What Drives Refrigerant Pricing?

> About 30 years ago one could purchase R12 refrigerant for the amazingly low
> price of a dollar a pound (before the 12 oz. container days). I'd seen those
> twelve ounce cans available for as little as 79 cents and R22 was
> exceptionally cheap as well. Of course, we all know full well what has
> happened since then. The question, however, remains was it demand or
> speculation ;-)
>
> Seriously, since we now have been educated by environmental scientists to
> know the harmful effects of freon to our spherical home, is the supply of
> R12 knowingly regulated? I believe that it is in the interim to allow for an
> artificially high pricing mechanism to support blended refrigerants, which
> might not be able to carry their own pricing weight if the gold standard
> (R12) had been more rapidly removed from the market. History has shown that
> R12 can be made very cheaply. It is not a petroleum based product. The most
> expensive component in its manufacture is fluorine, which can be least
> expensively derived from the electrolysis of potassium fluoride and/or
> hydrogen fluoride. It was patented way back in 1928, long before the day of
> modern rocket science.It's not much more complicated than boot polish or
> bottled chlorine bleach.
>
> So I'm almost forced to believe that its pricing is governed by its
> manufacturers whose political connections have allowed it to be highly
> regulated, forcing a high demand to become highly depressed because of
> artificially hyperinflated pricing. This, of course, forces the demand for
> cheaper substitutes, which allows companies such as Dupont to expand its
> product universe to manufacture and profit from blends of questionable
> necessity for prices that oil company execs only might not salivate
> over.That is not to say, however, that blends are universally bad. Dupont
> Puron (R410) is more efficient than R22, but at an unjustifiably higher
> price.Its efficiency is largely inherent to its much higher run pressure,
> increasing the chance for expensive leaks. Higher system costs and greater
> repair bills are not a small price to pay for cheaper energy requirements,
> but once again, we're given a number of years to get used to the idea.
>
> If Freon could be discovered the best part of a century ago, it seems
> reasonable that modern chemists could discover another unblended refrigerant
> with favorable characteristics to R12. Blended refrigerants remind me of
> the 1970's when planned obsolescence began the decline of the American
> automaking industry.We're being held hostage to an enormously greedy
> industry which audaciously tells us that they have only our best interests
> in mind.
>
>

> About 30 years ago one could purchase R12 refrigerant for the
> amazingly low price of a dollar a pound (before the 12 oz. container
> days). I'd seen those twelve ounce cans available for as little as 79
> cents and R22 was exceptionally cheap as well. Of course, we all know
> full well what has happened since then. The question, however,
> remains was it demand or speculation ;-)
> Seriously, since we now have been educated by environmental
> scientists to know the harmful effects of freon to our spherical
> home, is the supply of R12 knowingly regulated? I believe that it is
> in the interim to allow for an artificially high pricing mechanism to
> support blended refrigerants, which might not be able to carry their
> own pricing weight if the gold standard (R12) had been more rapidly
> removed from the market. History has shown that R12 can be made very
> cheaply. It is not a petroleum based product. The most expensive
> component in its manufacture is fluorine, which can be least
> expensively derived from the electrolysis of potassium fluoride
> and/or hydrogen fluoride. It was patented way back in 1928, long
> before the day of modern rocket science.It's not much more
> complicated than boot polish or bottled chlorine bleach.
> So I'm almost forced to believe that its pricing is governed by its
> manufacturers whose political connections have allowed it to be highly
> regulated, forcing a high demand to become highly depressed because
> of artificially hyperinflated pricing. This, of course, forces the
> demand for cheaper substitutes, which allows companies such as Dupont
> to expand its product universe to manufacture and profit from blends
> of questionable necessity for prices that oil company execs only
> might not salivate over.That is not to say, however, that blends are
> universally bad. Dupont Puron (R410) is more efficient than R22, but
> at an unjustifiably higher price.Its efficiency is largely inherent
> to its much higher run pressure, increasing the chance for expensive
> leaks. Higher system costs and greater repair bills are not a small
> price to pay for cheaper energy requirements, but once again, we're
> given a number of years to get used to the idea.
> If Freon could be discovered the best part of a century ago, it seems
> reasonable that modern chemists could discover another unblended
> refrigerant with favorable characteristics to R12. Blended
> refrigerants remind me of the 1970's when planned obsolescence began
> the decline of the American automaking industry.We're being held
> hostage to an enormously greedy industry which audaciously tells us
> that they have only our best interests in mind.