Equivalent Warming Research Articles

Life cycle analysis to minimise global warming impact

This paper describes a technique to identify the effects on potential global warming of wate, of both energy and materials, in the areas of refrigeration and air-conditioning. Such equipment always uses energy and generally contains a chemical driving fluid. The calculation converts emissions of the driving fluids and the energy used to run the equipment into the equivalent amounts of carbon dioxide, the sum is expresed as the Total Equivalent Warming Impact (TEWI). Examples show that the switch from CFCs to HFCs should result in marked reductions in the potential for global warming from refrigeration and air-conditioning and that the TEWIs of hermetically sealed systems are infulenced more by energy efficiency than by the effect of total loss of the driving fluid. The technique may be applied with equal facility in areas other than refrigeration.