Global warming potential of hydrocarbon refrigerants.

Whilst values for global warming potential (GWP) of widely used and atmospherically stable fluorocarbon refrigerants are well described within the literature, those for hydrocarbons (which are typically short-lived species) are seldom discussed. Arguably, this is due to hydrocarbons (excepting methane) being deemed as posing an insignificant contribution to climate change. This absence of readily available data has led to the adoption of “subjective” GWPs. In response to this, this article collates available data and proposes appropriate values for hydrocarbons commonly used as refrigerants.