GREENFREEZE FROZEN OUT IN NORTH AMERICA

The North American refrigeration industry , like their European counterparts, has retooled to work with HCFC-141b and HFC -134a. However, unlike their European cousins, the North Americans are presently unwilling to make a second conversion by switching to hydrocarbons. Even some manufacturers, like Whirlpool and Electrolux, that market Greenfreeze in Europe have so far declined to do so in the North American market.

Their rationale has been that Greenfreeze technology is incompatible with the large size and automatic defrost features of North American refrigerators because of the flammability isues. However, the larger European Greenfreeze models, with no frost features, demonstrate that these technological obstacles are in essence an excuse for a bad business decision.

The future of 'Greenfreeze' in North America will ultimately be decided by the consumers. North American consumers are just as sophisticated and environmentally conscious as their European counterparts. Soon the major manufacturers will realize that a domestic 'Greenfreeze' refrigerator offers huge market potentials in North America, just as it has in other parts of the world.