You may at first perceive F gases to be bad type of gas to use as the usage of many types have been banned and others to have been phased down. This is true but as the years have gone by, there has been lots of development in learning about the harmfulness of the types of gases.

Scientists have overcome these discoveries over the years, since the early 1900’s, by creating more environmentally friendly F gases.

There were a series of fatal accidents in the 1920’s when methyl chloride leaked out of refrigerators, leading a search for a less toxic replacement.

In 1928, CFCs were invented for a safer gas to be used mainly for refrigeration, insulation, aerosols, and firefighting equipment. This was to prevent these fatal accidents from occurring when using daily appliances containing toxic gases.

The compounds of CFCs are inert and essentially nontoxic, characteristics that made them well-suited for these applications. These same characteristics, however, also made them a danger to life on Earth.

  In 1974, it was theorised by two chemists, that the chlorine from CFC’s could lead to ozone depletion; they later won the 1995 Nobel prize for their contributions.

In 1985, the British science team published results that revealed a sharp decline in the ozone layer at the Antarctic spring. This was a big revelation for the world, as the ozone layer plays an important role in our environment. 

As the years have gone by, scientists have worked hard to create a refrigerated gas that has a low global warming potentially and is safe to use. This is because it is an important resource in our daily lives for the following uses; fridges/freezers, air conditioning units and heat pumps. 

The ozone layer is vital to our planet's ecosystem and any depletion in the ozone layer can have critical effects to life on earth. The ozone layers helps deflect part of the Sun's UV radiation which an excess of can cause  skin cancer, cataracts and effect our cells immunity increasing the risk of catching infections.

For these Air-Conditioning units we use a refrigerated gas called R32, this is considered a environmentally friendly F gas and has a low global warming potential. Its performance and operating characteristics are very similar to R-410A, yet with roughly one-third of the Global Warming Potential.

Laws have been put in place to protect our environment and decrease the usage of harmful F gases. The obligations are;

• To prevent the intentional release of F-gases.
• To prevent the unintentional release of F-gases during production and use.
• To minimise and repair leakages.
• To carry out leak checks and keep records, and to use leak detection systems for certain systems.
• To recover F-gases from equipment for recycling, reclamation, or destruction where equipment is being repaired or decommissioned.
• To restrict the placing on the market of certain equipment and products and to prevent sales to businesses who do not hold the relevant certification.
• The correct product and equipment labelling