Of the estimated 80,000 CFC chillers in the field in the early 1990s, about 61% still relied on CFC refrigerant at the start of 2000. New, non-CFC-using chillers, which can be at least 40% more energy efficient than the CFC chillers installed 20 years ago, accounted for 3,085 replacements. Non-CFC refrigerants were used in the conversion of 491 units, for a total during 1999 of 3,576 chillers that no longer use CFCs.
Building owners have taken more than 31,516 CFC chillers out of service, but conversions and replacements last year were slower than in 1998, when the total was 4,231 units.