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GWP 3922 means R-404A has 3922 times the warming effect of carbon dioxide over a 100-year horizon; the value comes from the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report. One leaked kilogram of R-404A counts as 3922 kilograms, about 3.9 tonnes, of CO2 equivalent. In Turkey, a refrigeration unit on a truck or trailer holding 5 tonnes of CO2 equivalent or more, which for R-404A is about 1.3 kg, must be entered in the EKOMVET database and leak-checked on a schedule.

Besides electricity and fuel, the carbon of cooling includes the gas inside the system. The UNEP Ozone Secretariat fact sheet on commercial refrigeration gives R-404A a global warming potential of 3922 and notes that in many countries this single gas accounts for more than 90 per cent of the commercial sector's GWP-weighted HFC consumption.

CO2 equivalent is gas mass times GWP. The same sheet puts the typical charge of a condensing unit at 1 to 10 kg; 10 kg of R-404A is 39 tonnes of CO2 equivalent. For emissions, the amount leaked or topped up in service is used, not the full charge.

Turkey's Regulation on Fluorinated Greenhouse Gases (Official Gazette 15.10.2024) covers refrigeration units on trucks and trailers. A unit holding 5 tonnes of CO2 equivalent or more is entered in the EKOMVET database; between 5 and 50 tonnes it is leak-checked at least every 12 months, or every 24 months with a leak detection system fitted. For R-404A the 5-tonne threshold is about 1.3 kg.

The same sheet gives non-flammable replacements for R-404A a GWP of 1400 to 2100; R-744, carbon dioxide, has a GWP of 1. An insulated container with eutectic plates carries no refrigerant circuit on the road: the cold is made in the depot when the plates are frozen, and the electricity used shows on a meter.

GWP 3922: what one kilo of refrigerant costs in carbon

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