EIGHT-
PENNY
NEWS VOLUME 12 • NUMBER 2 NOVEMBER 1993
Manufacturers of the two
main types of rigid foam insulation
used in the U.S. construction
industry have
eliminated their use of ozoneeating
chlorofluorocarbons
(CFCs) ahead of schedule,
beating government-mandated
deadlines by more than
two years. Today, according to
Jean Lupinacci of EPA's
Global Change Division, all
US-made polyisocyanurate
and extruded polystyrene
foams are CFC-free.
That's the good news. The
bad news is that the chemicals
used to replace CFCs in
foam have their own environmental
drawbacks. Although
the new blowing agents
greatly reduce foam's impact
on the ozone layer, they still
contribute to ozone depletion
and global warming — so
much so that EPA wants to
phase them out over the next
few decades.
Unfortunately, foam
makers haven't been able to
identify