by Shane Henson — December 26, 2011—Greenpeace, an international organization that prioritizes global environmental campaigns, is pleased that its calls for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to make green refrigerants legal in the United States have finally been heard.
The EPA, through its Significant New Alternatives Policy (SNAP) Program, recently issued a rule making greener refrigeration gases legal in household refrigerators and some commercial freezers. The rule legalizes the hydrocarbons propane, isobutane, and a chemical known as R-441A as refrigerants.
Currently, refrigerators and freezers in the United States contain hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), which are thousands of times more potent greenhouse gases than carbon dioxide, pound for pound, according to Greenpeace. HFCs are responsible for a significant and growing portion of global warming. However, as Greenpeace has consistently argued, natural refrigeration solutions such as the ones the EPA has legalized exist today.
Beyond the push from Greenpeace to make greener refrigeration gases legal, the EPA was also motivated by the efforts of three main applicants.
- The approved alternative R-441A, a blend of hydrocarbon gases was developed by AS Trust & Holdings, a small business based in Hawaii.
- GE is introducing a household refrigerator to the U.S. market using isobutane gas as the refrigerant.
- Ben and Jerry’s submitted its application and testing data to deploy propane-cooled ice cream freezers like the ones Unilever already uses in Europe and elsewhere.
- GE is introducing a household refrigerator to the U.S. market using isobutane gas as the refrigerant.
Companies that manufacture hydrocarbon-cooled refrigerators worldwide include Bosch, Haier, Panasonic, LG, Miele, Electrolux, Whirlpool, and Siemen.
