Environmentally
friendly refrigerators
This material was produced by the Royal Society of New Zealand (RSNZ)
under contract to the Ministry of Education in 2000 and 2001. It was written
to assist teachers and schools in their delivery of the technology/ hangarau
curriculum statements. The project was jointly coordinated by personnel
from the Technology Education New Zealand (TENZ)
and National Association of Māori Mathematicians, Scientists and Technologists
(NAMMSAT) networks. Monitoring and evaluation of the material was carried
out by a national project advisory group.
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The
news
The Christchurch Press of 29 June 2000 reported on a joint
venture between the multi national Coca-Cola company and Christchurch
based Skope Industries. The aim is to develop a large, single door,
high performance cooler which will be more environmentally friendly.
The result will be commercial refrigerators which will be free of two
types of environmentally unfriendly gases: those that add to global
warming and those that erode the Earth's ozone layer.
A Coca-Cola executive stated that, after the Athens Olympics in 2004,
his company would no longer buy cold drink equipment that used HFC's,
the gases that may enhance global warming – where cost efficient
alternatives were available.
In 1992, Skope introduced CFC-free commercial refrigerators in a joint
venture with the Danish company which manufactures the compressor units.
CFC emissions are blamed for the erosion of the earth's ozone layer.
The next stage was to remove HFC compounds from the insulating foam
in the refrigerators. Both the original manufacture of this foam and
its final disposal releases carbon dioxide gas into the environment.
The foam in most Australasian-made machines is now environmentally friendly.
The final step will be to take HFC's out of the refrigerant fluid itself.
The joint venture project will focus on replacing this with hydrocarbon
(HC) refrigerant.
In Europe HC refrigerant has been introduced in some home models but
the development of commercial refrigerators is a more difficult task.
Because of their larger size and the need for the doors to be opened
more frequently, the cooling power required is much greater.
Coca-Cola described the joint venture as a legacy of the corporations
involvement with the Sydney Olympic Games. Skope supplied refrigerators
for the games under a $2.8 million contract with Coca-Cola.
Ideas
for classroom use
This joint venture illustrates a growing awareness among manufacturers
of their environmental responsibilities. This responsibility spans the
manufacture, operating life, and eventual disposal of the products they
develop. Students could explore other examples of this type of environmentally
friendly development.
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