Melbourne Commercial Refrigeration Specialists

We have previously raised the topic of major changes within our industry in the form of an International phase-down of HFC refrigerants. The reason is that these substances contribute significantly to global warming due to their very high global warming potential (GWP).

HFC Refrigerants such as R134A and R404A and R410A are found in the majority of refrigeration and air conditioning units in Australia. The HFC phase-down will have a profound effect on all users of refrigeration and air conditioning systems. As the HFC phase-down progresses, there are likely to be refrigerant price rises as HFCs become scarce. The alternatives to HFCs are natural refrigerants and low global warming synthetic refrigerants, also known as fourth generation or hydrofluoroolefin (HFO) refrigerants.

The announced HFC phase-down brings Australia in line with international developments. It is widely anticipated that a global HFC phase-down will be initiated in 2016. Refrigeration plant users who are expanding existing facilities and/or are building new facilities must focus on future proofing. Failure to future proof will result in unnecessary system conversion and/or replacement costs down the track in order to keep up with compliance requirements.

Our clients can feel confident in the notion that the team at MNK Technical Services make it a priority to keep abreast of emerging trends and technologies that are relevant to what we do, in particular we are watching with interest how the free trade agreement negotiations due to commence with the EU in 2016 are likely to force a closer alignment between EU and Australian HFC phase-down scenarios. The EU F-gas regulation legislated late 2014 provides for approximately 35 per cent HFC phase-down (CO2e based) in 2017 alone. The industry can expect to see significant tightening of guidelines and legislation with regards to licensing and accreditation of trades-persons, mandatory reporting of refrigerant leaks over a certain quantity, and end users having to keep records of periodic leak testing of their HFC plant by accredited companies.

You can rest assured that the team at MNK will keep you up to date with the latest changes and compliance requirements.