godrej appliances limited (gal) has begun producing India's first refrigerator that uses hydrocarbons (hcs). The company carried out research for four years in coordination with the ministry of environment and forests and two companies based in Switzerland and Germany before launching their new product. The product was launched on January 22, 2000. "The refrigerators are chlorofluorocarbon (cfc) free. Stratospheric ozone depleting substances are not used. hfc-134a, the gas commonly used in refrigeration gas, is ozone depleting,' says Vijay Crishna, managing director of gal .

"We have started using a blend of isobutene, propane 600a and propane 290, all of them hydrocarbons, as a refrigerants for the frost-free