We don't need CFCs for refrigeration. We had an excellent refrigerant before freon. There is absolutely no question about any possibility of it attacking the ozone layer, or doing any other damage to the environment. It is natural. It has existed since long before duPont, humans, or any life on the planet, or the planet itself. It is easy to manufacture at low cost. It is far more efficient* than CFCs as a refrigerant. Indeed, it was used as a refrigerant before duPont "sold us a bill of goods". Have you guessed that I am referring to . . . ammonia? Before you say "But it's poisonous! In certain proportions it is explosive! What if it leaks?", let me continue. Don't let it leak! And design safeguards into the systems. Ammonia absorption refrigerators ARE being manufactured, in the US and abroad. If you're still concerned about hazards, ask yourself about all the other hazardous materials we use everyday. What about that extremely flammable, explosive one we literally can't get around without? Gasoline. We engineer safeguards (often grudgingly) so we can use hazardous materials with minimal risks.

I have been seriously interested in refrigeration since a survivalist author wrote that refrigeration is the last "luxury" he'd be willing to give up. Been fascinated by ammonia absorption ever since I was a kid. We used to visit friends in Bronx, NY who had a Servel gas refrigerator. I asked my father about it. He was a Registered Professional Engineer who specialized in Heating, Ventilating and Air Conditioning. "There's a lot of adults I couldn't explain it to." [Gee, thanks, Dad.] In a way I'm sorry he's gone because there's a lot he could tell me, but he'd have to overcome his "Nobody's ever tried that so why should I think about it" attitude. Hundreds of years ago mobs would have burned anyone at the stake who could produce cold from heat. Some still would.

I asked one refrigeration repairman about them. "Never had any trouble with them. Wonder why they don't make them any more?" "Maybe that's why" "Hmmm. Yeah"

Ammonia absorption refrigeration has something else going for it. It doesn't require electricity, the most expensive kind of power. It uses what is probably the cheapest form of power: heat. ANY kind of heat, such as solar, without going thru the inefficiency of photovoltaics. In the winter, some heat from a wood stove can be diverted. Or a heat pipe will passively send unwanted heat from inside the unit to outside the house.

Once upon a time, I lived in a small apartment in the rotting Big Apple (New York City) with only a few essentials. My monthly electric bill from Con Edison Monopoly was for about 125 (that's one hundred and twenty-five, in case there's a typo) kilowatt hours per month. MOST of that was for an ordinary, NON-frostfree refrigerator. Appliance manufacturers put the compressor at the bottom, so that the heat goes up into the refrigerator. More insulation would mean less energy required.

A friend added a one inch liner of rigid polystyrene foam to the inside of an ordinary refrigerator and was able to use it as a freezer. Manufacturers boast about using new, highly efficient insulation, and then use less of it. Why? Look in the mirror. It's the fault of everyone who buys their products. People want "conveniences". If they demand efficient products, and boycott inefficient ones, manufacturers would produce efficient products. The Free Market, and not the Government, could solve this, and most of our problems.

*"Due to its high latent heat value of 555 Btu/lb, large refrigerating effects are possible with relatively small sized machinery." Audel's Manual 1953 edition. Compare this figure to F12's 50 Btu/lb and F22's 69 Btu/lb. The evaporating pressure, condensing pressures, operating cost per ton, and vapor density are all excellent or the best. Only the vapor volume is large and less than ideal. The Refrigeration Data Book 4th Ed..

As for home, office and factory air conditioning, we wouldn't need it with earth-sheltered construction. A few feet underground, it's 50 - 55 degrees Fahrenheit year-round. The heat produced by people and machinery would be adequate.

As for auto air conditioning, in warm weather, I'd rather ride a motorcycle. An air conditioner is just something else in the way when someone has to work on the car.

As for using CFCs as solvents, we've already found economical, natural, organic, environment-friendly substitutes.

As for Consumer Reports . . .

Hello Consumer Reports Editors:

I am disappointed by your articles about refrigerators. How can you ignore the FACT that thicker insulation would reduce energy consumption? Insulation twice as thick should reduce power consumption by almost half (depending on how often and how long it is opened). Manufacturers don't even give people this option. Instead they offer all sorts of "bells and whistles". You don't even tell people this FACT and that is irresponsible of you. Never mind: "People don't want thicker walled refrigerators." At least let them know about it and let them choose for themselves.

Do you inform readers that the size in cubic feet is the outside size and not the capacity? This is another way the manufacturers commit fraud.

Your "engineers" remind me of the closed-minded dolts I wasted time in school with: incapable of innovating or even suggesting. It should be a simple matter to build an absorption refrigerator which runs off free heat - such as that available from the sun. "That's not our department; the magazine is Consumer Reports. They don't exist, so we're not even going to mention the idea".

I suppose what I'll have to do is watch your upcoming articles' titles and anticipate all the omissions and errors you'll make and write you before you make them.

I know: I'm nasty. But I don't seem to get anywhere by being nice. Don't bother to send me one of your standard form letters.

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I have a . . . hope. (If I said "I have a dream", we all know who everyone would think of.) I would like to manufacture the most efficient refrigerator. Yes, I know about Sunfrost®. I think we can do even better. Anyone else interested?