Emissions of halocarbons from mobile vehicle air conditioning system in Hong Kong

During the implementation of Montreal Protocol, emission inventories of halocarbons in different sectors at regional scale are fundamental to the formulation of relevant management strategy and inspection of the implementation efficiency. This study investigated the emission profile of halocarbons used in the mobile vehicle air conditioning system, the leading sector of refrigeration industry in terms of the refrigerant bank, market and emission, in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, using a bottom-up approach developed by 2006 IPCC Good Practice Guidance. The results showed that emissions of CFC-12 peaked at 53 tons ODP (Ozone Depletion Potential) in 1992 and then gradually diminished, whereas HFC-134a presented an increasing emission trend since 1990s and the emissions of HFC-134a reached 65,000 tons CO2-equivelant (CO2-eq) by the end of 2011. Uncertainty analysis revealed relatively high levels of uncertainties for special-purpose vehicles and government vehicles. Moreover, greenhouse gas (GHG) abatements under different scenarios indicated that potential emission reduction of HFC-134a ranged from 4.1 to 8.4×105tons CO2-eq. The findings in this study advance our knowledge of halocarbon emissions from mobile vehicle air conditioning system in Hong Kong.