James Dinneen is a writer.
The greenhouse gases produced by air conditioners that use propane are less powerful.
Sefa Ozel is pictured.
A third of the rise in global warming will be avoided by the end of the century if propane is used as a cooling agent in air conditioners.
Most countries decided in 1987 to stop using HCFCs in cooling appliances. HFCs were potent greenhouse gases that had an impact on global warming thousands of times greater than carbon dioxide.
The cooling sector is responsible for 7 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Toby Peters said that the figure could double by the year 2030.
The effect of replacing HFCs with propane in split ACs was considered by Pallav Purohit and his colleagues. The warming effect of propane is less than that of CO2.
Three scenarios were compared by the researchers with the help of climate and economic models. HFCs continue to be used in one scenario. The most widely used HFC is replaced with an HFC that results in less warming, but is still more potent than CO2. Propane is used in split ACs.
Assuming a future in which CO2 emissions continue around current levels to 2050 then begin to fall, they found that a switch to propane would prevent between 0.06C and 0.12C of warming by century's end. The HFC avoided 0.03C of warming when switched to it.
0.1C in avoided warming would be a huge deal according to Alex Hillbrand. Half of what the global HFC phasedown is aiming to achieve by 2047 is achieved. It would be difficult for countries like India and China where demand for cooling is growing fast to adopt propane.
Hillbrand says that manufacturers have mostly met phase down commitments by changing to less potent HFCs. A small amount of the current market is for propane air conditioners. They are not allowed elsewhere due to the fact that propane is a fire hazard.
The number of air conditioners is expected to increase in the years to come. If more were to use propane, it would be a good thing. More energy efficient cooling and clean sources of power are needed because 80 per cent of cooling-related emissions come from generating the electricity used to power cooling appliances. Ammonia is better suited for different places and applications.
The journal is called PNAS and it can be found at 10.1073/pnas.
Get a dose of climate optimism delivered straight to your inbox when you sign up for Fix the Planet.
There are more on this topic.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
