GREEN-MAC-LCCP®: A Tool for Assessing Life Cycle Greenhouse Emissions of Alternative Refrigerants

The GREEN-MAC-LCCP^© [Global Refrigerants Energy & Environmental - Mobile Air Condition - Life Cycle Climate Performance] model described here is an evolution of a previous GM model that assesses the lifecycle energy and GHG emissions associated with the production, use and disposal of alternative refrigerants and MAC components. This new model reduces the complexity of inputs and provides a consistent output analysis. This model includes Microsoft Excel Visual Basic^© code to automatically make the calculations once inputs are complete. The GREEN-MAC-LCCP^© is a comprehensive analytical tool that takes into consideration key MAC system characteristics such as Coefficient of Performance (COP), and evaporator cooling capacity data (Qe) obtained from bench tests and integrates them with other vehicle and alternative refrigerant inputs such as: annual driving time, A/C on time, weather data, vehicle lifetime, refrigerant leakage rates, MAC system mass requirements, energy requirements due to manufacturing, and end-of-life impacts of alternative refrigerants and MAC components. The model provides CO₂-equivalent emissions due to A/C installation and operation on a vehicle. The output can provide results for any proposed alternative refrigerant for:

• i)
  Three vehicle classes: (a) compact, (b) midsize and (c) SUV,
• ii)
  Fifteen cities: Boston, Houston, Miami, Phoenix, Athens, Frankfurt, Kagoshima, Tokyo, Sapporo, Bangalore, Bombay, New Delhi, Sydney, Beijing, and Shanghai
• iii)
  Four alternative vehicle fuels: gasoline, diesel, ethanol, and methanol
• iv)
  Alternative refrigerants such as: HFC-152a, R- 744, Refrigerant “H”, DP-1, AC-1.

This tool was developed based on input data harmonized by the industry and it is hoped that it will become the global standard for assessing the life cycle greenhouse emissions of alternative refrigerants.