A Companion to the Philosophy of Technology

The Area of the HFC Gases

In the early 1980s it became technically and financially possible to develop substitutes for CFC gases that did not harm the ozone layer. Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), consisting of hydrogen, fluorine and carbon, quickly became a popular substitute for CFC gases. The great advantage of HFC compounds was that they were safe and efficient working fluids, like CFC gases, and could be used in more or less the same systems, but did not affect the ozone layer. HFC gases soon became the dominant working fluid in refrigeration systems. But, like CFC, HFC was a very powerful greenhouse gas, and the refrigeration industry was under continual international pressure to find new and more environmentally friendly products. The quest for the ultimate refrigeration system was not yet over.