Recovery of fluorocarbons in Japan as a measure for abating global warming

The objective of this study is to evaluate the potential for recovering fluorocarbons as measures for the abatement of global warming. In this study, we focused on the three different kinds of fluorocarbons: CFCs, HCFCs and HFCs, and targeted refrigerant use because of the availability of relevant data. We first estimated future fluorocarbon emissions from the targeted appliances; we next compared those emissions in the units of CO2 equivalent to the level of CO2 emissions in 1990 from a quantitative point of view. As the result of this study, it was found that fluorocarbon emissions in 1999 and 2010 would be equal to approximately 7 and 3% of the level of CO2 emissions in 1990 respectively. Moreover, if we implement a 100% recovery rate in every recovery route, we can reduce a large amount of emissions which correspond to approximately 2–5% of the level of CO2 emissions in 1990, even if we take into account the energy-related CO2 emissions by the transportation and decomposition of fluorocarbons.