Al Gore had interests in plumbing and one of his best friends had the patent on the freon replacement.
Now he's HUGELY invested in "alternative energy" companies. We are paying out the nose for less-effective stuff so Al Gore and his cronies can get richer. End of story.
I had to replace my central air conditioner commpressor last summer, 2010. As of 2009, it was illegal to manufacture new freon units, but it was legal to install existing units. I got a freon unit for about half the price of a replacement. The replacement would have had a much bigger footprint, so we would needed a new slab for it to stand on, the coolant isn’t compatabile with the existing heat exchanger, and the heat exchanger would have to be much larger requiring replumbing the heat exchanger. Really sucks.
It is my understanding that if the ozone layer disappeared completely (it can’t and it won’t) it would pose the same cancer risk as moving from Boston to Providence. Big whoop.