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197 nations including the United States, India, and China have signed an agreement to reduce and eliminate the use of HFCs in the coming decades. The deal includes three tiers with a freeze in production and use beginning in 2019 (developed countries), 2024 (China, Brazil, and others), or 2028 (India, Pakistan, and others):
Nearly 200 nations hammered out a legally binding deal to cut back on greenhouse gases used in refrigerators and air conditioners, a Rwandan minister announced to loud cheers on Saturday, in a major step against climate change.
The deal, which includes the world's two biggest economies, the United States and China, divides countries into three groups with different deadlines to reduce the use of factory-made hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) gases, which can be 10,000 times more powerful than carbon dioxide as greenhouse gases. [...] Under the pact, developed nations, including much of Europe and the United States, commit to reducing their use of the gases incrementally, starting with a 10 percent cut by 2019 and reaching 85 percent by 2036.
[...] The HFC talks build on the 1987 Montreal Protocol, which succeeded in phasing out the use of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), widely used at that time in refrigeration and aerosols. The aim was to stop the depletion of the ozone layer, which shields the planet from ultraviolet rays linked to skin cancer and other conditions.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 16 2016, @10:07PM
> One problem is my AC draws 4 KW
I know this is hard to believe, but this isn't about you.
This is about India, China and Africa where they currently have very little air conditioning, where the very first appliance that most households buy once they've got the money is an A/C unit. Yes even before they buy a fridge, they buy A/C. A/C radically changed the US, increasing productivity and juicing the economies of entire states that were barely tolerable 6 months out of the the year. The billions of people lifting themselves out of poverty in the 3rd world were on track for an enormous amount of HFC usage. Current american usage is a drop in the bucket compared to what (was) coming up in the next couple of decades.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by t-3 on Monday October 17 2016, @12:18AM
I wondwe how much of this is due to locally-appropriate building technology being replaced by "modern" designs. My family's ancestral home in Texas never needed AC or heat, because it was built with thick adobe walls that regulated the temperature.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 17 2016, @05:59PM
The definition of "need" is relative. Did you sleep outside during the summer nights? That's what people without A/C do in India.