Are operators, facilities teams, and OEMs actually building a refrigerant strategy into planning cycles or are we mostly dealing with it when something breaks or a regulation hits?
Globally, we are seeing macro trends...
- Tighter regs (phasedowns, reporting, compliance pressure)
- Cooling shifting fast (liquid, hybrid, higher density racks)
- Exposure if you’re locked into the wrong gas with no recovery/reuse path
There are specific industry's (i.e. Grocery Stores) that have built out strategies for refrigerants over the last decade+, but I am only recently seeing the same level of engagement from our DC verticals. There are reasons we can point to for the Grocery chains, mainly their cooling system leak rates and they were the OG when it comes to leaking high GWP gases on an industrial level.
That has led me to wonder...
- Are hyperscalers / colos planning refrigerant as part of lifecycle (procure → use → recover → reuse)?
- Are OEMs guiding customers on this, or just spec’ing and moving on?
- Is anyone factoring reclaim/reuse into design decisions yet?
- Is there an education or information gap?
Or is this still mostly reactive?
Also, if anyone in this sub would find it useful, I'd happily do a short series on refrigerant lifecycle management (including reclamation and destruction leading to net zero offsets in carbon) and how it can be best utilized for DC new builds and retrofits.
Cheers!