http://www.beyondhfcs.org http://www.beyondhfcs.org/images/main/beyondhfcs-logo-2.png 70 70 http://www.beyondhfcs.org/rss.php RSS News Feed en-gb Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:57:19 +0200 Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:57:19 +0200 http://www.beyondhfcs.org/ info@beyondhfcs.org (Beyond HFCs Info) webmaster@beyondhfcs.org (Alex Aleksanyan) http://www.beyondhfcs.org/article.view.php?Id=226/article.view.php?Id=226Wed, 28 Jul 2010 00:00:00 +0200Some herald it as the end of climate-damaging HFCs; others warn of the 'green' substitute's toxicityhttp://www.beyondhfcs.org/article.view.php?Id=227/article.view.php?Id=227Wed, 28 Jul 2010 00:00:00 +0200The German high-speed train ICE has made the headlines last week due to air-conditioning failures and passengers discomfort. The trains' air-conditioning systems are simply not laid out for long heat waves. The German environmental NGO Deutsche Umwelthilfe suggests to choose in this case CO2 technology for train air conditioners.http://www.beyondhfcs.org/article.view.php?Id=223/article.view.php?Id=223Tue, 27 Jul 2010 00:00:00 +0200As the Senate struggles with climate and energy legislation and Congress contemplates limiting the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s authority, a new analysis brings clarity to the importance of regulatory tools in any approach. This analysis is particularly important in light of President Obama’s commitment to the world in Copenhagen to reduce U.S. emissions in the range of 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020.http://www.beyondhfcs.org/article.view.php?Id=224/article.view.php?Id=224Tue, 27 Jul 2010 00:00:00 +0200A new WRI report looks at what greenhouse gas emmisions reductions could be achieved through federal and state regulations that are already in place.http://www.beyondhfcs.org/article.view.php?Id=225/article.view.php?Id=225Tue, 27 Jul 2010 00:00:00 +0200UNITED NATIONS -- Starting today, the members of the Executive Board of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) sit down to tackle arguably the most serious controversy since the beginning of the Kyoto Protocol system for offsetting greenhouse gas emissions in developing countries. http://www.beyondhfcs.org/article.view.php?Id=221/article.view.php?Id=221Fri, 23 Jul 2010 00:00:00 +0200Existing carbon caps may be extended to 2013, and number of countries needed for deal may be loweredhttp://www.beyondhfcs.org/article.view.php?Id=222/article.view.php?Id=222Fri, 23 Jul 2010 00:00:00 +0200The majority of Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) offset credits issued to date are bogus, according to new research on industrial gas destruction projects.http://www.beyondhfcs.org/article.view.php?Id=220/article.view.php?Id=220Thu, 22 Jul 2010 15:44:26 +0200An estimated 4,600 pounds of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) has been released in the atmosphere in Tacoma, US due to a flawed purging process when recovering the refrigerant from several thousand of appliances. The mistake has caused the release of emissions equivalent to those generated by about 530,000 roundtrip commutes between Tacoma and Seattle – an overall distance of about 58 million kilometers.http://www.beyondhfcs.org/article.view.php?Id=217/article.view.php?Id=217Mon, 19 Jul 2010 00:00:00 +0200(PARIS) - Germany, France and Britain on Thursday jointly called for the European Union to deepen its planned reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions from 20 to 30 percent by 2020.http://www.beyondhfcs.org/article.view.php?Id=218/article.view.php?Id=218Mon, 19 Jul 2010 00:00:00 +0200COLOMBO, July 17 (Xinhua) -- The Maldives is hosting an innovative meeting of developing and rich world countries that want strong international action on climate change, the Maidivian presidential office said on Saturday in a statement.http://www.beyondhfcs.org/article.view.php?Id=219/article.view.php?Id=219Mon, 19 Jul 2010 00:00:00 +0200India's Ministry of Environments and Forests released its greenhouse gas inventory of 2007 emissions last week, making it the first developing country to publish emissions data this year.http://www.beyondhfcs.org/article.view.php?Id=216/article.view.php?Id=216Fri, 16 Jul 2010 00:00:00 +0200Results presented this week by the German Federal Institute for Materials Research show that next generation chemical refrigerant HFC1234yf forms highly toxic hydrogen fluoride at concentrations dangerous to human life when burning or in contact with hot surfaces. Car manufacturers plan to use the refrigerant in new passenger car air conditioners.http://www.beyondhfcs.org/article.view.php?Id=215/article.view.php?Id=215Thu, 15 Jul 2010 00:00:00 +0200Natural refrigerant refrigeration technology has recently been implemented in supermarkets located in Turkey, Brazil and South Africa, confirming the viability of natural refrigerants under different climatic conditions and the readiness of developing countries to avoid f-gases and adopt natural refrigerants instead.http://www.beyondhfcs.org/article.view.php?Id=214/article.view.php?Id=214Mon, 12 Jul 2010 10:34:38 +0200The growth in the global air conditioning market is expected to soon recover