Refrigerants and Cooling Systems Reporting Requirements
Refrigerants used in freezers, refrigerators, and air conditioners contribute to ozone depletion and global warming when released into the atmosphere. Because of this, the management of refrigerant gas is regulated at state and federal levels.
The South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) requires UCLA to report biennially our inventory of stationary air conditioning systems, audit dates, and refrigerant use for all units with a refrigerant capacity greater than 50 pounds.
EH&S's Role:
Our Environmental Compliance Team:
- Liaison with External Regulators: acts as the primary point of contact with regulatory agencies to ensure compliance and facilitate inspections or audits for campus.
- Regulatory Adherence, Reporting, and Retention: ensures the institution complies with all applicable regulations, maintains required documentation, and compiles information from various campus departments annually for reporting purposes.
- Centralized Inventory Management: maintains a inventory of all equipment that fall under this regulation.
- Permit Oversight: manages campus environmental permits.
EH&S must be notified as soon as possible when new and/or replacement comfort cooling units are planned so that the unit can be registered with SCAQMD.
Reporting a New or Removal of a Comfort Cooling System ( > 50 lbs. charge only)
The reporting department provides EH&S with the following information:
• Location of new unit:
• Manufacturer
• Model
• Serial Number
• Refrigerant Type
• Storage Capacity (lbs)- EH&S registers the unit in the SCAQMD system.
- Once a year, EH&S will contact the reporting department to request audit dates and refrigerant use for the unit for SCAQMD reporting purposes.
