DENR invites vehicle owners for free aircon check

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Environment and Natural Resour­ces is inviting the public to have their own vehicles’ mobile air conditioners (MACs) tested for free at the department grounds today, or during the simultaneous nationwide roadside MAC testing on Sept. 16.

The refrigerant testing will be conducted by the DENR’s Environmental Management Bureau (EMB).

EMB Director Juan Miguel Cuna said MAC servicing is the largest consumer of chlorofluorocarbons or CFCs, a greenhouse gas believed to be harmful to the ozone layer. “MAC servicing consumes as much as 933 tons of ozone depleting potential or ODP tons. Using ozone-friendly MACs will definitely reduce the amount of CFC released into the atmosphere,” he said.

As signatory to the Kyoto and Montreal Protocols, international treaties which both aim to reduce GHGs in the atmosphere to reduce global warming, the government has required owners of vehicles with models prior to 1999 to use environment-friendly refrigerants in their MACs before renewing their annual registration.

The EMB’s Philippine Ozone Desk will also sign on Sept. 16 a Memorandum of Agreement with the Philippine Postal Corp. for the printing of commemorative stamps depicting the 25th anniversary of the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer. Around 49,000 stamps are set to be issued in the fourth quarter of this year.

DENR Secretary Ramon Paje also announced that on Sept. 13, the DENR will sign a contract with Delsa Chemicals and Multi-Products, Inc. as the former launches the “Collection, Transport and Storage of Recovered Refrigerants from Service Shop Voucher Grantees and Chiller Owners under the National CFC Phase-out Plan Project.”