Hacker Chronicles 2/HACKER2.BIN/396.R_12_BAN.TXT

Text File | 1993-08-16 | 7KB | 121 lines

The  following  information  about  R-12  was  taken from 'The Driving
Force' a publication produced by  Valvoline Oil and distributed to ASE
certified  Master   Automobile  Technicians.  Valvoline   nor  ASE  is
responsible for the "opinion" portion.

Summer 1993 issue

Under  pressure from  the Clean  Air Act  to eliminate  production and
importation of R-12, DuPont, the  worlds largest manufacturer of R-12,
will phase  out production by  the end of  1994. At least  65% of 1993
vehicles  and  nearly  every  pre-1993  vehicle  with air conditioning
requires R-12. 150 MILLION CARS AND LIGHT TRUCKS USE R-12. THERE IS NO
"DROP IN REPLACEMENT" FOR R-12 and IT IS NOT PROBABLE THAT WE WILL SEE
ONE. Unless something is done to relax the short sighted and arbitrary
requirements of the  Clean Air Act you will have  to roll your windows
down when your air-conditioner needs  service. Auto makers are working
on recommendations to convert SOME of  the late model cars. To convert
to  the new  R-134 will  require replacing  several major  components,
hoses, flushing with R-12 (which  there won't be any!) and replacement
of O-ring  seals. Your air-conditioner  system is also  more likely to
leak due to the smaller molecular structure of R-134. Cost estimate by
industry experts:  $800.00 You know  how often estimates  by "experts"
are accurate. Cost  of R-12 has already quadrupled  but R-134 is still
several times more costly. There are as many studies that show NO link
between  the Ozone  layer and  use of  clorofluorocarbons as there are
that suggest  such a connection. While  the Clean Air Act  has a noble
title and  lofty ambitions, it  is yet another  in a series  of poorly
thought out, knee jerk reaction, short  sighted and "We'll all have to
give a little" STUPID pieces of  legislation. Of course the folks that
made  the law  won't mind   because they  also give  themselves enough
raises  to be  able to  buy new  cars and  so won't  be affected.  The
average  age of  a car  in the  US is  between 7  and 10  years. These
vehicles will either not be eligible  for conversion or it will not be
economically feasible to do so.


You may safely expect a similar fate for the R-22 that is in your home
air- conditioning system and your  refrigerator and your freezer, etc.

                              ------

Write your legislators NOW. They  don't always listen when they should
but if the owners of 150 Million cars write, WE WILL BE HEARD!


*$*$*$*$*$*$*$*$*$

More on the Freon ban:

Staying constantly aware  of our effect on the  environment just makes
sense. Any other attitude is wrong.  That's why I'm so incensed over a
book  I've just  finished entitled  The Holes  In The  Ozone Scare  by
Rogelio A. Maduro and Ralf Schauerhammer.

The  book  was  sent  to  me  by  a  friend  and engineer who has been
following this situation  for a number of years.  The topic deals with
the ozone hole that occurs  over the South Pole that environmentalists
claim  exists  because  of  the  increased  use of chloroflourocarbons
(CFCs), which are the main ingredient  in R-12 (often called Freon), a
man  made gas  used as  a  refrigerant.  According to  this theory,  a
chlorine atom released by the breakdown of CFCs is what contributes to
the depletion of the ozone layer. If this were true, then how does one
account  for  the  fact  that  the  oceans evaporate approximately 600
million  tons of  chlorine (from  the salt  compound NaCl) every year?
That's 800 times the estimated  total volume production of chlorine in
CFCs each yearly, not all of  which is evaporated into the atmosphere!
Add  to this  another 36  million  tons  of chlorine  spewed into  the
atmosphere by active volcanos, and it's  difficult to point to CFCs as
a leading cause of ozone depletion.  But this is just the beginning.

The authors also point out that CFCs are heavier than air, which makes
it  extremely difficult  for them  to reach  the upper  layers of  the
atmosphere.  Perhaps even  more important  is the  fact that the first
discovery of  the ozone hole in  the Antartic was by  scientist Gordon
Dobson  in the  early 1950s,  before the  widespread, worldwide use of
CFCs. It is  Dobson's and many other scientists'  claim that the ozone
hole occurs naturally. But best of  all is that the stratospheric hole
only  occurs  between  the  months  of  August  and November! By early
December, the  hole simply disappears!  While the authors  of the book
give their  own theories to  explain this phenomenon,  there has never
been a scientific  connection between the existence of  the ozone hole
in the Antartica  and the proliferation of the use  of CFCs! Yet it is
this connection that  so many environmentalists claim is  the cause of
man's destruction of the ozone layer.

How does this affect car owners? Consider that the replacement for CFC
refrigerants  such as  Freon (R-12)  is a  new gas  designed by DuPont
called R-134a.  According to the authors,  this new refrigerant cannot
be used in  older systems since it reacts with  the lubricants used in
R-12  refrigerants  and  becomes  highly  corrosive,  which  will very
quickly burn up your A/C compressor.  Not only that, but R-134a is not
as  efficient a  refrigerant ands  it's going  to cost  much more than
standard R-12.  So why are we  fixing something that isn't  broken? It
appears to have much to do with money.

An  international  treaty  banning  CFCs,  the  Montreal Protocol, was
signed in September 1987 and later  updated in London in 1990. The net
effect of  this treaty was  an EPA ban  on CFCs, including  halon fire
extinguisher gas, by the year  2000! What most environmentalists won't
tell you is that if the U.S. had not signed both of these treaties, we
would have been  subject to a worldwide trade  embargo that would have
been harmful  to the economy! All  for the sake of  banning a chemical
that  isn't the  Black Plague  that the  environmentalists want you to
believe.

This  is why  I'm writing  this column  now. The  more people who know
about this  fraud, the sooner  something will be  done about it.  Tell
your  friends. Write  to your  local newspaper.  Bring it  up in  your
chemistry class. But most of all, read the book. You can obtain a copy
by contacting  the publisher, 21st  Century Science Associates,  Dept.
HR02, P.O. Box 16285, Washington, D.C., 20041, 703/777-7473.

This is a very brief overview of the entire book. I hope that this has
interested you  enough to look  into this fiasco  yourself.