The Chemical Keeping Your Fridge Cold Just Got Banned; Here's What Happens Next

There's a chemical in nearly every building, car, and grocery store in America and the world just agreed to phase it out. On this episode of The Disruption Lab, host Kevin McGinnis sits down with Tony and Casey from EARTH, an NSF Engineering Research Center led by the University of Kansas, to unpack the massive, mostly invisible transition happening in refrigerants and cooling technology. They dig into why 90% of refrigerants leak into the atmosphere, why the industry is racing toward a 2029 supply cliff, and why captured refrigerant has become one of the most smuggled substances in the country. Along the way, Tony and Casey explain how a consortium of universities and industry giants like Chemours, Carrier, and Trane are working to close the gap between lab discovery and market impact, and what it will actually cost consumers when their AC breaks down. It's a conversation about climate policy, supply chains, and innovation infrastructure hiding in plain sight.