from the decline triggered by the economic recession. According to a recent report, the market is expected to reach 78.8 million units in volume sales by 2015 with factors such as the focus on energy efficiency improvements, growing replacement needs and increasing demand from developing countries driving the growth. But what else needs to be considered?http://www.beyondhfcs.org/article.view.php?Id=213/article.view.php?Id=213Fri, 09 Jul 2010 00:00:00 +0200A small group of policy-makers meeting in Montreal this week will decide if up to nine billion tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent emissions (Gt CO2e) will be prevented by accelerating the phase-out of refrigerant gases called HCFCs as agreed in 2007. In comparison, approximately eight Gt CO2e will be prevented by the Kyoto Protocol.http://www.beyondhfcs.org/article.view.php?Id=212/article.view.php?Id=212Wed, 07 Jul 2010 00:00:00 +0200In 2007, the president of the German car maker association VDA, declared that the German car makers would be the first ones to use the natural refrigerant CO2 in car air-conditioners. In 2010, the VDA backed down from past promises and opted for yet another generation of chemical refrigerant. However, the local public transport provider in the city of Berlin has just announced the introduction of CO2 air conditioning technology in seven of its city buses, with more expected to come.http://www.beyondhfcs.org/article.view.php?Id=211/article.view.php?Id=211Tue, 06 Jul 2010 00:00:00 +0200A Kyoto Protocol scheme may be encouraging projects to emit more greenhouse gases because of incentives to earn carbon offsets from subsequently destroying these, a U.N. report said.http://www.beyondhfcs.org/article.view.php?Id=210/article.view.php?Id=210Mon, 05 Jul 2010 00:00:00 +0200The United Nations has issued the Millennium Development Goals Report 2010 assessing progress towards their achievement. In relation to climate change, the progress report draws upon the ozone protection Montreal Protocol as a case demonstrating that international “action on climate change is within our grasp”.http://www.beyondhfcs.org/article.view.php?Id=209/article.view.php?Id=209Fri, 02 Jul 2010 00:00:00 +0200Indonesia's State Environment Report blames HCFCs for the alarming thinning of the ozone layer above the country.http://www.beyondhfcs.org/article.view.php?Id=208/article.view.php?Id=208Mon, 28 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +0200TurkStat announced greenhouse gas emissions inventory for the year 2008.http://www.beyondhfcs.org/article.view.php?Id=207/article.view.php?Id=207Thu, 24 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +0200June 22 (Bloomberg) -- The United Nations may complete by August its review on the awarding of carbon credits for the emission of greenhouse gases more damaging than carbon dioxide, an official said.http://www.beyondhfcs.org/article.view.php?Id=206/article.view.php?Id=206Tue, 22 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +0200The UK's Centre for Alternative Technology suggests a roadmap for addressing carbon emissions in the UK. Cutting carbon emissions by 90% by 2030 will be possible thanks to applying heat pumps at a large scale and reducing f-gas emissions.http://www.beyondhfcs.org/article.view.php?Id=204/article.view.php?Id=204Thu, 17 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +0200BeyondHFCs presented its analysis of the latest TEAP report at the 30th Open Ended Working Group of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol that is being held in Geneva this week. The campaign raises a number of issues where the report could have done better and in order to sensitise policy makers, BeyondHFCs has distributed its position to the national delegations attending the event.http://www.beyondhfcs.org/article.view.php?Id=205/article.view.php?Id=205Thu, 17 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +0200The UK Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) is asking 10 major UK companies to set an example and cease trade with HFC-23 carbon credits that have become “perverse” incentives.http://www.beyondhfcs.org/article.view.php?Id=201/article.view.php?Id=201Wed, 16 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +0200Clean Development Mechanism carbon offset scheme faces fresh criticism over dubious emission reduction projectshttp://www.beyondhfcs.org/article.view.php?Id=203/article.view.php?Id=203Wed, 16 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +0200BeyondHFCs is attending the 30th Open Ended Working Group of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol this week and holds a side event on Thursday this week in order to present our analysis of the latest TEAP report.http://www.beyondhfcs.org/article.view.php?Id=197/article.view.php?Id=197Tue, 15 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +0200President Mohamed Nasheed has today called on the world to phase-out HCFCs and not to “wait until 2030”. He made this statement today at the inauguration session of the high level round table dialogue on HCFC Phase-out Management Plan (HPMP) and its contribution to carbon neutrality in Maldives. The function was held this morning at Bandos Island Resort