Posted on 07/03/2008 7:34:00 AM PDT by Babu
A gas used in the making of flat screen televisions, nitrogen trifluoride (NF3), is being blamed for damaging the atmosphere and accelerating global warming.
Almost half of the televisions sold around the globe so far this year have been plasma or LCD TVs.
But this boom could be coming at a huge environmental cost.
The gas, widely used in the manufacture of flat screen TVs, is estimated to be 17,000 times as powerful as carbon dioxide.
Ironically, NF3 is not covered by the Kyoto protocol as it was only produced in tiny amounts when the treaty was signed in 1997.
Levels of this gas in the atmosphere have not been measured, but scientists say it is a concern and are calling for it to be included in any future emissions cutting agreement.
Professor Michael Prather from the University of California has highlighted the issue in an article for the magazine New Scientist.
He has told ABC's The World Today program that output of the gas needs to be measured.
"One of my titles for this paper was Going Below Kyoto's Radar. It's the kind of gas that's made in huge amounts," he said.
"Not only is it not in the Kyoto Treaty but you don't even have to report it. That's the part that worries me."
He estimates 4,000 tons of NF3 will be produced in 2008 and that number is likely to double next year.
"We don't know what's emitted, but what they're producing every year dwarfs these giant coal-fired power plants that are like the biggest in the world," he said.
"And it dwarfs two of the Kyoto gases. So the real question we don't know is how much is escaping and getting out."
Dr Paul Fraser is the chief research scientist at the CSIRO's marine and atmospheric research centre, and an IPCC author.
He says without measuring the quantity of NF3 in the atmosphere it is unclear what impact it will have on the climate.
"We haven't observed it in the atmosphere. It's probably there in very low concentrations," he said.
"The key to whether it's a problem or not is how much is released to the atmosphere."
I'm sure the researcher got some nice fat goobermint grants to come up with that conclusion.
Tech Ping
This is not a joke.
Geez. Will Al Gore give up his big screen TV? Of course not, he will just buy more carbon credits.
Cry me a fookin’ river!
Just another example of how they’d like to reduce our lifestyle and are using the global warming scam as a cover.
Point to ponder....why has global COOLING arrived with the increased amount of plasma/flat-screen TV’s? HMMMMMMM???
-- Agent Smith character in the movie The Matrix
I bet Arnold and Al Gore have several huge TVs like this (that they leave on all night).
Global Cooling : Restrain the American Economy
Global Warming : Restrain the American Economy
Climate Change : Restrain the American Economy
A byproduct of production that no one has even measured yet in the atmosphere : Restrain the American Economy
I'm starting to sense a pattern here...
“Signed in 1997”? Um, no!
More crapola from the nut fringe....Congress adds to global warming more than any TV does.
For the math and intellectualy-challenged out there, as a public service, I would like to remind them that 17,000 times zero is zero.
Now, Nitrogen, that's a potential world-killer!
Just saying...
Just another example of how they’d like to reduce our lifestyle and are using the global warming scam as a cover.
The Left won’t be happy until we are reduced to telling stories around a camp fire - but without the camp fire. What would that be? 1,000,000 years ago?
More liking he’s trying to get funding by creating an “issue that needs further study”. We’ve gone from the “______ believed to cause cancer” to “______ believed to contribute to global warming” fund raising effort.
When ever I get plugged up I eat a jar of sauerkraut that does the trick. Warning Warning danger.
“In the interest of ‘fairness’”
as Bambi puts it.
GlowBULL Warm-Mongering..........
Another potential James Hansen. Keep your eyes on this guy.
Another scientific loose cannon is all we need.
The most important greenhouse gases are:
1. water vapor, which causes about 36–70% of the greenhouse effect on Earth. (Note clouds typically affect climate differently from other forms of atmospheric water.)
2. carbon dioxide, which causes 9–26%
3. methane, which causes 4–9%
4. ozone, which causes 3–7%
They are ALL naturally occuring. Without the first two, all life on this planet would end. Particularly 'green'life.
Man-made global warming is the biggest crock of crap ever.
So they pick two chemicals way at the bottom of the list of chemicals and claim that NF3 "dwarfs" them. Statistics might not lie, but hit them with a cattle prod enough you'll get them to say what you want them to.
Jesus, how stupid are we going to get. I have no issues being aware of chemical use, but for “greenhouse” effect? Are you kidding me.
