How do we quantify GWP?
Regarding refrigerant transitions, for those of us who have been around awhile, you may be very familiar with R22 and even R12.
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Past Transitions were driven by Ozone Depletion Potential (ODP), which drove the phase-out of R12 and R22. Now the focus is on GWP, and we are replacing R410A with low GWP refrigerants R32 and R454B.
In the past, the environmental focus was on ozone depletion, which is the reduction of the ozone layer in the Earth's stratosphere. This was primarily caused by chlorine found in chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in our HVAC industry. However, the focus has shifted towards global warming, the long-term increase in Earth's average surface temperature.
But do you understand GWP?
Global Warming Potential (GWP) is a metric used to measure the potential contribution of a greenhouse gas to global warming over a specific time period. GWP is a relative measure that compares the warming potential of different greenhouse gases to that of carbon dioxide (CO2), with a GWP of 1.
GWP considers the radiative forcing of a gas, which measures how much energy it can trap in the atmosphere and contribute to global warming. The GWP of a gas is calculated by comparing the radiative forcing of that gas to the radiative forcing of an equivalent amount of CO2 over a specified time period, usually 100 years.
For example, methane (CH4) has a GWP of 28-36 over 100 years, meaning it has 28-36 times the warming potential of an equivalent amount of CO2 over that period. This means that although methane emissions are lower than CO2 emissions, they can still significantly impact global warming due to their high GWP.
As referenced:
CFC - Chloro fluoro carbon
HCFC - Hydro chloro fluoro carbon
Chlorine is what attacks the ozone.