DOE EERE Research Reports

Stratospheric research during the 1970's revealed that chlorofluorocarbons and hydro-chlorofluorocarbons commonly used as refrigerants and foam insulation blowing agents were the fundamental cause of the Antarctic ozone hole. As such, these chemical compounds posed a significant threat to the world ecosystem and international agreement was reached under the terms of the "Montreal Protocol" to reduce their use by 50%; subsequent amendments to the regulations called for the complete phase-out of CFCs and significant restrictions on the manufacture and use of HCFCs. During the late 1980's and early 1990's it was also found that these chemicals are also significant greenhouse gases. The U.S. Department of Energy undertook a program to identify non-toxic, non-flammable, efficient replacements for CFCs and HCFCs in refrigerators, automobile air conditioners, central and window air conditioners, chillers, and supermarket refrigeration systems and as blowing agents in polyurethane and polystyrene foam insulations.

1. The Alternative Refrigerant Dilemma for Refrigerator-Freezers: Truth or Consequences
2. Alternatives to CFCs and Global Warming: A Systems Approach to Evaluating Net Contributions
3. Analysis of Non-CFC Automotive Air Conditioning
4. An Analytical Screening of Alternatives for R-502 in Low-Temperature Refrigerating Applications
5. Carnahan-Starling-DeSantis and Lee-Kesler-Plöcker Interaction Coefficients for Several Binary Mixtures of Ozone-Safe Refrigerants
6. CFC Alternatives: Recent Information Concerning Cost and Efficiency
7. CFC Replacements and Global Warming: DOE/AFEAS Studies
1. Energy and Global Warming Impacts of CFC Alternative Technologies
2. Energy and Global Warming Impacts of Not-In-Kind and Next Generation CFC and HCFC Alternatives
3. Energy and Global Warming Impacts of HFC Refrigerants and Emerging Technologies
8. Comparison of Global Warming Impacts of Automobile Air-Conditioning Concepts
9. Comparison of TEWI for Fluorocarbon Alternative Refrigerants and Technologies in Residential Heat Pumps and Air Conditioners
10. Development of the Atmospheric Characteristics of Chlorine-Free Alternative Fluorocarbons
11. Energy and Global Warming Impacts of CFC Alternative Technologies
12. Energy and Global Warming Impacts of Next Generation Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Technologies
13. Energy Efficiency of HFC-134a Versus HFC-152a
14. Energy-Use Impact of Chlorofluorocarbon Alternatives
15. Environmental Effects of Chlorofluorocarbons: Will Restrictions be Needed?
16. Experimental Analysis of a Window Air Conditioner with R-22 and Zeotropic Mixture of R-32/125/134a
17. Experimental Performance of Ozone-Safe Alternative Refrigerants
18. Global Warming Implcations of Replacing CFCs
19. Modeled Performance of Non-Chlorinated Substitutes for CFC11 and CFC12 in Centrifugal Chillers
1. 1991 International CFC and Halon Alternatives Conference (9 pages)
2. International Journal of Refrigeration (9 pages, copyrighted)
3. Research Project RP2891-14 Final Report (66 pages)
20. National Energy Impacts of CFC Alternatives in Heating, Air-Conditioning, and Refrigerating Equipment and Foam Insulation
21. New Concepts for Refrigerant leak Detection and Mixture Measurement
22. Overview of CFC Replacement Issues for Household Refrigeration
23. Performance Tests of R-22 and R-32/R-125/R-134a Mixture for Baseline Air Conditioning and Liquid Overfeeding Operations
24. Potential Impacts of CFC Restrictions on Refrigeration and Space-Conditioning Equipment
25. Proceedings of the 1993 Non-Fluorocarbon Insulation, Refrigeration, and Air-Conditioning Technology Workshop: Wiesbaden, Germany
26. Proceedings of the 1993 Non-Fluorocarbon Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Technology Workshop: Breckenridge, Colorado
27. Proceedings of the 1997 International Conference on Ozone Protection Technologies
28. A Research Needs Assessment: Energy Efficient Alternatives to Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) - Final Report
29. Screening Analysis for Chlorine-Free Alternative Refrigerants to Replace R-22 in Air-Conditioning Applications
30. Total Equivalent Global Warming Impact: Combining Energy and Fluorocarbon Emission Effects
31. Total Environmental Warming Impact (TEWI) Calculations for Alternative Automotive Air-Conditioning Systems
32. Total Equivalent Warming Impact: A Measure of the Global Warming Impact of CFC Alternatives in Refrigerating Equipment
33. Use of Chlorofluorocarbons in Refrigeration, Insulation, and Mobile Air Conditioning in the USA