EU sticks with deadline to change air conditioner gas

By 2011 all cars manufactured by the motor industry for the EU must be outfitted with environmentally friendly air conditioning systems or face the consequences.

The news comes at a bad time for an auto industry that is struggling with the poor economy, and it is fighting for the Mobile Air Conditioning (MAC) directive to be delayed until 2017 in exchange for a focus on more environmentally friendly engines.

Environmentalists are pleased with the movement but are afraid the government will bend, but the proof against current coolant systems is strong.

According to the commission that launched the MAC directive, the coolant that is currently used in most air conditioning systems affects global warming over 1300 times more than the use of CO2.

A US company, Honeywell, claims to have found a coolant that only remains trapped in the atmosphere for 11 days instead of 13 years as the current coolant standard does but, it has not yet been publicly proven.

Meanwhile, it is expected that EU manufacturers will use the new coolant directive to emphasise the need for a €40 billion bailout similar to the US bailout that will allow car makers to develop more environmentally friendly vehicles.