The number one greenhouse “gas” is WATER VAPOR, nothing else remotely comes close. It is is responsible for well over 90% of all solar radiation trapping.. I suppose we need to sue God to end the water cycle.
Idiots.
Yeah, I’m starting to miss the days when everything gave you cancer. BTW are eggs good for you this week?
Why do I think we can keep our TV and the Feds will charge us a special fee for flatscreens.....billable monthly via your power company and because of the new digital thing..they can likely monitor use...
BTW are eggs good for you this week?
only on days that have a T in them..all other days, they’re bad for you.
Ah crap I gotta buy my flat screen television before the envirowhackos ban them.
Unfortunately I don’t have the cash or space to stock televisions next to my freon and light bulbs.
They can have my 50” plasma when they tear the remote from my cold, dead hands.
"We don't know what's emitted, but what they're producing every year dwarfs these giant coal-fired power plants that are like the biggest in the world," he said.
"And it dwarfs two of the Kyoto gases. So the real question we don't know is how much is escaping and getting out."
LMAO 4,000 tons is equivalent to a single ant's crap pile on planet earth.
But that doesn't stop a global warming alarmist from ringing the sky is falling bell.
Likewise carbon dioxide, which is NOT a "deadly gas" but a natural element essential to all life on earth, which is present naturally in the atmosphere at varying rates, from 200 parts per BILLION to 700 parts per BILLION over the centuries, is a tiny wee portion of our atmosphere. The part claimed to be made by man is a tiny part of those numbers, about 001%, or about 1 to 7 parts per BILLION.
Worse, North America only accounts for 20% of that 7 parts, those countries EXCLUDED from the Kyoto accord produce the rest.
Yet, these crooks, the unelected, wanna be global government nut jobs that inhabit the UN, and their traitorous supporters within our own government want to destroy life and freedom as we know it, and not only enslave us all through excessive taxation, but control every aspect of our daily lives, just like Islam does in turd world countries in the ME.
Wake Up America for God's sake!
Looks like China is making a move on the Plasma TV market, and wants to push everybody else out.
Grant Whore Ping!
Sweet setup. One screen for FR, one for Hot Air, and one for Iowahawk! That’s livin!
Lies will circle the globe several times before the truth puts her boots on.
Reminds me of the clock, which was running two hours fast at my dentist's the other day.
When I pointed it out, one of the sharper receptionists looked at it and quipped, "That's the right time... somewhere!"
BS packaged in a crock !!
Those glow-Bull- worm-ring "scientists" at the Un still haven't discovered that when it's overcast at night, we loose far less solar radiation heat than when the sky is clear.
You'd think they would especially notice this at the north pole where they are doing all this "research" on global warming. All solar radiation heat is lost within a hour or two after the sun disappears below the horizon on a clear night up there. It certainly proves that no amount of CO2 in the atmosphere up there prevents the rapid escape of solar radiation to space, Only water vapor does.
Cool! I’ve done my part. Got my 52 incher at Christmastime.
All the better to see the bright blue eyes of James Marsden.
And let me tell you, when Iron Man comes out on DVD, I may not leave the house for a week!
Well, it's the first week of the month, meaning it's an odd week, so no. Eggs are bad. Don't eat them.
Next week, however is an even week so they're OK then.
No thanks needed - just glad to help a fellow FReeper keep on track of the health recommendations by the anointed!
OK, multiply the 4000 tons by the 17000 “worse” factor. You get 68 million tons of CO2 equivalent.
The total mass of atmospheric carbon dioxide is 3.0×10^15 kg (3000 gigatonnes) (thanks, wikipedia). That’s four million times the CO2 equivalent of this TV gas.
(alternate rendition)
I have a 5 screen 17’ ea setup, but they are LCD’s so environmentally friendly........right?
Would you please not use our Lords’holy name like that. I know some people have developed a habit of doing that but I would appreciate it,especially here on free-republic,if you wouldn’t use the Lords’ name in such a manner. Thank you
You’re just not paying attnetion are you.
So, let's see... that's equivalent 68 million tons of CO2.
Americans produced 20 metric tons CO2 per capita in 2004 (as opposed to nearly 70 in Qatar!), so this is the output of about 3 to 4 million Americans, or 1% of our population. And that's for the entire world's consumption...
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