Evidence for improvements in containment of fluorinated hydrocarbons during use: an analysis of reported European emissions

The reports submitted by European countries have been examined to determine the extent to which containment (expressed as the rate of emission from the bank remaining in equipment) has changed with time. Although there is a wide variation between countries, the annual emission rates of most of the gases used in refrigeration have improved significantly over the past 10 years and now represent between 5 and 10% of the bank still contained in equipment. This implies that it would take between 10 and 20 years for the original mass of refrigerant charged into a system to be released into the atmosphere.