A new approach for environmental analysis of vapor compression refrigeration systems: Environmental impact index

Vapor-compression refrigeration (VCR) cycles are used to transfer heat from a low-temperature environment to a high-temperature environment. To reduce harmful emissions, environmentally friendly refrigerants should be selected. Metrics like global warming potential and life cycle climate performance are used for environmentally friendly refrigerants. These metrics are independent of each other and are analyzed and evaluated separately. In this study, a new metric was proposed for the environmental analysis of VCR systems and named as environ-mental impact index (EII). EII defined for the first time in this research, includes the use of both energy, exergy, and low-emission renewable energy at the same time. Also, EII analysis of a cooling system using various re-frigerants was performed for all cities of Turkiye. In the case of using R134a, R1234yf, and R1234ze refrigerants in the cooling system the cities with the highest and lowest EII values of the cooling system are Ardahan and S,anliurfa, respectively. The EII of R134a, R1234yf, and R1234ze (E) for S,anliurfa are 49.79, 51.81, and 49.75, respectively. The EII of R134a, R1234yf, and R1234ze (E) for Ardahan are 73.75, 75.13, and 73.13, respectively. It was concluded that when choosing refrigerants for VCR systems, attention should be paid not only to the GWP ratios of refrigerants, but also to energy and exergy performance, and energy options with lower emissions.

Automated summary

In this study, a new metric called Environmental Impact Index (EII) was proposed for the environmental analysis of Vapor-Compression Refrigeration (VCR) systems. It integrates the utilization of energy, exergy, and low-emission renewable energy. The EII analysis of a cooling system using different refrigerants showed that Ardahan had the highest EII value, while Şanlıurfa had the lowest. Therefore, when selecting refrigerants for VCR systems, not only the Global Warming Potential (GWP) ratios should be considered, but also the energy, exergy performance, and options with lower emissions.