Green Living Tips and Ideas

GM to Use Less Potent Greenhouse Gas to Keep Cars Cool

By GetGreenLiving on August 2nd, 2010

WARREN, MI — General Motors plans to use a new air conditioning refrigerant for its 2013 models that is a less potent greenhouse gas than the current common refrigerant.

The primary vehicle refrigerant in use is HFC-134a, which is some 1,400 times more potent than carbon dioxide (CO2) when it comes to global warming and is being banned by the European Union.

While HFC-134a stays in the atmosphere for more than 13 years, the new refrigerant, HFO-1234yf, has an 11-day atmospheric life and a global warming potential (GWP) of 4. The baseline for GWP is CO2, which has a GWP of 1.

Read the original news at greenbiz

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