Guess what? There is another big global warming problem — and we're tackling it in a BIG way! It's the chemical gases that make your air conditioner and refrigerator cool, trapping heat and removing it from your beer or your bedroom.
Ironically, these gases, called HFCs (hydrofluorocarbons), also do a really good job of trapping heat in the atmosphere contributing to global warming, when they eventually leak out of your car, your old fridge or air conditioner.
HFCs were designed to hold heat and last a long time making them potent greenhouse gases with over 1,000 times the heat trapping power of a carbon dioxide molecule. Not good! And this problem is getting worse as more and more people around the world buy cars, refrigerators and air conditioning. If we don’t stop the rise in HFC pollution, it will wipe out a lot of the gains from clean renewable energy and other measures to stop global warming.
The history of HFCs
The Montreal Protocol ozone layer treaty just turned 20 years old. It was originally created to phase out CFCs (Chloroflourocarbon) and other ozone layer destroying chemicals. But, in their attemps to phase out CFCs, the government inadvertently created a new problem by replacing CFCs with HFCs and other global warming agents. Greenpeace has been campaigning on the ozone layer from the beginning and on this crossover ozone/climate problem for the past 15 years or more. Our work continues today as we push for accelerated phase-outs and destruction of all these hazardous gases.
HFCs were designed to hold heat and last a long time making them potent greenhouse gases with over 1,000 times the heat trapping power of a carbon dioxide molecule. Not good! And this problem is getting worse as more and more people around the world buy cars, refrigerators and air conditioning. If we don’t stop the rise in HFC pollution, it will wipe out a lot of the gains from clean renewable energy and other measures to stop global warming.
The history of HFCs
The Montreal Protocol ozone layer treaty just turned 20 years old. It was originally created to phase out CFCs (Chloroflourocarbon) and other ozone layer destroying chemicals. But, in their attemps to phase out CFCs, the government inadvertently created a new problem by replacing CFCs with HFCs and other global warming agents. Greenpeace has been campaigning on the ozone layer from the beginning and on this crossover ozone/climate problem for the past 15 years or more. Our work continues today as we push for accelerated phase-outs and destruction of all these hazardous gases.
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