TABLE OF CONTENTS - Everything R744

THE USE OF NATURAL REFRIGERANTS TODAY & TOMORROW
FAMILIARITY WITH NATURAL REFRIGERANTS
When asked how familiar they themselves were with the
use and characteristics of the five natural refrigerants,
most respondents indicated that the refrigerant carbon
dioxide was, on average, the most well-known natural
working fluid. However, with an average value of 3.1
out of a maximum of 4, there was still an awareness
gap regarding the “very familiar” option. Surprisingly,
and although hydrocarbon refrigerants have only been
recently approved, for use in small applications, in
the US, respondents were nearly as familiar with their
characteristics as those of CO 2
. This can be interpreted
as a good starting base for a more rapid introduction
of hydrocarbons in the US Ammonia reached similar
values (3.0 out of 4.0), whereas water (2.6) and air (2.5)
ranged in the “somewhat familiar” to “mostly unfamiliar”
categories.
Looking at the individual choices of all respondents, the
refrigerants air and water would need more support to
reach acceptable awareness levels. With 52% and 46%
of respondents, saying that they were either “mostly
unfamiliar” or “not at all familiar” with air and water
refrigerants respectively, a clear knowledge gap exists.
This gap will need to be closed before a wider market
adoption can occur.
Concerning end-users only (91 responses), familiarity
ratings for all individual NRs were consistently lower than
for the total response set. Interestingly, hydrocarbons
achieved the highest overall awareness level among
commercial/industrial end-users (3.0), followed by
ammonia (2.9) and CO 2
(2.8). Air received a very modest
2.4 average rating.
For the second related question, all respondents were
asked to evaluate the awareness levels of their customers.
Most striking was a clear drop in average awareness of
customers, compared to respondents’ own knowledge.
Most respondents thought that their customers’
awareness levels were only at a “mostly unfamiliar”
level for ammonia (2.1 out of 4.0), hydrocarbons (2.1),
and carbon dioxide (2.0). Air and water performed even
worse, with average ratings of “not at all familiar” and
“mostly unfamiliar”, respectively. While ammonia clearly
enjoyed the highest level of familiarity (“very familiar”
option) among customers, a result of its continued use
in North America, the awareness level of hydrocarbons,
which are expected to enter the US market rapidly, was
in the medium range. 22% of respondents even said that
customers were “not at all familiar” with hydrocarbons’
use. Also interesting was the high selection of the “do not
know” option, especially for water and air refrigerants,
indicating that respondents were not aware of the
refrigerant knowledge of their customers.
USE OF NATURAL REFRIGERANTS TODAY &
TOMORROW
Two-thirds of all survey respondents stated that
they already offered or used natural refrigerants.
The remaining 27% was split between not currently
using or not currently supplying NR technology. 7%
of respondents did not know if the organization they
represented had any activities involving NR.
Among all respondents, the share that was confident
that NRs would be used in the future increased by 4%,
reaching 70%, whereas the percentage of individuals
clearly saying “no” to NR use in the future decreased
by 18%, settling at 9%. The share of “do not know”
responses significantly increased. Every fifth respondent
was not sure what the organization’s future business
strategy regarding natural refrigerant solutions would
be, suggesting a highly dynamic development over the
coming years.
If only considering the sub-set of respondents (162
individuals) that did not currently offer or use NRs,
40% said they were sure to use NRs in the future, and
another 43% opted for “do not know”. Whereas the first
is a strong indication of the future uptake of NRs by new
market players, the latter suggests there is room for
more activities to promote the benefits of NRs among
the currently undecided. Only 17% were sure that they
would not use natural working fluids in the future.
Among the sub-group of end-users (91 responses),
mostly active in the industrial / commercial airconditioning,
commercial refrigeration, and industrial /
commercial heating sectors, 53% already used natural
refrigerants, and 54% thought they would use them in
the future.
THE BUSINESS CASE FOR NATURAL
REFRIGERANTS
In an open-ended question, respondents were asked
what the percentage of natural refrigerant-related
activities in their organization was. A total of 284
individual answers were received. Responses ranged from
“below 1% of our activities” to “100% of our activities”.
The highest individual answer (the statistical mode) was
recorded for “10%” (43 responses), followed by “5%” (36
responses), and “90%” (22 responses), indicating the
wide range of stakeholders taking the survey. However,
a general observance was that nearly two-thirds (64%)
of responses fell in the range of less than 50% NR share.
54 respondents indicated an NR share above 90%, out of
which 17 respondents used 100% natural refrigerants in
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