There is also refrigeration among the industrial sectors interested in CO2 abatement. Italy, Spain and Romania are the three countries that will give life to the LIFE C4R project. It will last three years and is co-financed by the Programme LIFE 2014-2020 and involves three Epta companies, Epta Iberia SA and Daas International Group. The project promotes the replacement of fluorinated gases with natural-based refrigerants in refrigeration technologies. Everything revolves around FTE and ETE systems that do not release greenhouse gases. Europe is promoting the large-scale deployment of these natural, non-toxic, non-flammable refrigerants despite the controversy over the poorly controlled use of refrigerators. The use of ecological refrigerants must also be seen in relation to modern energy efficiency systems. From a technological point of view, it is estimated that the new circuits will lead to energy savings exceeding 10% with a strong reduction in installation costs.
What is LIFE C4R ? It's a system that goes to the heart of people goals of the Green Deal Europeo and ambitions to limit the increase in global average temperatures. Refrigeration with current systems releases tons of CO2 with a large carbon footprint. The experiment should result in the reduction of at least 1,5% of the so-called Greenhouse Gases. The project is focused on commercial refrigeration with the possibility of extending the scope of application to refrigerated transport, to domestic equipment, explain the companies involved. The three countries will be the test. But evidently there is also a need for political decisions that stimulate the adoption of new natural refrigerants. Which could become industry standards in the near future.
In Italy, however, there are also prudential voices both for the industrial and occupational aspects and for the environmental ones. "You can't rely on a one-of-a-kind indicator like GWP (global warming potential) to determine whether refrigeration systems are polluting or not," he says. Marco Masini, president of the Datoriale Frigoristi. A refrigeration system works best if the refrigerant stays where it belongs, i.e. within the refrigerant circuit. Of course, the environment must be protected but to have a good one battle against gas leaks we need controls with unapplied penalties, up to 100 thousand euros for the owners of the equipment. From a technological point of view, the Italian industry defends the good design of the plants”. If the system is well designed -adds Masini- and the refrigerant does not go into the environment, we need to work on the recovery of energy waste". An industrial and technological frontier to capture, without dispersing it in the air, an important heat potential. Obviously, refrigerants have a market valued globally at about 1 million dollars with growth prospects until 2027. The European Environment Agency does not discount the impacts that substances have on the atmosphere. I am synthetic chemicals which go against any good environmental protection practice “are considered potent greenhouse gases and have been regulated in the EU since 2006 to reduce their use and impact on global warming,” he wrote in his Fluorinated greenhouse gases 2021. The campaigns against are been many, but now we just have to wait. That LIFE C4R will tell us whether owning a refrigerator or an air conditioner classifies us all as co-accused of global warming.
