特靈通訊18期(Jul 2012) - Trane Hong Kong

Technical Focus 深 入 探 討Carbon Price Comes with Global Warming全 球 暖 化 造 就 「 碳 價 」 的 出 現Philip C.H. Yu, PhD RPE CEng LEED-AP Director of Environmental & Applications Engineering, Trane Asia PacificPhilip has over 20 years of professional experience in the HVAC field in Asia Pacific. He is actively involved in non-business technical activities both inHong Kong and Mainland China. His areas of interest include building energy, chiller technology, refrigerant piping design and applications of variousair-conditioning systems.余 中 海 博 士 工 程 師 特 靈 公 司 亞 太 區 環 保 及 應 用 技 術 總 監Philip 擁 有 超 過 20 年 在 亞 太 地 區 暖 通 空 調 (HVAC) 領 域 的 專 業 經 驗 。 除 了 繁 忙 的 業 務 之 外 , 他 還 很 熱 心 參 與 香 港 及 國 內 的 技 術 活 動 。 研 究 範 疇 包 括 建 築 節 能 、冷 水 機 技 術 、 冷 媒 管 道 設 計 及 各 種 空 調 系 統 等 。Email 電 郵 :yupc@trane.comR e cently, the u n p l e a santnews about the new CentralGovernmental Complex (i.e.the Tamar project) has recalledmy memory about the chillerselection during its designstage. It has a total chiller(for air-conditioning) capacityo f a p p r o x i m a t e l y 1 0 , 0 0 0refrigeration tons (RT), butchillers using refrigerant with zero ozone depletion potential(ODP) were specified 1 . For such large chiller application,a water-cooled centrifugal type is the most energy efficient;and there are two kinds of refrigerant commonly used,namely R123 and R134a. I wrote to the Secretary for theEnvironment and recommended that chillers using R123refrigerant should be considered, with my estimate of theopportunity to avoid as much as 1,000 tons of carbonemission every year or a life-cycle emission of 30,000 tons.Unfortunately, my recommendation was not accepted,but the carbon price behind the global warming decision.According to the latest environmental law in Australia,progressing to an Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) inJuly 2015, the tax will be levied initially at A$23 per tonof CO2-e. HFCs have been exempted from the scheme,but an “Equivalent Carbon Price” (ECP) will be appliedthrough existing legislation, the Ozone Protection andSynthetic Greenhouse Gas Management Act. 2 Forinstance, the ECP of R134a chillers is A$30 per kg, 3or approximately HK$2.4 million for a chiller plant of10,000 RT in the caseof the Tamar project. Inother words, the owner ispaying an additional 8-10%of the chiller cost on topof the 30,000 tons of lifecyclecarbon emissiondue to lower efficiency ascompared to R123 chillers.So was it a good decision?In fact, it has resulted in some customers switching toTrane R123 chillers in Australia!The level of the Australian carbon price is comparableto the HFC tax level in Denmark, where the 2011 taxlevel for R134a is about €28 per kg (N.B. taxation inDenmark: 150 Danish krone €20 per ton of CO2-e).The maximum HFC taxation goes up to €80/kg. The taximposed on HFCs in Norway is even higher, e.g. R134ais about €39 per kg. In Sweden, the HFC tax proposalbeing implemented soon is about €35 per kg of R134a.In the EU, the ETS has been in place since 2002 as ameasure to meet the Climate Change commitment. Itlimits the amount of carbon dioxide emission by firmsin six key industries: energy, steel, cement, glass,brick-making and paper/cardboard production. If a firmfails to surrender sufficient EUAs (one EUA is equal toone ton of carbon dioxide equivalent), there would bea fine of €40 per ton in phase one and €100 per ton inphase two.