Is Refrigerant the Key to Finding Life on Other Planets?

I saw an article pop up on my newsfeed this morning from the Atlantic. The premise of the article is the on-going search for intelligent life outside of our planet. Is there life out there, if so is it intelligent, or is it a basic primal type of life? It’s a question humanity has been asking for hundreds of years.

Since we can’t travel too well in space, yet, scientists have been brainstorming on how to detect life in other planets from afar. During the brainstorm session one astronomer, Lisa Kaltenegger, suggested that when looking for intelligent life on a planet we should look for excessive amounts of refrigerants (CFC/HCFC refrigerant.) in that planet’s atmosphere. If that planet’s atmosphere is as damaged as ours is from our constant use of refrigerants than it very well may be a telltale sign that there is intelligent life on the planet… and that they like their food and drinks chilled.

It’s a genius idea when you think about it. IF there is intelligent life out there it only makes sense that they would be using forms of refrigerant as well to keep their products cold. Yes, I know this isn’t necessarily about the refrigerant industry or trends but I had to write something on it after reading it. I’ve always been amazed at the possibilities of outer space and what better way to tie two hobbies together than the search for alien life?