Fluorocarbon Technologies: Refrigerants & Efficiency (Mary Bogden, 2026 Westford Symposium)

Mary C. Bogden is a Research Fellow (Senior Principal Scientist) at Solstice Advanced Materials, formerly Honeywell, where she develops next-generation low-GWP refrigerants and foam blowing agents. In this talk from the Westford Symposium, she walks through the chemistry and regulatory landscape behind fluorocarbon refrigerants and insulation blowing agents, covering EPA and EU rules on fully fluorinated compounds, flammability classes and refrigerant charge limits, and why spray foam loses R-value over time. She closes with a case study retrofitting a brick building with spray foam and a liquid-applied air barrier, and a challenge to the industry: stop judging a single product in isolation (her "Big Mac hypocrisy") and start looking at the whole building system.