How does refrigeration and air conditioning affect the climate? Why do I have to look for climate-friendly insulation material?

The answer can be found in refrigerants and foam blowing agents being used for cooling and production of foams. Starting at the beginning of the 20th century, new synthetic chemicals called chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) were used as refrigerants, aerosol propellants and foam blowing agents. These chemicals seemed to be almost perfect as they were cheap, safe and not flammable or poisonous.

But in 1974, American scientists Frank Sherwood Rowland und Mario Molina made a threatening discovery: CFCs were destroying ozone molecules in the earth`s stratosphere. These molecules form the ozone layer, creating a protective shield that absorbs particularly dangerous UV radiation. Without this layer, dangerous levels of UV radiation could directly reach the earth`s surface, causing genetic damage to the cells of people, plants and animals, thereby increasing skin cancer, eye cataracts and other diseases. Evidence of the thinning ozone layer and the discovery of an ozone hole over Antarctica resulted in a unique worldwide environmental agreement called the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer which was concluded in 1987.

Later, it was discovered that CFCs and their successors HCFCs (hydrochlorofluorocarbons) are also potent greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming and thereby accelerate climate change. Greenhouse gases are regulated under an international treaty called the Kyoto Protocol.

Proklima is assisting partner countries towards introducing and disseminating environmentally friendly technology that neither harm the ozone layer nor contribute to global warming. These technologies include natural substances such as hydrocarbons, ammonia and CO2.