綠色和平組織和冰淇淋業者Ben & Jerry's一起發表了美國第一個使用對氣候變遷無害的冰淇淋冷凍櫃。Ben & Jerry's會在波士頓和華盛頓區先嘗試性地使用這些碳氫冷凍櫃，而公司同時會向美國環保署申請大量商業使用的許可。
使用綠色冷藏技術的冷藏櫃不像一般的冷凍櫃使用氫氟碳化物，但是冷藏效果卻一樣有效，還節省10%左右的能源。
氫氟碳化物或被稱為HFC，是強力的溫室氣體，一磅的HFC對全球暖化的影響是二氧化碳的1400倍。HFC和其他氟化氣體累積起來佔了現今全球暖化17%的原因。綠色和平組織方案的主任拉金(Amy Larkin)表示，「HFC和其他氟化物是最糟糕的溫室氣體，現在其他公司也應該效法Ben & Jerry's的行動，讓對氣候無害的冰箱和其他國家一樣成為美國通用的標準。」
為了縮小南極上空的臭氧層破洞，化學產業引進了HFC以取代破壞臭氧層的二氯二氟代甲烷，不過科學家仍然警告HFC仍會造成全球暖化。
為了解決這樣的問題，綠色和平的工程師們在1992年發展了一種稱為「綠色冷藏」的技術，此技術對氣候無害，同時綠色和平組織可以免費轉移技術給需要的企業。
這個技術是由兩位科學家，德國多得蒙衛生保健研究所的羅森(Harry Rosin)教授和普來森鄧司(Hans Preisendanz)博士所發展出來的，這兩位科學家希望可以找到一個既不破壞臭氧層也不會造成全球暖化的冷卻劑，他們最後研究出的結果是由丙烷和丁烷混合而成的碳氫化合物。
綠色冷藏冰箱使用的碳氫化合物既可以用於隔離泡沫也可以用於冷卻劑上，對於臭氧層破壞和全球暖化完全沒有負面影響。
「綠色冷藏的好處在於，」普來森鄧司博士對UNEP雜誌「Our Planet」表示，「在1996年之前任何人都可以擁有這個科技，我們不能申請專利因為我們只是找到兩種已知氣體的正確比例，這個技術是完全免費而且全世界都可以使用，不論貧富也不論用途的範圍。」
「很諷刺的是，化學產業也同時在尋找CFC的替代物，但是他們只往一個方向找尋-找到一個可以申請專利的物質。」
今天，綠色冷藏技術在全球超過3億個冰箱裡使用，但是這個技術在今年之前在美國不被許可，直到美國環保署核准了Ben & Jerry's綠色冷藏裝置的試驗計畫。
綠色冷藏在日本也相當流行，而綠色和平日本的活動主辦人更因為成功遊說綠色冷藏技術的生產和使用，進而逐步淘汰了破壞臭氧的物質，贏得了2007從美國環保署所頒發的環保領袖獎。
在1990年代晚期，綠色和平組織的日本大氣分部的活動執行Yasuko Matsumoto說服日本的製造商在日本生產綠色冷藏的冰箱。
現在Ben & Jerry's是美國第一家測試環保冷媒的公司，這公司將會於今年秋天測試50台冷藏櫃，並核准了接下來幾年將會測試達2000台。
Greenpeace and Ben & Jerry's have jointly launched the first ice cream freezer using climate-friendly technology in the United States.
Ben & Jerry's will be running trials of these hydrocarbon freezers in the Boston and DC areas while the company seeks approval for widespread commercial use from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Cooled with Greenfreeze technology, these units do not use the hydrofluorocarbons used by most freezers yet they are just as effective and 10 percent more energy-efficient.
Hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, are potent greenhouse gases that, pound for pound, have 1,400 times the global warming impact of carbon dioxide, the most common greenhouse gas.
HFCs and other fluorinated gases are cumulatively responsible for 17 percent of the global warming pollution currently in the atmosphere.
"HFCs and other F-gases are the worst greenhouse gases you've never heard of," said Greenpeace Solutions Director Amy Larkin. "Now, it's up to other companies to follow Ben & Jerry's lead and make climate-safe refrigeration as standard in the United States as it is elsewhere."
In an effort to reduce the size of the annual Antarctic ozone hole, the chemical industry introduced HFCs as an alternative to ozone-destroying chemicals like Freon even though scientists warned that HFCs would still cause global warming.
To solve this problem, Greenpeace engineers developed a new climate-safe refrigeration technology known as Greenfreeze in 1992 and gave it away to any company that wanted it.
The technology was developed by two scientists, Professor Harry Rosin and Dr. Hans Preisendanz from the Institute of Hygiene in Dortmund, Germany, who were looking for a refrigerant which neither destroyed the ozone layer nor contributed to global warming. They settled on a mix of the hydrocarbons propane and butane.
Greenfreeze refrigerators use the hydrocarbons both for the blowing of the insulation foam and for the refrigerant. They are entirely free of ozone destroying and global warming chemicals.
"The beauty of Greenfreeze," Dr. Preisendanz told the UNEP magazine "Our Planet," back in 1996, "is that anyone can have the technology. It cannot be patented because all we have done is find the right mix of two existing common gases. The technology is totally free and can be used by the whole world, whether rich or poor, for a whole range of uses."
"The irony is that the chemical industry also searched for a substitute for CFCs but only in one direction - to find substances they could patent." he said.
Today, Greenfreeze technology is in use in more than 300 million refrigerators worldwide, but it was not allowed into the United States until earlier this year when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency authorized Ben & Jerry's to run a test trial of units equipped with Greenfreeze technology.
The Greenfreeze technology is also popular in Japan, and a Greenpeace Japan campaigner even won an award in 2007 from the U.S. EPA for environmental leadership in phasing out ozone depleting substances by lobbying for the production and use of Greenfreeze technology in that country.
In the late 1990s, Greenpeace Japan atmosphere campaigner Yasuko Matsumoto persuaded Japanese manufacturers to produce Greenfreeze refrigerators in Japan.
Now Ben & Jerry's has become the first company to test this environmentally friendly refrigerant in the United States. The company will test 50 freezers this fall, with approval to test up to 2,000 freezers in the next few years.
全文及圖片詳見：ENS
