Abstract: China has an increasingly severe energy situation. The rapid development of refrigeration and air-condition industry brings huge energy consumption and serious environmental problems. Based on energy conservation and discharge reduction, analysis of controlling and reducing energy consumption by formulating Chinas refrigeration and air-conditioning energy efficiency standards is presented. Moreover, because of ozone layer depletion and global warming, international response to environmental problems and refrigerant alternatives also are introduced. Natural refrigerants, especially CO2, will be future trends for environmental protection. Therefore, developments of CO2 refrigeration technology are introduced finally.

Key words: Energy conservation and discharge reduction, Energy efficiency standards, Natural refrigerants, Refrigerant alternatives