"George M. Anderson" wrote:
>
> <snip>
> As for CFC bans, that's probably a good thing, but all the evidence
> isn't in yet. It's my understanding that the ozone hole down under is
> still growing?
I've heard that NASA uses freon to cool the Space Shuttle rockets on
launch. If that is true, then a significant amount of Freon is still
being used in the US! We also don't know the lag time - time from
pollution to loss of ozone. As you said, all the evidence is not in
yet.
But the points about this negotiated ban that bug me are: once again
(like the OM-1) there was no 'grandfather' clause - people with freon
A/Cs in their cars are totally screwed. Unless, of course, they have
the money (about $2000 US) to convert their systems to the new stuff. So
who suffers from this? Why, the usual suspects - **the poor folks**.
All the money to be made off of poor folks has motivated industry to
come up with a safer product that can now be purchased at Walmart for
$32. That never would have happened if the Freon hadn't been banned.
Also, the ban is not worldwide I'm sure you know. Only the
industrialized' countries are subject to it. (I don't have the entire
list but I know it's all of Europe, plus here US and Canada.)
Most of the Freon use was in these industrialized countries.
><snip>
Course, thousands of jobs were lost here, but what the hell, global
economy and all. (After all, tell me, if the freon is gonna be made
anyway, why did the manufacturing have to shift from here to there?)
Just a passing thought.
>
I feel frustrated at times when things cost more than they used to, or
are no longer available. (My newest car is a 1987, so I couldn't even
by retrofit equipment for AC).
It's too bad industry doesn't do the best thing the first time, but
money drives Big Business. I recently read, for instance, that gene
therapy is proving quite promising at replacing defective genes for
things like Cystic Fibrosis and MS, but may not happen because it is so
inexpensive to do. I also remember how industry fought the clean air
act limiting smokestack emissions until it was discovered that the
product collected by scrubbers was worth more than the cost of the
scrubbers.
It still doesn't make my OM 1MD work any better, does it? If there were
enough commercial need, be assured we would soon have a replacement.
Gregg
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