The Refrigerant Revolution:
Cooling Buildings ... But Warming the Earth?

The internationally sanctioned phaseout of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) is causing an unprecedented pace of change and innovation in the refrigeration industry. The old standby refrigerants no longer make the grade. These ozone-depleting chemicals are now well on their way to being contained—1995 global production of CFCs was down 76% from its 1988 peak, according to the Worldwatch Institute. Yet a problem that is potentially even more troublesome—global warming—looms ever larger on the horizon. Most refrigerants are themselves greenhouse gases, and they are used in refrigeration and cooling systems that are huge electricity consumers—associated with a whopping 23% of all electrical generation capacity in U.S., according to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s Center for Building Science.

...

To read the complete article, please login below.

BuildingGreen.com