Comments on: GM to be First to Use Greenhouse Gas Friendly Air Conditioner Refrigerant

By: kent beuchert

kent beuchert — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 03:27:32 +0000

Aside from the fact that the presence of greenhouse gases is why we are all here, the current coolant was a replacement for , I believe, R12, which was apparently a rather potent ozone depleter. Although data from the EPA is hard to come by (and suspect in most cases), we can assume that the current coolant is NOT a significant ozone depletion agent. I think anyone who thinks they know the significance of the effect of R134 as a greenhouse gas should provide
evidence of same. At this point in tiime, the evidence concerning climactic temperature change is so suspect that any actions taken are more in line with a religious, rather than scientific basis.
We simply don’t have any reliable historical data concerning whether the earth’s temperature
has changed, even in the past 100 years, much less in the time span of thousands of years that would be required to make any educated estimate of wehre we are going. And when I hear morons like RFK Jr, claiming that Katrina was due to global warming, and no news media
intelligent enough or with enough courage to blast such statements as pure nonsense, then
it’s obvious that the public is being fed a lot of BS over this issue. Mix science and politics and
the result is always the same – pure crap. Scientific inquiry is very much like a court trial –
there has to be competent folks on both sides of any issue and a judge must rule what
is acceptable evidence and what is not (like the silly examples Gore provided in his film)
and often the conclusion that must be reached is that there simply isn’t enough evidence
to come to any conclusion, and more data is required. I’m tired of listening to unqualified
amateurs arguing this issue. I refer to the current generation in this country as the Dumb Generation. They don’t seem to know anything about anything. Especially science.

By: Zach

Zach — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 14:29:47 +0000

#8
FYI, there is no such thing as a drop-in refrigerant. To say drop-in with mods is like saying it’s the same but a little different. lol.

#12
The article stated that the new refrigerant will be in all GM vehicles beginning 2013. Why are you attacking just the Volt when it’s all their vehicles? lol.

FYI, GM is likely still in the R&D process, considering that they still have 2.5yrs to get it in all their vehicles.

Also, quit being such a wimp. The car has been in developement since 2007 (am I wrong?). 4yrs of testing should be enough. lol. Besides… don’t you get a warranty with it?

#13
If you consider all the millions of cars that are crushed within a certain number of years and consider all the refrigerant being released into the atmosphere, it’s actually more considerable than you may imagine (assume that all the science behind it is true).

#18
Prob just gaskets and fittings. I believe that’s all that is required for the R-12 to R-134a refit.

#36
Boone is trying to all the trucks (18-wheelers) on natural gas, an insanely abundant resource within our borders. He disected the idea and it’s relation with imported oil on his website about 1.5-2wks ago. I highly recommend it.

#124
I’m sure it’s going to be within approx 90% as efficient. But regardless how efficient it is, I find it impossible to be less efficient overall than current technology.

By: Anderson

Anderson — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 00:57:58 +0000

But how efficient is it at actually cooling the car? If it isn’t very good at it, it may actually be worse for the environment–kind of like the 1 gpf toilets that you have to flush two or three times to get all the stuff down the drain. They defeat the purpose!

By: Dan Petit

Dan Petit — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 16:42:59 +0000

Regarding HFO1234yf refrigerant:

GM’s bringing all the very best environmental techs to the forefront also accelerates GM’s right to recognition
in looking out for our futures.
This new refrigerant which degrades safely in 4 to 11 days is quite a benchmark compared
to the old R-12 refrigerant days which has an incredible lifespan to do ongoing damage even today and in addition to a far time into the future still.
R-134a is 5% as damaging as R-12 as I remember it being described, and yet still needs to be phased out.

Excellent topic today, (and as always), Lyle. Thanks.

By: Dan Petit

Dan Petit — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 16:35:19 +0000

DaveG got some negative hits at post 16 for the oil drop off graph.

Different readers interpret that different ways of course.

The way I would like to interpret that graph is that

***we won’t need the stuff***

because electric motoring even into trucking might change the need by 2060.

Just a positive hypothetical thought for DaveG’s graph.