There are many substances with the physical properties of a refrigerant: they are liquid at room temperature under pressure but expand to a gas, absorbing heat, when pressure is released. CFCs are also safe, inert and nonpoisonous-until they reach the ionosphere, that is. The two American designs-by Whirlpool and Frigidaire-are still secret but are believed to use compounds related to CFCs with some of the same properties, but safer to the ozone. But when Harry Rosin, director of a research institute in Dortmund, set out with his colleagues to build an ozone-friendly cold-storage room, he mixed propane (better known for fueling gas barbecues) with butane (cigarette-lighter fuel). The result was a coolant whose major drawback-it could explode-was minimized by getting the quantity down to less than an ounce. With help from the worldwide environmental group Greenpeace, Rosin arranged for a factory in the former East Germany to manufacture his eco-coolers. The first model, a counter-height box without a freezer compartment, will go on sale in Germany next spring. The winning American design, meanwhile, will be announced by July and may be available in early 1994.
Now, if only there were a no-cal beer to put in it …
