Keeping Cool a Hot Topic at Society of Automotive Engineers' Meeting

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., July 10 -- Effective automobile air conditioning is not only an important topic here because of the current heat wave, but is also a hot environmental topic at a Scottsdale, Arizona conference organized by the Society of Automotive Engineers, International (SAE) this week. The SAE Automotive Alternate Refrigerant Systems Symposium, July 9-11, 2002, is taking place at the Resort Suites Hotel in Scottsdale.

Growing concern over environmental protection is driving engineers to evaluate the impact of automobile air conditioning on the emission of greenhouse gases. Experts from Asia, Europe and America are making technical presentations at this globally significant technical conference.

Concern by automotive engineers on the environmental impact of air conditioning (AC) is not new. In the early 1990's attention was focused on the impact of air conditioning in reducing the earth's protective ozone layer. As a result, between 1992 and 1995 there was a global shift from the use of R 12 (commonly known by the trade name, Freon) to the use of the refrigerant used today, R 134a. The global use of R134a in air conditioning systems has completely eliminated the modern auto AC's impact on the ozone layer.

Over the past seven years, global attention has increasingly focused on greenhouse gases. According to the presentations made at the conference, engineering focus concurrently shifted to respond to those concerns. Leakage of the refrigerants due to poor maintenance of vehicle air conditioning, as well as the energy needed to drive vehicle air conditioning is important though not the largest vehicle contribution to the release of greenhouse gases. Many of the presentations demonstrated how new refrigerants could reduce environmental impact.

Other presentations outlined progress in the development of a new group of refrigerants. A refrigerant known as R 152a is used in consumer products available in aerosol cans. While this refrigerant cannot be used in existing vehicles, but preliminary results indicate that new vehicles could be equipped with minimal redesign of auto air conditioning systems, allowing improved vehicle energy efficiency resulting lower emissions due to air conditioner operation.

European representatives discussed the use of carbon dioxide (CO2) as a refrigerant. While complete redesign of the air conditioning system will be necessary to accommodate CO2, the European automobile industry and the EU governments hope for introduction of this refrigerant in Europe beginning in 2005-2006. The speakers detailed their focused research and development efforts and elaborated on the production changes necessary to meet that 2006 deadline.

Ward Atkinson, the meeting's organizer, noted that the symposium was created to encourage research and development of alternate automotive refrigerants, as well as provide a forum for the exchange of technical information on improving the environment. Atkinson noted that engineers have the additional challenge of ensuring that future automotive air conditioning systems are at least as effective as current ones, if not more so. Atkinson is a Phoenix valley resident and global expert on the subject.

Atkinson's own presentation on Wednesday focused on the energy use of opening the auto windows in average temperatures, rather than continuing to use the vehicle's air conditioning. His studies are important for determining how to best reduce the release of greenhouse gases due to the increased consumption of fuel.

This conference is the largest in the world on this topic. It has attracted 220 experts from twelve countries around the world. The first of these conferences was held in 1998 and has contributed significantly to the development of technology for environmentally friendly air conditioning systems. Stephen O. Anderson of the US EPA has commended SAE for providing this global forum and for undertaking research on alternative refrigerants.

For more information on this SAE offering, contact Ward Atkinson, Symposium Chair, at 602.956.9313, or SAE's Patti Kreh at pkreh@sae.org.