I-MAC aims at cost-effective reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, by reducing direct system refrigerant leakage by 50%; improving system efficiency by 30%; reducing system loads by 30%; and reducing service refrigerant losses by 50%.
Enhanced HFC-134a systems are confirmed to remain competitive with any alternative and responsible use programs can preserve their viability in the marketplace, as shown by present achievements:
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Standard (SAE J-2727) to certify low-leakage mobile air conditioning systems has been developed. The EU Commission agreed later on to use standard J-2727 in the frame of its MAC Directive 2006/40)
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Technologies to improve MAC efficiency by up to 50 percent, i.e. 20 percent more than the initial goal, have been identified
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New technician certification program has been developed to improve technicians' skills and refrigerant recovery rates
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Standard (SAE J-2788) on Refrigerant recovery and recycling equipment has been updated to improve the refrigerant recovery during maintenance or dismantling
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Cooperative research projects have been started in Australia, India, and Mexico.
These achievements were confirmed at the Phoenix (Arizona, USA) SAE Workshop in June 2006, where I-MAC Chairman confirmed I-MAC is on track to meet its research goals by the end of 2006 :
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Solid test data have been gathered and test procedures established, in an area were data and evaluation procedures were both very spotty.
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New vehicle leak performance is better than expected and significantly below the limit of 40 to 60 fixed by the future EU Directive (article 5 § 3).
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Servicing MAC and refrigerant recycling are critical for refrigerant containment, and are being addressed to achieve real world emission reductions.
Source :
http://www.epa.gov/cppd/mac/