and Spa.http://www.beyondhfcs.org/article.view.php?Id=198/article.view.php?Id=198Tue, 15 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +0200UNITED NATIONS -- A broad coalition of activists are charging that as much as a third of all Kyoto Protocol carbon offset credits ever sold to banks and governments could be illegitimate because they were generated by firms manipulating the marketplace.http://www.beyondhfcs.org/article.view.php?Id=202/article.view.php?Id=202Tue, 15 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +0200“There is already a wide array of safe and commercially proven HFC-free technologies available to meet nearly all those human needs that were formerly met by fluorocarbons”, is the conclusion of the Greenpeace Cool Technologies Report 2010. http://www.beyondhfcs.org/article.view.php?Id=199/article.view.php?Id=199Mon, 14 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +0200After a Senate vote on Thursday 10 June 2010, the Environmental Protection Agency has maintained the power to regulate greenhouse gas pollution.http://www.beyondhfcs.org/article.view.php?Id=200/article.view.php?Id=200Mon, 14 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +02009 June 2010: UNFCCC Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer gave his final speech as Executive Secretary at a UN Climate Change negotiation in Bonn, Germany, on 9 June 2010, in which he outlined some personal reflections on how the negotiation process is evolving.http://www.beyondhfcs.org/article.view.php?Id=195/article.view.php?Id=195Fri, 11 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +0200In video interviews conducted by UNEP OzonAction Branch, high level people from the United Nations Environment Programme, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the European Commission discuss the importance of moving away from HFCs in car air-conditioning.http://www.beyondhfcs.org/article.view.php?Id=196/article.view.php?Id=196Fri, 11 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +0200BeyondHFCs will participate in the 30th Open-ended Working Group of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol in Geneva and use the occasion to present the campaign's progress as well as the campaign's position on the progress report of the Technology and Economic Assessment Panel.http://www.beyondhfcs.org/article.view.php?Id=194/article.view.php?Id=194Thu, 10 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +0200A new report highlights the need for urgent action in the EU to tap HFC emissions: By 2030, HFC emissions from the cooling sector are projected to increase by more than 50% compared to 2005 levels.http://www.beyondhfcs.org/article.view.php?Id=191/article.view.php?Id=191Tue, 08 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +0200An update on the role of climate finance in the international climate negotiations.http://www.beyondhfcs.org/article.view.php?Id=193/article.view.php?Id=193Tue, 08 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +0200In what is the first Clean Development Mechanism project in the Philippines that has the government acting as coordinating entity, about 375 chillers used in industrial, commercial, service and institutional establishments will be replaced with technology that is more energy efficient and friendly to the environment. Natural refrigerant chillers have already been proven a viable technology in the country, where hydrocarbon chillers have allowed for significant energy savings.http://www.beyondhfcs.org/article.view.php?Id=192/article.view.php?Id=192Mon, 07 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +0200After having closed down all its production plants for CFCs much ahead of the schedule of the Montreal Protocol, , the world’s largest producer of Ozone Depleting Substances ( ODS) , China, has enacted today the Regulations on the Administration that include controls over consumption, trade, import, export and production of remaining ODS.http://www.beyondhfcs.org/article.view.php?Id=189/article.view.php?Id=189Thu, 03 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +0200In its first major Climate Action Report to the United Nations, the US projects that national greenhouse gases will grow by 4% by 2020. A large portion of the growth is driven by HFCs, which are projected to more than double. Action to tap emissions of HFCs - among the most potent greenhouse gases - will be vital if the US is to achieve an emission reduction rather than an increase.http://www.beyondhfcs.org/article.view.php?Id=190/article.view.php?Id=190Wed, 02 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +0200Margaret Aanyu, environment impact assessment officer and Ozone officer at NEMA says more than 50% of the refrigeration and air-condition equipment imported into Uganda is faulty. “These old pieces of equipment are the main source of leakage of refrigerants and harmful emissions into the atmosphere,” she says. In addition, the technicians do not posses the skills to handle delicate refrigeration and air conditioning equipment. “There is need for incentives for importing ozone-friendly technologies and high taxes to encourage phasing out obsolete technologies,” she