Lowest GWP on the market
GWP is the abbreviation for the “Global Warming Potential” of a substance. The GWP of a refrigerant therefor defines its relative global warming potential in relation to CO2 (=GWP 1). The value describes the global warming effect over a certain period of time, in the case of refrigerants usually over 100 years. As we do not have another 100 years to archive our 2050 climate neutrality and net-zero targets set by the EU, the GWP is now often measured in a 20-year span.
Furthermore refrigerants remain quite shortly in the atmosphere, therefor a shorter horizon such as 20 years better reflects the true effects of these refrigerants on the climate.
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Propane has a lower GWP than previously assumed
The latest IPCC6 report stated that propane R290 has a 20-year GWP of only 0.072 and a 100-year GWP of only 0.02 compared to previous assumptions of a 100-year GWP of 3. The GWP is defined in relation to CO2 with a GWP of 1. This means that all R290 AHT products use a refrigerant that has a lower warming impact than the CO2 products on the market as the 100-year GWP of CO2 is 1 as a reference point.
Therefore, we can announce, that AHT is producing the lowest GWP among all freezing and cooling products.
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Environmental impact of different systems
The following graphic shows the estimated environmental impacts of different systems. For the calculation, a cooling system with 50 linear meters of vertical display cases have been considered. The assumption is a typical Remote system using R744 (CO2) versus an AHT Semi-Plug-In System consisting of Vento cabinets using R290 refrigerant connected to a glycol loop (also called water loop). Important to mention is that due to work pressures, in case of a critical failure of the remote cooling system, the refrigerant will be released into the environment. All the showcased transportation units have been calculated for one person and a range of 10.000 km per year. In addition, with a remote system the entire refrigerant escapes, whereas with our environmentally friendly systems only the refrigerant from the respective refrigeration circuit, which contains less than 150 g R290, is released into the environment.
This comparison shows, that an AHT SPI R290 system generates:
99,8 % less CO2 emission than a R134a remote system
99,9 % less CO2 emission than a R513a remote system
99,9 % less CO2 emission than a R744 remote system
*Source leakage rate: VDKF LEC-Daten2014-2018
Source vehicles: https://www.quarks.de/umwelt/klimawandel/co2-rechner-fuer-auto-flugzeug-und-co/
Source GWP: https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/#FullReport
Key take-aways of the IPCC 2021 report
Measurement accuracy
Measuring the GWP over 20 years leads to greater accuracy of the value. This is positive for R290 but negative for Hydrofluorcarbons (HFCs), hydro-fluor olefins (HFOs) and HFO blends as their GWP is higher than previously estimated.
Change in GWP for R290
The GWP of CO2 is 1 which is also the reference value for the calculation of the GWP. The GWP of R290 is 0.072 for 20 years and 0.02 for 100 years. Before the 100 year, GWP was assumed to be 3.
AHT as a pioneer
AHT products with R290 offer the lowest GWP on the market.