The University of Notre Dame is part of a new National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center called EARTH.
EARTH stands for Environmental Applied Refrigerant Technology Hub. Led by the University of Kansas, EARTH will bring together 80 institutions and researchers from an array of disciplines. Notre Dame, the University of Maryland, the University of Hawai'i, the University of South Dakota and Lehigh University will serve as core university partners.
All partners will collaborate around a shared goal: creating a sustainable refrigerant economy.
Currently, most of the air-conditioning and refrigeration systems used to preserve foods, store medicines and cool buildings rely on hydrofluorocarbons. Hydrofluorocarbons are greenhouse gases. They account for nearly 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
The U.S. and 170 other countries are phasing down hydrofluorocarbons. This creates a challenge to responsibly and sustainably replace billions of kilograms of refrigerants.
“A warming world combined with rising incomes around the world means that globally, we’re adding air conditioners at a rapid rate,” said Jennifer Schaefer, Notre Dame professor, in a press release. “Over 3 billion people live in some of the hottest places on Earth, and only 8% currently have air conditioning.”
Schaefer added that we’ll likely see 10 new air conditioners sold every second over the next 30 years. She will serve as Notre Dame’s lead in the search to find alternative solutions to meet demand without contributing to ecological harm.”
Notre Dame researchers will work to develop new, more economical ways to separate hydrofluorocarbons to reuse or recycle them. They also will aim to achieve safer refrigerants that do not negatively affect Earth’s atmosphere. Researchers will also work to pioneer technologies that will increase the energy efficiency of refrigeration systems to reduce the electricity demand on the grid.
“Refrigeration might not be the first thing that comes to mind as we think about protecting the environment, but it is a critical energy sustainability challenge, and we are grateful to the National Science Foundation for supporting innovation in this area,” Schaefer said.
For Schaefer, EARTH’s approach aligns with the university’s mission and priorities.
“Notre Dame’s new strategic framework asks us to draw the connections between the social and environmental dimensions of climate change,” Schaefer said. “That is exactly what the holistic, interdisciplinary approach embodied in EARTH is seeking to do.”
