EPA has adopted a regulation making eco-friendly refrigeration gases legal in the US

Dec 15, 2011 09:31 GMT  ·  By

After two decades of attempts, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has finally started to annihilate the environmental threats posed by our own refrigerators.

It has succeeded in adopting a new regulation making eco-friendly refrigeration gases legal in the US, meant to replace the traditional option represented by dangerous HFCs (hydrofluorocarbons), Greenpeace informs.

HFCs have a much more harmful impact than carbon dioxide, when it comes to its contribution as greenhouse gases. Experts have warned several times that this element used in refrigerators and freezers all across the US is actually accelerating climate change.

Greenpeace has started a project aiming to get rid of HFC twenty years ago, launching the “GreenFreeze” hydrocarbon-cooled refrigerator. At that point in time, HFCs were still considered good “environmental alternatives” to replace CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons) dismissed by the Montreal Protocol, because of its major contribution in degrading the ozone layer.

Starting eight years ago, the world has welcomed more than 600 million earth-friendly green refrigerators. America was an exception, because its legal framework did not enable consumer to purchase such items.

This is where the new regulation implements changes, making the US market open to eco-conscious innovations, while giving the green light to the commercialization of GreenFreeze-style models. Experts say that almost 40% of the current household refrigerators sold worldwide use hydrocarbons instead of HFCs.

EPA's beneficial decision was influenced by three major applicants: Hawaii-based AS Trust & Holdings, GE and Ben and Jerry’s.

”This has the potential to significantly reduce the impact of refrigeration on global warming and opens the door for more solutions. We overcame a deliberate and protracted campaign of misinformation by companies who preferred the status quo—now Americans can choose green refrigeration for their homes,” explains Kert Davies, Greenpeace research director.

Improvements and new findings are encouraged both by governments and eco-groups. As nations all across the globe will start banning HFCs, developing companies will scale up their efforts to come up with risk-free alternatives.