The Refrigerant Compliance Glossary

A common unit for greenhouse gas quantities: pounds or kilograms leaked multiplied by the refrigerant’s GWP — AR4 100-year values in this glossary, though a corporate inventory or a state program may specify a different basis.

A refrigerant above a jurisdiction’s GWP limit. California, New Jersey, and Washington use 150, and AIM Act Subpart C management rules apply above 53 — all on a 100-year basis. New York uses GWP20 above 10, on an AR6 20-year basis.

Global warming potential measured over a 20-year horizon, used by New York’s Part 494 on an IPCC Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) basis. Short-lived gases score far higher on GWP20 than on the AR4 100-year figures used everywhere else in this glossary.

Global warming potential measured over a 100-year horizon, the default metric for federal rules and for California, Colorado, New Jersey, and Washington. Values differ by IPCC assessment report, so the basis has to be stated — this glossary uses IPCC Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) values throughout, which is the basis most federal and state limits are written against.

A measure of how much heat a gas traps in the atmosphere relative to carbon dioxide over a set time horizon. R-410A is roughly 2,088 on the 100-year scale; CO2 itself is 1. Every GWP figure in this glossary is IPCC AR4, 100-year, unless labeled otherwise.

Section 608 notifications go by email to EPA’s refrigerant reporting address; AIM Act Subpart C submissions go through EPA’s electronic reporting platform.

A yearly submission covering the prior calendar year’s refrigerant activity. Dates differ by jurisdiction — March 1 for California and federal chronic-leak reports, March 15 for Washington, March 31 for New York, April 1 for New Jersey.

A state-level requirement to enroll facilities or appliances with the environmental agency, usually above a charge threshold and often with an annual fee. There is no federal refrigerant registration.

A defensible chain of records showing who did what to which appliance, when, with how much refrigerant, and what the resulting leak rate was — with the calculation method identified and unchanged across the facility.

Per-appliance records (owner, address, full charge and the method used, and any charge revisions) and per-service records (date, work performed, technician, refrigerant type and amount added or removed, leak rate and method). Federal retention is three years; California, New Jersey, New York, and Washington all require five.