US Refrigerants a Big Contributor to Climate Change

The refrigeration industry in the United States and some other countries is a major contributor to the causes of climate change—and not just because refrigerators consume a hefty amount of electricity. Unbeknownst to the majority of refrigerator owners, most of these machines sold in the US make use of refrigerant compounds known as HFCs and HCFCs, which are potent greenhouse gases. According to Greenpeace, HFC and HCFC gases carry 1,400 times as much global warming potential as carbon dioxide, and are responsible 17% of the climate change felt on a global level. Though largely overlooked in most discussions of climate change, transforming the refrigeration industry in countries that still use these gases may turn out to be an important tool for combating climate change.

HFCs and HCFCs were introduced on a wide scale as refrigerants in 1992, as a replacement for CFCs, or chlorofluorocarbons—which are highly damaging to the planet's ozone layer. Yet making the refrigerating industry earth-friendly turned out not to be as simple as eliminating CFCs. In fact HCFCs also deplete the ozone layer, only not as much as CFCs. Both HCFCs and HFCs are also major contributors to climate change. Greenpeace has been campaigning for their elimination ever since the introduction of these compounds to the market. And while the Greenpeace campaign has been highly successful in Europe and Asia, it is only just now beginning to gain major traction in the United States.

Way back in 1992, Greenpeace helped invent and began marketing refrigerators that run not on CFCs, HFCs, or HCFCs, but on compounds known as hydrocarbons. Hydrocarbons do not harm the ozone layer, and don't make any significant contribution to climate change. As if that weren't reason enough to embrace this technology, hydrocarbon-run refrigerators also perform more efficiently and so can be expected to consume less energy while running. The machines, sometimes known as GreenFreeze refrigerators, have been widely accepted in European and Asian markets; each of the major refrigerator manufacturers in China, Japan, India, and Europe now makes climate-friendly GreenFreeze refrigerators.

In the United States however, the spread of GreenFreeze technology has ironically been held up by lack of approval from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In this country, the process for approving new compounds to replace ozone-depleting substances has long been so complex and time consuming that few companies have made the effort to seek approval for hydrocarbon refrigerants. This has put environmental groups, which normally tend to be the ones asking for greater oversight of new chemicals, in the position of actually advocating for a more streamlined refrigerant approval process.

Fortunately, it may soon become easier for GreenFreeze refrigerators to make it in the US market. Greenpeace reports that the EPA has recently drafted a new rule to allow GreenFreeze technology to be sold in the United States. The rule still needs to be finalized, and the public comment period ends on July 9th of this year. Greenpeace is therefore encouraging climate advocates to submit a comment in support of the draft rule.

Ultimately HFCs and HCFCs are less important contributors to climate change than carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels like oil, coal, and natural gas. Yet if Greenpeace is right that 17% of the effects of climate change we're feeling today is due to these compounds, then their elimination should be a relatively easy way to take a piece out of climate change. While technological solutions to fossil fuel dependence are complex and time-consuming to implement, GreenFreeze technology exists today and could theoretically be deployed quite quickly. The EPA should finalize the new rule on GreenFreeze refrigerators as quickly as possible, and bring the US refrigerator industry up to the same environmental standard as much of the rest of the world.

Photo credit: CleanTechnica.com