UC Davis case study also shows new refrigerant offers similar performance to R-410A
Refrigerants used in vapor-compression air conditioners and heat pumps have been the subject of environmental regulations, requiring the need to develop alternative solutions with lower GWP. In general, there is a trade-off when choosing alternative refrigerants between safety, performance, and GWP.
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has approved a new regulation requiring refrigerants used in all new stationary residential air conditioning systems to have a 100-year GWP value of 750 or less. For reference, the most common refrigerant currently used in unitary air conditioning equipment is R-410A, which has a 100-year GWP of 2,088.