INTERNATIONAL FIRE PROTECTION 61
CLEAN AGENTS
T
his drive to satisfy the market's need for envi-
ronmentally acceptable, clean suppression
agents has led to a number of new systems
coming onto the market since the banning of
Halon 1301 under the Montreal Protocol on
Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer in 1987.
However, many of these potential replacements
have failed to live up to expectations in environ-
mental terms, particularly since the 1997 Kyoto
Protocol on climate change established the goal of
reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
The criteria for a successful and sustainable
solution means excluding any of the greenhouse
gases identified by the Kyoto Protocol (or to give it
its full title, the Kyoto Protocol to the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change) that represent man-made interference
with the global climate system. The acceptable
solution must have a negligible impact on the
environment, insignificant global warming
potential, zero ozone depleting potential and
a low atmospheric lifetime. This is a daunting
challenge that continues to elude many fire safety
companies.
At the same time, organisations have become
ever more aware that their survival is dependant
on the performance of business critical assets, so
their protection from fire is high on the corporate
agenda. So much so that business continuity, crisis
management and disaster recovery planning are
terms with which we are all becoming increasingly
familiar. At any one time, there seems to be a
major conference taking place somewhere around
the world addressing one key issue � how to
ensure that the business survives a major disaster.
While this has always been a concern for
businesses, their increasing dependency on
communication and computer technology has
shifted the fire protection attention away from
assets generally. Today the concern is very
definitely focused on safeguarding those assets
that have the potential to debilitate or possibly
destroy the business if it falls victim to fire.
However, while the now-banned Halon 1301
By Alan Elder
EMEA Sales Director,
Tyco Fire Suppression &
Building Products
Demand
increases for
clean agents
When selecting a fire suppression system, environmental considerations and the
agent's clean credentials are now major considerations, often ranked with equal
importance to the speed and efficiency with which the agent extinguishes a fire.
So says Alan Elder, EMEA Sales Director for commercial suppression businesses
for Tyco Fire Suppression & Building Products.

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