Cooling Down the Effects of Refrigerants

THE sense of euphoria surrounding the Kigali amendment to the Montreal Protocol has somewhat subsided now. Last October the news broke that 170 countries had successfully negotiated an amendment to the Montreal Protocol Treaty and agreed to get rid of 90% of hydrofluorocar-bons (HFCs), and it was indeed time to celebrate. HFCs typically have a global warming potential 10,000 times higher than carbon dioxide, and with this treaty 0.5oC of future global temperature rise can be avoided. Good news for those hoping to see actions taken to stop or at least slow down the rising global temperature.