Today in History – February 21, 1994 -  Whirlpool begins production of refrigerators without freon.

In the 1930s, refrigerators began to use freon as a refrigerant. However, the use of freon became an environmental concern once it was identified as a ozone-depleting chemical. Fortunately, household appliance manufacturers have since switched to a different refrigerant, HFC-134a, which has no ozone depleting properties.

For more information, see the  Engineering Pathway’s resources on refrigerator design and global warming. For related educational resources, visit the the  Mechanical Engineering Education, Environmental Engineering Education and the Green Design community sites.