Honeywell (NYSE: HON) announced today at a White House event that increasing global adoption of its range of low-global-warming-potential (GWP) products will reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by an equivalent of 475 million metric tons of carbon dioxide by 2025, the equivalent to removing 100 million cars from the road for one year.
The projections represent an increase of 36 percent over projections the company made a year ago when it committed to reducing the production of high-GWP hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) used in applications ranging from refrigeration to air conditioning to aerosols.
During today's event, top administration officials and a range of companies reported progress against global warming reduction targets.
"In just the last year, Honeywell has started two production facilities in the U.S. to manufacture two of its new low-GWP Solstice® HFC replacements and completed 17 long-term supply agreements with a range of customers," said Ken Gayer, vice president and general manager of Honeywell Fluorine Products. "We continue to see strong demand for these environmentally preferable technologies as we continue to invest in new production here in the U.S."
In September 2014, Honeywell said it would increase production of its low-GWP refrigerants, insulation materials, aerosols and solvents, and, prior to 2020, would drive a 50 percent reduction in its annual production of high-GWP hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) on a CO2 equivalent basis. In the past year, Honeywell shipped enough low-GWP Solstice products to replace HFCs with 10 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent. Honeywell this week launched a new climate ticker (www.Honeywell-climate-ticker.com) tracking how many million tons of CO2 equivalent emission are saved through the adoption of Solstice products.
Honeywell and its suppliers are in the middle of a $900 million investment program in R&D and new capacity to produce next-generation refrigerants, insulation materials, aerosols and solvents, which have global warming potentials equal to or better than carbon dioxide and at least 99 percent lower than most technologies used today. Honeywell and its suppliers have invested nearly $500 million to date and today affirmed their plan to spend approximately $400 million more to support the new products.
"Recent and proposed regulation from the EPA are positive steps that will help reduce the use of HFCs and drive the development and adoption of innovative new technologies such as Solstice," said Gayer.
Honeywell has developed a range of hydrofluoro-olefin (HFO) products with extremely low global warming potentials – either equal to or less than carbon dioxide – that are safe, available today and capable of making a significant positive environmental impact. These products are alternatives to HFCs that are energy-efficient, safe to use, non-ozone-depleting and have a minimal global warming profile.
Honeywell's Solstice line of HFOs include Solstice yf for automobile air conditioning, Solstice Propellant for aerosol applications, Solstice Liquid Blowing Agent and Gas Blowing Agent for foam applications and Solstice Performance Fluid for use as an industrial solvent. Each of these products has been approved under the EPA's Significant New Alternatives Policy (SNAP) program. HFO-1234yf is already being used in more than 7 million vehicles globally. Widespread adoption of Solstice yf would yield the equivalent environmental benefit of permanently removing 30 million automobiles from the roads worldwide.
In addition to its industry-leading line of low-global-warming-potential HFOs, Honeywell's Fluorine Products business manufactures and supplies non-ozone-depleting refrigerants used by top air-conditioning and refrigeration makers worldwide, blowing agents for energy-efficient foam insulation, and hydrofluoric acid and precursors for nuclear fuel.
Nearly half of Honeywell's portfolio is dedicated to energy-efficient products and services. In addition to developing and producing low-global-warming materials, Honeywell manufactures programmable thermostats and energy management systems, turbochargers, green fuels, industrial controls and lighter aircraft components. The use of Honeywell technologies could reduce energy demand in the United States by 20 to 25 percent if they were immediately and comprehensively adopted across the residential, commercial, industrial, and transportation sectors.