After a summer of scorching temperatures, blazing wildfires, and alarming floods, climate change has never felt more real. Now, in a major step toward reaching its goal of slashing carbon emissions by half by 2030, the Biden Administration is taking aim at your refrigerator and air conditioner, more specifically, hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). 

Primarily used as a cooling agent, HFCs, which are also used in foams, are a crucial component of both the commercial and domestic food industries. Think fleets of semis trucking garlic and cauliflower from California to Idaho in July, tons of seafood arriving daily on each coast from Japan and Vietnam, warehouses stacked full of frost-crusted cartons, aisles of gleaming cold cases in supermarkets, and of course, the fridge humming away in your kitchen.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has just released a rule mandating that HFC usage will be slashed by 85 percent over the next 15 years. The remaining 15 percent, mostly involving critical functions in the medical field, would be allowed to continue.

The change will result in reductions of more than 4.5 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent by 2050, according to a White House fact sheet, a total similar to three years of emissions from the U.S. power sector. The rule makes “today’s announcement one of the most consequential climate actions taken by the federal government in years,” says the White House.

The fact that HFCs are a significant driver of greenhouse gas emissions may come as news to some. Formulated in the late 80’s, these man-made gases were intended to be a more eco-friendly alternative to ozone-destroying chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), the standard at the time.

But in the early 2000s, researchers noticed that while HFCs weren’t depleting the ozone layer, they’re anything but a benign presence. In fact, while HFCs make up a small amount of greenhouse gases, they are thousands of times more powerful than carbon dioxide. It’s why HFCs are frequently referred to as super greeenhouse gases.

Challenging the HFC juggernaut isn’t going to be easy, and it won’t happen quickly. The industry most affected by the reductions is the food sector. The EPA rule will allocate HFC usage for food industry companies per year, and lower allocations lowered in each subsequent year. The thinking is that this will give companies time to develop and refine other eco-friendly refrigeration technologies while holding them to an aggressive, reduction-oriented goal. 

Any meaningful changes to the way we store and refrigerate food will take place on an industrial scale, but it’s still possible for consumers to participate in lowering HFC usage.

Tips for using your refrigerator efficiently mostly involves finding ways to prevent the cooling system from working too hard. And a plus: You’ll lower your energy bills.

Open and shut the door quickly. Try to have a game plan in mind when you open your fridge. If you know what you’re looking for, you’ll eliminate the need to stand in front of the open fridge and wait for inspiration to strike. This prevents your cooling system from cranking into high gear. 

Take out the ingredients you need all at once. This is useful whether you’re prepping for a meal, or cleaning up. This allows the fridge to stay at a more constant temperature.

Allow leftovers to cool before refrigerating them. Putting hot or even warm items in the refrigerator raises the temperature overall, and forces the fridge to work harder to stay cool. 

Buy an energy-efficient fridge. If you’re in the market for a new refrigerator, consider buying a more efficient one. Samsung, GE, and LG are in the early phases of producing and rolling out low-HFC refrigerators.

But refrigerators are already being produced with design features meant to maximize energy efficiency, including transparent doors, insulated inner compartments, and engineered door seals. Check out the black and yellow “Energy Guide” label specific to each refrigerator, as well as online ratings, to make sure that you’re getting the most energy-efficient refrigerator for your budget.

Josie Braaten is a Stone Pier Press News Fellow based in Sunnyvale, CA.

RELATED ARTICLES

How to Buy Carbon Offsets

11 Ways to Cool Off Without Cooking the Planet

Here’s One of the Most Powerful Actions You Can Take to Curb Global Warming

BOOKS