Conclusions of MAC Summit 2006

1. The fourth Mobile Air Conditioner Summit - hosted by the European Commission together with the California Air Resources Board - was held in Saalfelden, Austria on 17 February 2006. Some 130 regulators and industry stakeholders of vehicle air conditioning exchanged views on the implications of the EU's recent decision to phase out the current refrigerant, HFC-134a in the largest car market in the world.
2. During the conference it became clear that no car manufacturer was looking for HFC-152a or other flammable refrigerants as alternatives. Thus, the main option considered was to use a natural refrigerant – CO2 – as the alternative. However, both Honeywell and Dupont had announced just before the MAC Summit that they have developed low global warming potential refrigerants that could also be used as their chemical properties are likely to be close to HFC-134a. While these completely new refrigerants are still in the test phase, regulators and industry participants welcomed these announcements. Not only are there some alternative solutions but also the possibility of having different refrigerants brings up competition and thus a downward pressure on the costs of alternatives.
3. All agreed that the high average leakage of 20 percent of HFC-134a from all refrigeration equipment in the world is completely unacceptable to the air conditioning industry and to the regulators. It was noted that at this stage there are different regulatory strategies in the EU, the US , Japan and elsewhere to ensure that leakage of fluorinated gases is reduced.
4. The phase out of high global warming fluorinated gases in the EU – which is the largest car market in the world – is important policy driver for industry. The recent detailed plans proposed in California to take the same approach added to the importance to finding a global solution to replace the current refrigerant HFC-134a with an environmentally superior alternative.
5. It seems that the leakage of latest cars is lower due to product development as demonstrated during the Summit . While this was good development, all were seriously concerned about the leakage of HFC-134a during servicing and end of life of the vehicles.
6. Some European car producers have clearly committed themselves to delivering naturally refrigerated – i.e. CO2 based – air conditioners. They are currently running fleet tests. During the conference the system suppliers and engineering companies Behr, Obrist Engineering, Valeo and Visteon displayed five vehicles which had naturally cooled air conditioners that were running durability tests.
7. During the conference it became clear that the time table of phase-out considered very challenging. Even the most advanced companies expressed their view that rolling the CO2 based air conditioners to the EU market on 1 January 2011 was a challenge. On the other hand, regulators concluded that the phase out time was much longer than in any other environmental regulation. There was also concern about the price of CO2 based systems in the first quotes received by some car manufacturers.
8. An important development is the new proposed phase-out of HFC-134a in California in favour of lower GWP refrigerants for use in motor vehicle applications. This action is one of a number of specific strategies recently unveiled that are aimed at reducing California 's carbon footprint. California 's plans give further impetus and relevance to the global introduction of alternative refrigerants. The California Air Resources Board recognizes the European Commission's leadership and, therefore, intends to work cooperatively to ensure advancement and regulatory consistency.
9. Regulatory cooperation between the EU, the US and Japan in the methodology of measuring leakage was welcomed. Participants encouraged mutual recognition of different, but essentially equivalent test methods. Further work is expected to harmonize the analysis of lifecycle emission impacts of refrigerants as well as the methods for quantifying direct and indirect MACs emissions.
10. Regulators committed themselves to identify unintended barriers to introduce alternative refrigerants by the end of 2006 and make every effort to remove them by end of 2008.
11. The regulators are encouraged to work together to ensure that the safety standards of CO2 systems be harmonised to achieve lowest possible costs
12. All agreed that more attention needs to be paid to the servicing and end-of-life of MACs – minimum qualifications and certification of personnel and high standards for MAC service equipment need to be established. In this regard, California 's specific intent to reduce emissions in this area was noted as an important development. The establishment of MAC Partners in the EU (MACP) was very welcome. All stakeholders were encouraged to join it.
13. It was concluded that the next summit should be held in Asia as it is in Asia where number of vehicles with MACs is growing fastest. It was also concluded that it would be helpful to organise the next MAC Summit when the concrete plans of car manufacturers to phase out HFC-134a would be public. The likely time could be towards the end of 2007.
14. Given the rapid increase of MACs (in small cars) in hot climates in developing countries, an inter-regional research and development programme to further reduce energy consumption and reduced leakage is highly recommended. Regulators committed themselves to identify funding opportunities for this.