The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), in partnership with Oak Ridge National Laboratory, under the Clean Energy Manufacturing Analysis Center (CEMAC ) umbrella, assessed the current state of existing and low-global-warming-potential (GWP) refrigerants for major end-use applications, including heating, ventilating, air conditioning and refrigeration (HVACR) and those outside of the HVAC industry.
The project incorporated a market overview and supply chain assessment to determine the production, distribution, consumption, costs, and potential operating efficiency impacts of new and alternative refrigerants entering the market. Market trends and ongoing research are also documented.
This work supplements other US Department of Energy efforts to support research activities on refrigerants and their applications, including a refrigerant research and development roadmap (Goetzler et al. 2014) and an outlook into global air-conditioning markets (Goetzler et al. 2016).
Key objectives of this report:
- Document existing refrigerant global supply chain, including production and distribution, usage, and intellectual property.
- Analyse major current end uses of refrigerants. Forward-looking estimates will have an emphasis on low-GWP refrigerant applications and the implications of scaling-up production and usage of the refrigerants.
- Estimate and document production and development of alternative refrigerants.
- Support US Department of Energy’s Building Technologies Office goals of increasing the deployment of energy efficiency technologies through evaluation of market and cost barriers.
The global refrigerants market is large and is projected to grow rapidly as developing countries in warmer areas of the globe continue to grow, become more affluent, and consume more and more air conditioning, refrigeration (Goetzler et al. 2016), foam, and aerosol products and services (Grand View Research 2017).
Innovation in this global refrigerants market is often led by major US companies; however, the markets for their products are global. Understanding this global market landscape is a critical component for maintaining leadership in innovation and manufacturing in a strategically important industry.
The full report is available for download here.