POL 01 - Impact of Refrigerants

Applicability of prerequisite - KBCN1072

The prerequisite must be met in order to award any credits where refrigerants are used. It is also applicable when the 'leak detection' credit is awarded on the basis of the refrigerant charge being less than 6kg.

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District cooling – Used in combination with local cooling - KBCN1634

Where district cooling can be considered outside the scope of the assessment, either in accordance with the Methodology section of the technical manual or in line with KBCN0759, compliance must be based on calculating the DELC for all systems. However, where the district cooling system is exempt from assessment, as described above, this should be based on a GWP of zero for the district cooling system.

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District cooling systems - KBCN0759

Where a district cooling facility is servicing the assessed building, the building will have an environmental impact in terms of refrigerants, albeit in this case indirectly. As such the district cooling system must be considered against the BREEAM criteria for refrigerants. Where connection to an off-site district cooling system, over which the developer has no control, is mandated by a local authority or other statutory body, the maximum number of credits can be awarded for Issue Pol 01. However, where this is not mandatory and the developer has the option whether to connect, regardless of encouragement or incentives by the local authority, the district cooling system must be considered against the BREEAM criteria for refrigerants to award the credits.

27/04/2017: Clarified the number of credits awarded

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Freestanding commercial fridges and freezers - KBCN0577

Freestanding commercial fridges and freezers must be included in the assessment of the Pol 01 issue, even when they are not connected to the building cooling system. Only domestic white goods are excluded from the assessment of this issue.

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Impact of refrigerant – Refrigerants with low GWP - KBCN1472

Where systems only use refrigerants with GWP ≤ 10 The Pol 01 calculator does not have to be completed. Providing evidence of the compliant systems and refrigerants used is enough to award maximum credits for impact of refrigerant. Mix of systems with GWPs below and above 10 The Pol 01 calculator does have to be completed. The calculator must include systems with GWP ≤ 10 to ensure credits are based on the average value across all systems.

20-Dec-2023 Updated to include scenarios where there is a mix of systems with GWP above and below 10.

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Leak detection system based on pressure changes - KBCN0326

A system that uses pressure changes to detect leaks is not necessarily compliant. To be deemed compliant the leak detection system would need to monitor the refrigerant pressure and the operating conditions to address the problem of natural fluctuation.

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Manufacturer’s information – system specific data - KBCN0926

The BREEAM technical manual provides a set of default figures, for use within the DELC calculation. Where available, system-specific data, provided by the manufacturer, can be used in the calculation where this is more representative. Any such system-specific figures used must be supported by publicly available, published data, which substantiates the manufacturer’s figures.

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No refrigerant use – Part 4 only assessments - KBCN1540

Where there is no use of refrigerants in a Part 4 only assessment, this issue is filtered out. 3 credits are not awarded by default.

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No refrigerant use – shell & core assessments - KBCN1058

The credits for Pol 01 can be awarded if the asset requires no refrigerants as per the criteria. In speculative assessments, future tenant systems are unknown. To award the credits, evidence must show that the asset has been designed to operate without the need for air-conditioning or comfort cooling for the conditioning of occupied spaces. One way to demonstrate this is to achieve the ‘Free cooling’ credit. Only refrigerants used for occupant comfort are assessed. Do not assess any refrigerant use for process-related functions.

21.09.2021 Wording amended for clarity

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Not enough rows in the Pol 01 calculator - KBCN1274

If additional rows are required in the calculator it is acceptable to add the specification of multiple models together in one tool, provided they are the same model and have all the same inputs for columns F to M. The weighting of the systems across the building is done by the System Capacity and Total Refrigerant Charge (columns E and F), so you would multiply each of these two figures by the total number of the system specified. This gives the contribution of the systems to the building's cooling capacity and charge. If further rows are still required please email [email protected] with a copy of the tool and specify the number of rows required.

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Reversible heat pump (VRF) providing both heating and cooling - KBCN0735

Where a reversible heat pump, which provides heating and cooling on reverse cycle with heat recovery, is used, the cooling capacity only should be used for the Direct Effect Life Cycle CO_2e emissions (DELC) calculation. The cooling capacity of heat humps is normally less than the heating capacity, so compliance against the criteria will be based on the more challenging DELC value calculated.

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Scope of the refrigerant leak detection system - KBCN0530

The refrigerant leak detection system is required to cover any part of the plant or pipework which contains refrigerant.

21/08/17 KBCN amended to include pipework containing refrigerant.

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