April 17, 2002—The national economic downturn has slowed replacement in buildings of comfort cooling chillers that use chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and manufacturers predict that by year-end 48 percent of the original 80,000 CFC chillers will still rely on the refrigerants that were banned from U.S. production at the end of 1995 due to concerns about depletion of the Earth’s protective ozone layer.
A survey of large tonnage liquid chiller manufacturers by the Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Institute (ARI) revealed that 2,931 CFC chillers were converted to non-CFCs refrigerants or replaced by new non-CFC equipment during 2001, with 3,124 more expected in 2002, leaving an estimated 38,281 CFC units still in use.
Release of the survey results followed recent publication of “Building Owners Save Money, Save the Earth,” a brochure by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that says: “A new energy-efficient chiller can easily pay for itself in electricity savings, improved reliability, and lower maintenance costs Building owners can typically pay back the investment cost of replacing an old CFC chiller in five years or less in virtually all locations that cool for more than three months a year. In fact, replacement chillers can pay for themselves in as little as two or three years, with a typical return on investment of 20 percent to 35 percent.”
Chillers cool water that is circulated through a building to control humidity and provide comfort in offices, malls, hospitals, airports, factories, sports complexes, government buildings and institutions like colleges.
The EPA noted that “Building owners around the world have saved millions of dollars in electricity bills through careful choice of upgraded air conditioning chiller installations and through complementary investments to reduce building cooling load. Today’s chillers use about one-third or less electricity compared to those produced just two decades ago.”
Despite the cost savings, the pace of replacements and retrofits has been slower than expected. At the current pace, it will likely take manufacturers until the end of this decade to phase out the tens of thousands of CFC chillers still in use.
Manufacturers said that in 2002 they expect 360 conversions and 2,764 replacements bringing the total to 41,719 units or 52 percent of the original 80,000 CFC chillers in place in the early 1990s.
For more information, contact the Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Institute.
