McGavis: Refrigerant reclamation is an economic problem, not a technological one
Ian McGavis · Fixing the refrigerant problem · Nov 7, 2024 · at 16:37
Ian McGavis (RMI) discusses with host Shail Khan why refrigerant containment and recycling failures are driven by economics rather than technological limits.
0:00 / 0:11exact quote · 11.7s
720p mp4 · rendered on demand · StarZero watermark
“The technology exists. Nothing has to be developed to be able to successfully recover, reclaim, and refrigerants. It is more of a, frankly, it's more of an economic problem right now.”
quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →
More from Ian McGavis
McGavis: Refrigerant venting happens because contractor labor costs exceed reclamation value
“Today, the primary Driver for a lot of the venting is economic. It, the technician or the contractor's time is worth worth more than actually collecting the refrigerant and selling it into the reclamation market.”
McGavis: 80% of cooling equipment emissions come from energy use, 20% from refrigerants
“80% of the of the CO₂ impact from a piece of equipment is that energy efficiency or the energy that's created to run the equipment. The only, the other 20% comes from the refrigerant.”
McGavis: Data centers are currently the largest consumer of cooling
“Today, the biggest consumer of cooling is data centers. So as we talk about AI and all the AI applications, all that doesn't exist without a significant amount of cooling to keep those servers warm and keep those data centers operating.”
McGavis: Montreal Protocol Is Probably the Most Effective Global Environmental Treaty
“The Montreal Protocol is probably the single most effective global treaty that's been put in place you know, through U.N. Sponsorship, and that's been the basis now for, you know, kind of next generation, the Kigali Amendment, and as you go through, you know, …”
McGavis: Refrigerants generate 1.5 to 2 gigatons of CO2e annually
“The best estimates are it's between, you know, between one and a half and two gigatons annually of CO₂e or carbon dioxide equivalents.”
McGavis: Flammability is the primary barrier for ultra-low GWP natural refrigerants like propane
“What I'd say is we move to these ultra low GWP refrigerants, the primary issue is flammability, and so they are slightly flammable, and so those issues have to be addressed. You know, what some of the best natural refrigerants are R two 90, which is propane, a…”