A well-intentioned coolant fix produced a worse climate problem

Evidence

One example of high consumption involves unintentional adverse environmental effects. The coolants that had long been used in air condition-ers were destroying the ozone layer, which blocks carcinogenic ultraviolet rays. A substitute coolant spared the ozone layer—but turned out to be an enormously more powerful agent of global warming than carbon dioxide (Rosenthal & Lehren, 2012b). The populations of India and China are understandably installing home air-conditioning at a rapid pace. Alarmed climate scientists estimate that over a quarter of projected global warming will be due to the coolant gases by midcentury. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 2927

Categorization

• CANDY: A neat, self-contained irony about the AC coolant swap — good conversational fact.