A team from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa is tackling the climate challenge posed by refrigrants.
The National Science Foundation announced on Aug. 21 that the University of Hawai‘i and five other universities have been awarded $26 million to establish a fourth generation National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center to create sustainable refrigerant technology.
The new National Science Foundation Gen-4 Engineering Research Center Environmentally Applied Refrigerant Technology Hub, or ERC EARTH, aims to create a transformative “sustainable refrigerant lifecycle” by lowering hydrofluorocarbon emissions; creating safe, property-balanced replacement refrigerants; and increasing the energy efficiency of HVACR systems.
Ralf I. Kaiser, Project Lead believes it is fitting that the University of Hawai‘i team, which includes four professors in addition to Kaiser himself is playing an important role in the project.
“Hawaiʻi is increasingly vulnerable to global warming and its impacts, including more frequent and severe weather extremes and sea level rise,” Kaiser said.
You can learn more here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kL_lQU-NEfE
Kawerau, 20 March 2026 – A high-tech plasma torch was lit up today as Minister of Conservation, Hon Tama Potaka, officially opened the $10 million National Refrigerant Destruction Facility.
1 January 2026 marks a major step forward for vocational education in New Zealand, with ten regionally governed polytechnics and eight new Industry Skills Boards officially beginning operation, Vocational Education Minister Penny Simmonds says.
