Refrigerants

Total Refrigerant Charge

The reduction of the total quantity of refrigerants used in the buildings HVAC+R system.

Refrigerant Charge Choices (Carbon Intensity)

• Low Carbon (20th percentile). 20th percentile of the total quantity of refrigerants used in the buildings HVAC+R system.

• Average (50th percentile). 50th percentile of the total quantity of refrigerants used in the buildings HVAC+R system.

• High Carbon (80th percentile). 80th percentile of the total quantity of refrigerants used in the buildings HVAC+R system.

• Custom. Enter a custom carbon intensity.

Choose from pre-defined refrigerant charges, or input a custom value.

Refrigerant GWP

The average global warming potential (GWP) of refrigerants used in the buildings HVAC+R system. Throughout C.Scale, three options are given for specification-related options: High Carbon, Average, and Low Carbon. Typically, these refer to the 80th, 50th, and 20th percentile of GWP values for available materials. We were unable to replicate this methodology for refrigerants, though, as the overall distribution of refrigerants skews very high–and this highly skewed distribution doesn’t represent the choices designers are making on their projects. In the refrigerant model, these three choices are keyed to specific refrigerants as follows:

Refrigerant GWP Choices (Carbon Intensity)

• Low Carbon (20th percentile). Next-Gen Natural Refrigerant (e.g., CO2). GWP Value = 5.

• Average (50th percentile). Low-GWP Refrigerant (e.g., R-513). GWP Value = 700.

• High Carbon (80th percentile). HFC Refrigerant (e.g., 60% R-410a; 40% R-134). GWP Value = 2000.

• Custom. Enter a custom carbon intensity.

Choose from pre-defined refrigerant GWPs, or input a custom value.