# How much hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) blowing agent do polyurethane panels and fridge foam lose at the factory, in use and at disposal, under the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) tables?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/pu-panel-and-appliance-foam-hfc-loss-by-type

IPCC Table 7.7 gives HFC-245fa, HFC-365mfc or HFC-227ea losses of 5 percent in year one, 0.5 percent a year for 50 years and up to 70 percent at disposal for a continuous panel. Appliance foam is 4, 0.25 and 92.25 percent over 15 years. HFC-134a values in Table 7.6 differ.

## Table 7.7: HFC-245fa, HFC-365mfc and HFC-227ea

Percent of the original charge: first year loss, annual loss, then the maximum potential loss at end of life, with product life in years.

- Continuous panel, 50 years: 5, 0.5, 70
- Discontinuous panel, 50 years: 12, 0.5, 63
- Appliance foam, 15 years: 4, 0.25, 92.25
- Injected foam, 15 years: 10, 0.5, 82.5
- Spray foam, 50 years: 15, 1.5, 10
- Pipe-in-pipe, 50 years: 6, 0.25, 81.5

## Table 7.6: HFC-134a and HFC-152a

- Continuous panel, 50 years: 10, 0.5, 65
- Discontinuous panel, 50 years: 12.5, 0.5, 62.5
- Appliance foam, 15 years: 7, 0.5, 85.5
- Injected foam, 15 years: 12.5, 0.5, 80
- Integral skin and one-component foam lose 95 percent in the first year.

## How to read the end-of-life column

The Guidelines call the end-of-life figures "maximum potential" losses. In practice the release is spread over many years when foam stays broadly intact (particles over 8 millimetres), and a footnote says even an open auto-shredder was found to release less than 50 percent of the agent still in the foam. Release at disposal is assumed complete only where there is definite evidence. For articles such as reefers or insulated truck bodies that spend nearly all their life in transit, the Guidelines say it is reasonable to count only manufacturing and decommissioning losses.

Each row listed here adds to 100 percent (not every row printed in the table does): for the continuous panel, 5 + 50 x 0.5 + 70 = 100.

## Who sees which loss

The Guidelines place first-year loss where the foam is made or installed, and annual and decommissioning losses where the product is used. For a panel maker the first-year column is its own plant loss on our reading; the rest falls on customers and later owners. These tables cover HFC agents only.

## A continuous-line panel maker blowing 10 tonnes of HFC-245fa

- First year at the plant: 10 x 5 percent = 0.5 tonnes
- In use over 50 years: 10 x 0.5 percent x 50 = 2.5 tonnes, or 0.05 tonnes a year
- Maximum at end of life: 10 x 70 percent = 7.0 tonnes
- Total: 0.5 + 2.5 + 7.0 = 10.0 tonnes
- The same 10 tonnes as HFC-134a on Table 7.6: first year 10 x 10 percent = 1.0 tonne, twice the 245fa figure

The 10 tonnes is an example. Confirm the blowing agent and foam type from your formulation sheet.

## What Senseible does here

Senseible reads fuel invoices and electricity bills into dated records. It does not read blowing agent purchases or formulation sheets, so keep the HFC tonnes in your own sheet and add the line to your inventory.

- [Foam blowing gas: loss each year](https://senseible.earth/answers/closed-cell-foam-hfc-loss-per-year-ipcc-default)
- [Polyurethane foam sandwich panel carbon footprint](https://senseible.earth/answers/puf-sandwich-panel-carbon-footprint)
- [Refrigerator carbon footprint per unit](https://senseible.earth/answers/refrigerator-carbon-footprint-per-unit)

Sources: [IPCC 2006 Guidelines, Volume 3 Chapter 7 (Section 7.4, Tables 7.6 and 7.7)](https://www.ipcc-nggip.iges.or.jp/public/2006gl/pdf/3_Volume3/V3_7_Ch7_ODS_Substitutes.pdf)

Last reviewed 2026-11-05. Values are as printed in the 2006 Guidelines tables. The agent and foam type decide the row.