Refrigerant Management & Destruction

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Refrigerant management refers to practices aimed at mitigating leaks from refrigerants and destroying these substances at the end of their useful life. In this solution, we refer to refrigerants and other ozone depleting substances (ODS), because they are very similar as non-CO2 gases with potent greenhouse gas potential. This includes chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), and halons used in fire suppressants. Because their warming potential can be thousands of times more potent than CO2, managing such gasses can have a great impact – both on campus emissions and global fugitive emissions that the campus may not be tracking.

Benefits

High impact
Easy to implement
Low lift on campus

Challenges

The campus needs to inventory relevant materials
Depending on what the campus is currently doing with various gases, there may be a cost for responsibly destroying the substance

Reference: https://drawdown.org/solutions/refrigerant-management