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EPA Approves Three Alternative Refrigerants to Replace Hydrofluorocarbons in Commercial and Household Freezers/First time that hydrocarbon substitutes will be widely used in the U.S.

Release Date: 12/14/2011
Contact Information: Cathy Milbourn [email protected] 202-564-7849 202-564-4355

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has added three hydrocarbons as acceptable alternatives in household and small commercial refrigerators and freezers through EPA’s Significant New Alternatives Policy (SNAP) program. EPA took action after requests from Ben and Jerry’s and General Electric, as well as A.S. Trust & Holdings, and True Manufacturing, a family-owned small business. These businesses are helping to clear the way for U.S. companies to use ozone layer-protective hydrocarbon refrigerants.

“Today’s action is a great example of how businesses and EPA can work together to protect our planet and drive innovation,” said Gina McCarthy, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation. “This action increases the options for effective, climate-friendly refrigerants in the U.S.”

Under the Clean Air Act, the SNAP program evaluates substitute chemicals and technologies for ozone-depleting substances (ODS). The three hydrocarbon refrigerants approved as acceptable substitutes, with use conditions, are propane, isobutane, and a chemical known as R-441A. These newly-approved refrigerants can be used to replace ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbon (CFC)-12 and hydrochlorofluorocarbon (HCFC)-22 in household refrigerators, freezers, combination refrigerator-freezers, and commercial stand-alone units. SNAP is unique and globally recognized as the only program designed specifically to evaluate substitutes for ODS and to focus on the industrial sectors that use them.

Replacing older refrigerants will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 600,000 metric tons by 2020, equal to the emissions from the annual electricity use of nearly 75,000 homes, and will help protect people’s health and the environment.

At the recent 23rd Meeting of the Montreal Protocol Parties, EPA and the U.S. Department of State announced that 108 countries signed a declaration to address hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). While HFCs are ODS substitutes, they are increasingly contributing to climate change. The approval of hydrocarbons in the U.S. is significant because hydrocarbons are more environmentally-friendly substitutes than HFCs.

Learn more about EPA’s globally-recognized SNAP Program and the three substitutes at: www.epa.gov/ozone/snap/