US agrees to withdrawl of HFC-134a

The US Environmental Protection Agency has agreed to grant a petition filed by several NGOs to withdraw the agency’s approval of HFC-134a.

The move follows the organisations previous announcement that it has given official final approval to HFO1234yf for use in new cars and light trucks.

The petition will be followed by a formal “notice and comment” rulemaking to set the phase-out schedule.

Durwood Zaelke, President of the Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development, said: “Reducing all HFCs can produce a planet-saving 100 billion tonnes or more of CO2-equivalent in climate mitigation.

“We can get 30 per cent of this by outlawing HFCs in mobile air conditioning, as the European Union is already doing, starting with new models in 2011. And we can do it fast - easily in 7 years for new cars as required in Europe, or in as little as three years if automakers get serious about improving their cars.

Stephen Andersen, who organised the Mobile Air Conditioning Climate Protection Partnership (MACCPP) during his time at EPA, said: “EPA’s decision will encourage a rapid market transformation using the best available technology, selected by industry, just in time to allow American automakers to sell their cars everywhere in the world.”

source: http://www.racplus.com/news/us-agrees-to-withdrawl-of-hfc-134a/8613230.article