Home › Certifications › HVAC: EPA 608 Tech Cert › Core — Ozone Depletion, Clean Air Act and Montreal Protocol
35 multiple-choice questions and 18 flashcards on Core — Ozone Depletion, Clean Air Act and Montreal Protocol, about 12% of the HVAC: EPA 608 Tech Cert bank. Every one carries a written rationale.
Core — Ozone Depletion, Clean Air Act and Montreal Protocol is one of 8 chapters in CoStudy's HVAC: EPA 608 Tech Cert bank, and it holds 35 of the bank's 300 multiple-choice questions — roughly 12% of the total. That proportion is not arbitrary: chapters follow the certifying body's published exam outline, and the number of questions in each is set by that domain's published weight, so the share of your practice time this chapter takes matches the share of the real exam it accounts for.
Studying by chapter is worth doing once you have a diagnostic score. A single overall percentage tells you whether you are close; it does not tell you which domain is dragging. Working a weak chapter in isolation, and re-testing it in isolation, is the fastest way to move a score that has stalled — and it is why the mock exams in CoStudy report by domain rather than as one number.
10 questions drawn from this chapter, with the full rationale shown — the controlling principle behind the right answer, and why each wrong option tempts and fails.
GWP stands for:
Answer: B — Global Warming Potential
A/C/D) Not industry terms. B) Correct — GWP measures heat-trapping ability vs CO₂ (CO₂=1). HFCs have high GWP; HFOs are low-GWP alternatives.
When did EPA make it illegal to vent ozone-depleting refrigerants?
Answer: B — Nov 15, 1995
A) Pre-Clean Air Act amendment. B) Correct — Section 608 venting ban took effect Nov 15, 1995. C/D) Too late.
Under the phaseout schedule, which refrigerant group was eliminated from United States production FIRST?
Answer: C — CFCs such as R-12
C) Correct — CFCs have the highest ozone depletion potential and their production ended first, in the mid-1990s. D) followed years later on a staged schedule because HCFCs deplete ozone far less. A) is being phased down now under a different law and for a different reason. B) is a replacement class and is not being phased out at all.
The stratospheric ozone layer matters to human health primarily because it does which of the following?
Answer: D — Absorbs ultraviolet radiation that would otherwise reach the surface
D) Correct — the ozone layer's protective role is absorption of ultraviolet radiation, and thinning it raises skin cancer, cataract and crop damage risk. B) describes the greenhouse effect, a separate issue that involves global warming potential rather than ozone depletion. C) describes ground-level air quality work, not the stratosphere. A) is a common mix-up; ozone is made from oxygen but is not the source of the oxygen we breathe.
Which refrigerant has the LOWEST GWP?
Answer: D — R-1234yf
A) Moderate GWP. B) High GWP (~2088). C) Mid GWP (~675). D) Correct — R-1234yf has GWP < 1, a major improvement.
Which statement about ozone depletion potential (ODP) is correct?
Answer: D — HFCs have an ODP near zero because they contain no chlorine
A) GWP uses CO2 as the reference, not ODP. D) Correct — HFCs lack chlorine and have ODP ~ 0; their environmental concern is GWP, not ozone. C) HCFC-22 ODP ~0.055 is much lower than CFC-12. B) HFOs have ODP ~ 0.
Under EPA SNAP, a 'unacceptable' substitute means:
Answer: C — Prohibited for that use because of safety, toxicity, flammability, or environmental concerns
A/B/D) Wrong. C) Correct — SNAP lists substitutes as acceptable, acceptable with conditions, or unacceptable; the latter cannot be sold for that specific end use.
A technician is asked why a leak of R-22 is treated as an ozone concern while a leak of R-410A is not. Which explanation is MOST accurate?
Answer: D — R-22 contains chlorine that can be freed in the stratosphere, while R-410A carries none
D) Correct — stratospheric ozone loss is driven by halogens, chiefly chlorine liberated by ultraviolet light; R-22 is an HCFC and carries chlorine, while R-410A is an HFC blend with none. A) tempts because heavier-than-air behavior is real near the floor, but atmospheric mixing still carries these gases upward. C) confuses operating pressure with atmospheric fate; leak pressure has nothing to do with ozone chemistry. B) reverses the facts: HCFCs are the ones partly destroyed low in the atmosphere, and HFCs are quite persistent.
Why did the phaseout treat HCFCs on a later schedule than CFCs?
Answer: D — HCFCs contain hydrogen and break down in the lower atmosphere
D) Correct — the hydrogen atom makes HCFCs vulnerable to breakdown in the lower atmosphere, so less chlorine reaches the ozone layer. A) confuses economics with the scientific basis of the schedule. B) is irrelevant since both classes are non-flammable. C) is false; HCFCs have a low but real ozone depletion potential, which is why they were phased out at all.
Universal certification is BEST described as which of the following?
Answer: C — Passing the Core section plus all three sectional examinations
C) Correct — Universal simply means the technician has passed Core and Types I, II and III. A) invents a standalone exam; there is no separate universal section. B) confuses experience requirements from other trades with this exam-based credential. D) is wrong because certification here is federal, and states do not issue it.
4 cards from the 18 in this chapter.
Name three releases that are NOT violations of the venting prohibition.
De minimis releases that occur while making good-faith recovery connections • refrigerant released after all required recovery has been performed (residual mixed with other gases) • releases of nitrogen or other non-refrigerant purge gases used in leak testing or dehydration.
What does EPA 608 certify a technician to do?
Service stationary equipment containing regulated refrigerants without illegally venting them.
SNAP Program?
Significant New Alternatives Policy — EPA evaluates and approves substitutes for ozone-depleting substances.
GWP?
Global Warming Potential — heat-trapping ability vs. CO₂ (CO₂ = 1).
These are a sample. The full Core — Ozone Depletion, Clean Air Act and Montreal Protocol chapter runs 53 items with per-chapter progress tracking, on the web and in the iOS app.
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