says.http://www.beyondhfcs.org/article.view.php?Id=188/article.view.php?Id=188Tue, 01 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +0200May 27 (Bloomberg) -- The European Union will soon start a debate on banning some carbon offset credits used for compliance in the bloc's emissions-trading system and introducing tighter quantity limits, a senior EU official said.http://www.beyondhfcs.org/article.view.php?Id=187/article.view.php?Id=187Thu, 06 May 2010 00:00:00 +0200The depletion of the Arctic ozone layer will continue to be of concern in the coming decades due to the high concentration of ozone-depleting substances in the atmosphere and the variability of Arctic meteorological conditions. The way that the Arctic Ozone Layer evolves will also depend on the control of greenhouse gases. According to Environment Canada, it makes scientific sense to address climate and ozone layer issues through a comprehensive and integrated approach.http://www.beyondhfcs.org/article.view.php?Id=186/article.view.php?Id=186Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 +0200The US EPA has put forward a long awaited proposal that will allow the use of certain hydrocarbons in new household refrigerator and freezer equipment, as well as new stand-alone commercial refrigeration units. BeyondHFCs welcomes this US move that will allow the country to catch up with the rest of the world, where several millions of refrigeration equipment units already use ozone and climate friendly hydrocarbon refrigerants.http://www.beyondhfcs.org/article.view.php?Id=184/article.view.php?Id=184Fri, 30 Apr 2010 00:00:00 +0200A bill aimed to reform for the first time since 1976 the US Toxic Substances Control Act has been introduced in the USA. The new legislation will require manufacturers to prove the safety of every chemical in production or intended for market introduction. Subsequently, the US EPA released an online database of toxicity results on hundreds of chemicals. The database is expected to be enhanced in the future with information on chemical refrigerants, including HFC1234yf.http://www.beyondhfcs.org/article.view.php?Id=185/article.view.php?Id=185Thu, 29 Apr 2010 13:55:37 +020035 new climate friendly Coca-Cola vending machines for the US Capitol buildings have been unveiled. Featuring natural refrigerant CO2 that reduces direct greenhouse gas emissions by 99%, the machines support the ‘Green the Capitol’ programme, adding to the green options available to the members and staff of the US House of Representatives.http://www.beyondhfcs.org/article.view.php?Id=183/article.view.php?Id=183Wed, 28 Apr 2010 00:00:00 +0200The largest partnership between the United Nations and the financial services sector has elected two new Co-Chairs to steer the initiative in the run up to the landmark UN "Rio+20" Summit in May 2012. Barbara Krumsiek, CEO of the Washington D.C headquartered Calvert Group Ltd, and Richard Burrett, a partner in the London-based Earth Capital Partners, will steer the United Nations Environment programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) for the next two years. UNEP FI includes 190 banks, insurers and investment organizations in its worldwide membership.http://www.beyondhfcs.org/article.view.php?Id=181/article.view.php?Id=181Thu, 22 Apr 2010 00:00:00 +0200Policies to enable developing countries to eventually eliminate their consumption of HCFCs in cooling and heating equipment and prioritise low-GWP technologies like natural refrigerants were agreed last week in Montreal at the 60th Meeting of the Executive Committee of the Multilateral Fund for the implementation of the Montreal Protocol.http://www.beyondhfcs.org/article.view.php?Id=182/article.view.php?Id=182Thu, 22 Apr 2010 00:00:00 +0200Paris, France, 22 April 2010, Earth Day -- As the curtain is now fully raised on the world stage in which ozone depleting chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and halons are no longer produced, three journalists have received top honours from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) for their reporting on ozone depletion and climate issues.http://www.beyondhfcs.org/article.view.php?Id=180/article.view.php?Id=180Thu, 25 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to collect emissions data from several additional industries, including the oil and gas sector as well as industries that emit fluorinated gases and facilities that inject and store carbon dioxide underground, as part of the government’s national mandatory greenhouse gas (GHG) reporting system, reports the New York Times.http://www.beyondhfcs.org/article.view.php?Id=179/article.view.php?Id=179Mon, 22 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100Initially invented in Japan, hundreds of thousands of vending machines operating with natural refrigerant carbon dioxide (also called CO2 or R-744) have to date been successfully applied worldwide, including in Europe.http://www.beyondhfcs.org/article.view.php?Id=178/article.view.php?Id=178Thu, 18 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100The 27 Ministers for Environment gathered this week in Brussels to debate the EU strategy for environment and climate action in preparation of COP16 in Mexico at the end of this year.