Representative Fitzgibbon introduces bill to phase-down HFCs

Arlington, Virginia, USA, 16 January 2019: On January 10, Representative Joe Fitzgibbon of Washington State introduced HB 1112, AHRI announced in a Press communiqué. The bill directly relates to reducing and regulating greenhouse gas emissions from hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and its introduction comes on the heels of Washington State Governor Jay Inslee’s announcement that phasing out HFCs is a major component of his overall Climate Action Plan, the communiqué said.

According to AHRI, the legislation restricts the use, sale, installation or lease of any equipment or product that contains HFCs with a high global warming potential (GWP), beginning in 2020, for supermarket systems, remote condensing units, stand-alone units; 2021 for refrigerated food processing and dispensing equipment; 2022 for residential consumer refrigeration products, other than built-in residential consumer refrigeration productions; 2023 for cold storage warehouses and built-in residential consumer refrigeration products and 2024 for centrifugal chillers and positive displacement chillers.

The legislation also includes language that directs the Building Code Council to adopt rules that permit the use of allowed substances and tasks the Department of Ecology with taking the lead on completing a study that addresses how to increase the use of refrigerants with a low GWP in mobile sources, utility equipment, and consumer appliances, as well as how to reduce other uses of HFCs in Washington, the communiqué said. The report would be due to the legislature by December 1, 2020, and would include recommendations for how to fund, structure and prioritise a state incentive programme for eliminating the use of HFCs, the communiqué further said.

According to AHRI, while the bill is technically still pending committee referral, it is likely to be referred to the House Environment and Energy Committee, chaired by Representative Fitzgibbon. The communiqué said the bill is tentatively scheduled for a hearing at this committee on January 17 at 8 AM PST. The communiqué further said that AHRI staff have reached out for additional information and to initiate a conversation with Representative Fitzgibbon.