ARLINGTON, VA — The pace of the replacement and conversion of CFC chillers slowed in 1999, leaving approximately 48,484 units still in use for comfort cooling in buildings, despite a ban on production of CFCs that became effective Dec. 31, 1995, according to a survey of chiller manufacturers released by the Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Institute (ARI).
Of the estimated 80,000 CFC chillers in place in the early 1990s, about 61% still relied on CFC refrigerants at the start of 2000. New non-CFC chillers, some of which are said to be at least 40% more efficient than older CFC-using chillers, accounted for 3,085 replacements.