Welcome to the Institute of Refrigeration website

Welcome to the website of the Institute of Refrigeration.  The Institute is the professional association for nearly 2,000 individuals working in refrigeration and air conditioning.  It publishes a range of technical material on system design and good practice publications for service engineers and supports training and efficiency initiatives in the sector. The Institute is a member of ACRIB, the Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Industry Board.

IOR Guidance note on Refrigerant Selection and System Design - the role of HFCs

The Institute of Refrigeration has compiled a guidance note to provide non-partisan advice on the effects of refrigerant choice and system design on the carbon footprint of a refrigerating system.  Two effects are considered: the direct global warming potential of the refrigerant selected and the climate change effect of energy use by the system.  The direct effect is measured as a "global warming potential" (GWP), usually against a reference of the potential of carbon dioxide over a 100 year period.  Strategies for the reduction of carbon footprint include designing more efficient systems, minimising sources of leakage through the selection of more robust system components, reducing the quantity of refrigerant required to operate the system in order to mitigate the effect of a large leak and substituting refrigerants with a high GWP for those with a lower potential.  These include ammonia, hydrocarbons, carbon dioxide, some low-GWP HFCs and hydrofluoroolefins (HFOs - a subset of hydrofluorocarbons with a very short atmospheric life). read more