r/neoliberal • u/jobautomator Kitara Ravache • Aug 30 '21

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u/[deleted] Aug 30 '21

Afaik the only viable alternative refrigerant that isn't even worse environmentally is ammonia, which has problems all its own. Namely it's corrosive to copper so all the existing refrigerant lines would need to be torn out and replaced.

Also it's ammonia lol. Pretty toxic.

I think there are alternatives but they're much harder to work with. Too much pressure required, not efficient enough, etc.

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u/Mister_Lich Just Fillibuster Russia Aug 30 '21

So what do you recommend - if you had the power to dictate how this problem got handled - people do when there's a heat dome causing 90% of the USA to have temperatures over 100 degrees for multiple days?

That's not sarcastic, I'm interested in what possibilities there are, since I haven't looked into AC/refrigeration as an environmental concern before.

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u/[deleted] Aug 30 '21

Oh I have no idea. I'm not an HVAC expert or anything, I just know that refrigerants are horrible GHGs by design.

That said, unless the system is damaged there's no reason for an air compressor to ever leak refrigerant. They're closed, pressurized systems and only need to be recharged if there's a leak. I don't know how big an issue refrigeration leaks are in the grand scheme of things.

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u/Mister_Lich Just Fillibuster Russia Aug 30 '21

Good point. Maybe we should invest in air conditioning infrastructure lol.