Energies 2022, 15, 5999. https://doi.org/10.3390/en15165999 www.mdpi.com/journal/energies Article Global Warming Potential of New Gaseous Refrigerants Used in Chillers in HVAC Systems Sylwia Szczęśniak * and Łukasz Stefaniak * Faculty of Environmental Engineering, Wrocław University of Science and Technology, 50377 Wrocław, Poland * Correspondence: sylwia.szczesniak@pwr.edu.pl (S.S.); lukasz.stefaniak@pwr.edu.pl (Ł.S.) Abstract: Due to the global warming and resulting problems, attention has been paid to greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere since the 1980s and 1990s. For this reason, the Montreal Protocol and the Kyoto Protocol have tightened regulations on the use of gaseous refrigerants in both HVAC systems and industrial refrigeration. Gradually, new generations of gaseous refrigerants, that theo‐ retically have much less negative environmental impact than their predecessors, are introduced into the market. The key parameter describing environmental impact is the GWP index, which is most often defined on a time horizon of 100 years. The long‐term use of new generations of gaseous re‐ frigerants in HVAC systems reduces CO2 emissions into the atmosphere; however, given that new generation gases often have a short lifetime, it seems that the adopted assessment may not be appli‐ cable. The aim of the article was to show how emissions of CO2 equivalent to the atmosphere differs in the short and long time horizon. The article presents the results of calculations of equivalent CO2 emissions to the atmosphere caused by the operation of compressor cooling devices used in HVAC systems, where cooling is done with the use of water or a water‐glycol solution. The analysis was carried out for 28 commonly used devices on the world market. The analyzed devices work with refrigerants: R513A, R454B, R290, R1234ze, R32, R134a, R410A. The equivalent emissions values for GWP 100 and GWP 20 were analyzed in relation to the unit power of the devices depends on refrig‐ erant mass and number of fans. The study showed that in the case of new generation refrigerants with a very short lifetime, the use of GWP 100 indicators is misleading and does not fully reflect the effects of environmental impact, especially in the area of refrigeration equipment application. The article shows that the unit value of the cooling load related to the number of fans or the unit would be helpful in assessing the environmental impact of a cooling device. Keywords: Global Warming Potential (GWP); Ozone Depletion Potential (ODP); air cooling; air pollutant; CO2 equivalent; climate change; sustainable development 1. Introduction 1.1. The Idea of Determining the Impact of Different Substances on the Climate There has been a debate [1–9] about the impact of pollutants emitted into the atmos‐ phere for decades about when changes in typical weather patterns began to be noticed. Substances that are able to retain the Sun’s energy within the Earth’s atmosphere as a result of their physical and chemical properties are called greenhouse gases. They have a direct impact on the temperature rise observed on the globe, as they absorb the infrared radiation emitted from our planet. Because it cannot be released into space, the resulting energy enters the atmosphere, causing its temperature to rise, which in turn increases the temperature of the Earth’s surface. Greenhouse gases include: water vapor, carbon diox‐ ide (CO2), CFCs, refrigerant gases (HCFCs, HFCs), halons, methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), ozone (O3), and various industrial gases (e.g., perfluorocarbons (PFCs)). One of the Citation: Szczęśniak, S.; Stefaniak, Ł. Global Warming Potential of New Gaseous Refrigerants Used in Chillers in HVAC Systems. Energies 2022, 15, 5999. https://doi.org/10.3390/en15165999 Academic Editor: Donato Morea Received: 15 July 2022 Accepted: 16 August 2022 Published: 18 August 2022 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neu‐ tral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institu‐ tional affiliations. Copyright: © 2022 by the authors. Li‐ censee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and con‐ ditions of the Creative Commons At‐ tribution (CC BY) license (https://cre‐ ativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).