Hi Mike,

As I’m sure you already know, since R-22 is an HCFC (hydrochlorofluorocarbon) as opposed to a CFC (chlorofluorocarbon) based refrigerant, it’s already compliant with Energy and Atmosphere Prerequisite 3 – Fundamental Refrigerant Management.

According to Table 2 on page 220 of the Green Building Operations and Maintenance Reference Guide, the maximum refrigerant charge for R-22 in your application is 0.64. Refrigerant charge is the ratio of refrigerant required (in pounds) to gross cooling capacity provided (in tons) for the piece of equipment in question.

Table 2 shows the maximum refrigerant charge for a single piece of equipment that would comply with Energy & Atmosphere Credit 5, Enhanced Refrigerant Management. According to this table, your 90 ton units would have to contain less than 57.6 lbs of refrigerant each, to comply with credit requirements.

It would also be prudent to point out to the building owner that (as I’m sure everyone now knows) R-22 is in the process of being phased out to comply with provisions of the Clean Air Act to end production of HCFCs.

To determine if your building is applicable for this credit, you’ll have to download the credit template to do a full calculation including all equipment that uses refrigerants taking into account their leakage rates as well as equipment life, etc. If you don’t meet the requirements of this calculation I don’t believe a refrigerant management plan will convince the GBCI review team to approve the credit. The key is to ensure leakage rates are low enough that you can pass the calculation – this would be where your management plan would come into play – but in conjunction with the requirements for maximum threshold for combined contributions to ozone depletion and global warming potential in accordance with the Reference Guide requirements.

Worse case scenario, the credit will be denied. But since you’re already using HCFC refrigerants, you’re not jeopardizing the whole project certification because you can still meet the requirements EA Prerequisite 3.

Good luck!

Sarah Gudeman, LEED AP