Fugitive Emissions from Refrigerants & Fire Suppression Equipment
Refrigeration systems, such as air conditioners, chillers and refrigerators in most buildings and facilities usually contain or consist of hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) compounds, which is a potent GHGs. Refrigerant leaks occur during installation, use and disposal of these systems.
In addition to refrigerants in refrigeration systems, some fire suppression equipments, including hand-held fire extinguishers and total flooding applications, also contain HFCs. HFC leaks occur during testing and deployment of fire suppression equipments.
Refrigerant leaks from refrigeration systems and HFC leaks from fire suppression equipments, both of which are considered Scope 2 fugitive emissions, must be quantified and reported under the LGO Protocol.
The LGO Protocol uses three methodologies for calculating fugitive buildings emissions from HFCs:
Recommended Approach: Mass Balance Method
1. Confirm what refrigerants and HFCs are being used within local government operations
2. Using Table 6.2 below, determine:
a. Base inventory for each HFC in use at each facility - Determining the quantity of the HFC in storage at the beginning of the year (A) and the quantity in storage at the end of the year (B).
b. Changes to the base inventory for each HFC – Include any purchases/acquisitions of each HFC, sales/disbursements of each HFC, and any changes in capacity of equipment.
• Purchases/acquisitions is the sum of all the HFC acquired during the year either in storage containers or in equipment (C).
• Sales/disbursements is the sum of all the HFC sold or otherwise disbursed during the year either in storage containers or in equipment (D).
• Net change to the total equipment volume, also known as the capacity/full charge of equipment, for a given HFC during the year (E) must be assessed.
c. Calculate annual emissions of each type of HFC using Equation 6.29.
d. Use Equation 6.30 and the appropriate GWP (global warming potential) factors from LGO Protocol Appendix E to convert each HFC to units of CO2e.
e. Use Equation 6.31 to sum the totals of each type of HFC, in units of CO2e, to determine total HFC emissions at each facility.
Alternate Approach 1: Simplified Mass Balance
- Determine the types and quantities of HFC used at each facility. For each type of HFC used, determine the following quantities used or recovered during the reporting year, if applicable:
a. Quantity of HFC used to charge new equipment during installation (if new equipment was installed that was not pre-charged by the manufacturer)
b. Total full charge (capacity) of new equipment using this HFC (if new equipment was installed that was not pre-charged by the manufacturer)
c. Quantity of HFC used to service equipment.
d. Total full charge (capacity) of retiring equipment (if equipment was disposed during the reporting year)
e. Quantity of HFC recovered from retiring equipment (if equipment was disposed during the reporting year)
- Calculate annual emissions of each type of HFC using Equation 6.32.
- Convert to units of CO2e and determine total HFC emissions using Equation 6.30 in Recommended Approach and the appropriate GWP factors from Appendix E.
- Use Equation 6.31 in Recommended Approach to sum the totals of each type of HFC, in units of CO2e, to determine total HFC emissions at each facility.
Alternate Approach 2: Estimation Based on Equipment Inventory and Refrigerant Use
- Determine the number and types refrigerants and air conditioning equipment, by equipment category; the types of refrigerant used; and the refrigerant charge capacity of each piece of equipment (see Table 6.3).
- Estimate annual emissions of each type of HFC using Equation 6.33. Default emission factors are provided in Table 6.3. Note: Default emission factors are currently not available for fire suppression equipment.
- Convert to units of carbon dioxide equivalent and determine total HFC emissions using Equation 6.30 in Recommended Approach and the appropriate GWP factors from Appendix E.
- Use Equation 6.31 in Recommended Approach to sum the totals of each type of HFC, in units of CO2e, to determine total HFC emissions at each facility.
