Governments?
I was only able to participate in the Bangkok Open Ended Working Group meeting thanks to the generosity of several friends in the industry, and in my own time. I wasn't being paid to be there (although I was empowered to act on behalf of the Green Cooling Council), but was highly motivated by the opportunity to play a part in the negotiations, and to meet many colleagues from the Northern Hemisphere, and to put faces to very familar names in the fluorolobby. I mention this reluctantly, but only to establish the point that the natural refrigerants industry's participation in these negotiations are under resourced.
Whether the Green Cooling Council will have the resources and inclination to enable ongoing participation in the Montreal Protocol process in Doha this coming November and beyond is very much an open question. So too is the question of whether any other representatives of the CO2 (and other natural refrigerants) industry will be motivated to join forces with the environmental NGOs, and other allies, to plan for an effective collaboration in Doha, and in the months leading up to the meetings.
It's my view that a very modest allocation of resources and strategic planning effort will deliver great environmental and economic benefits for those with a genuine interest in providing real solutions to the climate challenge.
The necessary engineering aspects of providing these solutions have made huge advances in recent years. However without more attention to the political and marketing aspects of the task, I fear these efforts will not be sufficient to deliver the world wide spread and level of acceptance.for climate friendly refrigerants we urgently need to achieve to prevent emissions of HFCs becoming an uncontrollable part of the greenhouse problem.
It's not the intention of this post to be at all critical of the engineering profession, or of those working hard to establish emerging technologies within viable business models. Yet unless the political and intergovernmental dimensions of the refrigerants debate receive a lot more attention than they have to date, the prospects of effectively challenging the dominance of the fluorocarbon lobby in the market and the Montreal process will remain dim.
The CO2 and natural refrigerants industries have many friends engaged in the Montreal Protocol process, working at many different levels. It's up to those of us in the industry to now place a priority on working collaboratively, and resourcing a collective effort to ensure we become effective long term players in the debate, in order to raise the odds of early and far-reaching success in displacing HFCs.
Everyone involved in the refrigerants debate has an interest in these negotiations, and I look forward to any response.
Brent,
HCFC is a puzzel to me and others. We have a phase out in this part of the world and only very few has yet reacted on the threat despite that there will not be enough qualified people to do the exercise to meet the deadlines.
Do you have a qualified guess on why it is like that? Does people really think that R22 will stay in the market for ever and ever?
Do you think that the low GWP refrigerants will have any chances to get to the market?
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