Air Conditioning Fuel Consumption!

You're wrong.

There are laws regulating its USE, but it is not an illegal substance.
In the US, its perfectly legal to:

a) possess R-12 in a functioning cooling system
b) Purchase R-12 to replace refrigerant in a repaired R-12 system
provided you have the proper licenses to buy the refrigerant and perform
the service.
c) Reclaim used R-12, recycle, purify, and re-sell it provided you have
the proper licenses
d) Possess as much R-12 as you want, regardless of whether you hold a
license, if you bought it before the licensing requirements were enacted


It is not legal to:

a) Manufacture new R-12
b) Manufacture new refrigeration systems using R-12
c) vent R-12 (or any other refrigerant, for that matter) to the atmosphere
d) Buy R-12 without the correct licenses
e) etc.

 

I wouldn't worry about it. R-22 sytems, unlike R-12 systems, are
hermetically sealed and will only leak in the event a component fails.
If THAT happens, you're going to be replacing a major component
(evaporator, condensor) or the compressor has locked up anyway, so it
would make more sense to replace the unit as a whole. It is already
illegal to charge up a *known leaking* R-22 system, so having a stash on
hand is very unlikely to actually do you any good. About the only time
it might come in handy is if some accident damages a very easily
repaired part of the system, such as a suction or discharge line
connecting your outdoor condensing unit to the indoor evaporator unit.
Slim odds, indeed.