New greenhouse gas threat: and you thought CO2 was bad for the earth's climate! [Oh, the irony]

All Business ^ | March 1, 2009 | Docksai, Rick

[smokingfrog]

What do solar panels and global warming have in common?

The answer: Both are produced with nitrogen trifluoride ([NF.sub.3]), a gas that is 17,000 times more effective than carbon dioxide at trapping atmospheric heat, according to geochemistry professor Ray Weiss and a team of researchers at the University of California--San Diego Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

Weiss and his team expect [NF.sub.3] to become a bigger problem in the near future because it is used in the manufacturing of three highly popular products: LCD televisions, computer circuits, and thin-film solar cells.

"There is a little irony in that, because thin-film solar is one of the ways we hope to reduce the fossilfuel impact," says Weiss.

Weiss's study found an [NF.sub.3] concentration of 0.02 parts per trillion in the atmosphere in 1978 and 0.454 parts per trillion in 2008. While it is now responsible for only 0.04% of human-induced global warming compared with the 60% attributable to [CO.sub.2] emissions, its share could increase exponentially. The report notes that [NF.sub.3]'s atmospheric presence is growing by 11% a year.

United Nations officials share Weiss's concerns. In 2008, the UN's Framework Convention on Climate change added [NF.sub.3] to a list of gases that the Kyoto Protocol should regulate. The Kyoto Protocol, which is due to be succeeded by a new climate treaty in 2012, currently sets no official limit on [NF.sub.3].

According to the UNFCC, manufacturers use [NF.sub.3] as a "chamber-cleaning gas" in production processes to clean unwanted buildups on microprocessor and circuit parts as they are being constructed. A gas called hexafluoroethane, which Kyoto does regulate, used to corner this market, but [NF.sub.3] became a strong competitor due to its lower costs and its absence from the Kyoto Protocol...

[smokingfrog]

Drill here, drill now. Where do you think all the energy is going to come from to manufacture the solar cells that all these greenies seem to love. Or are we going to export that to China as well?

[Gator113]

So, dump your computer, shut off the tv and get out and drive to save the world.

Sign behind my desk: IT’S THE HUMANS, STUPID

[Gator113]

I mean, all these problems would be solved if we just got rid of more humans, so lets start with the libs.

[DuncanWaring]

They’re not human.

[WorkerbeeCitizen]

We’re all gunna die.

No mention of how NF3 reacts when it’s introduced to other chemicals for instance, does it break down to basic elements when it reacts or does it form more complex compunds?

It’s been along time since I finished college chemistry but I would imagine NF3 does not remain intact for long.

[paulycy]

If we installed hundreds of thousands of square miles of solar paneling, wouldn’t all the heat accumulated in then radiated from those miles of dark panels heat things up much more than the current level of CO2 can retain?

Maybe an engineer or scientist FReeper can figure this out based on how many square miles of solar panels we’d need to replace even 10% of our national fossil fuel generated electricity.

[steelyourfaith]

 

Beam me to Planet Gore !

[samtheman]

when they successfully herd us into caves and take our lights away, they’ll come out with a study that feeding us is bad for the planet

[AntiKev]

Nitrogen tetrafluoride.

Industrial applications involving NF3 routinely break it down as it is used, whereas the regulated compounds SF6 and PFCs are typically released.

NF3 is a rare example of a binary fluoride that cannot be prepared directly from the elements (i.e., N2 does not react with F2). Almost all other elements in the periodic table react directly, often violently, with fluorine.

Nitrogen trifluoride is used in the plasma etching of silicon wafers. In this application NF3 is broken down into nitrogen and fluorine gases in situ, and the resulting fluorine radicals are the active cleaning agents that attack the polysilicon.

Basically it breaks down for the most part. Unless you react it with metals at high temperatures, then it becomes an oxidizer used for rocket fuel.

[McGavin999]

OK, so how much damage have these darned eco-nuts done to the planet. First there was the gas additive, and then windmills killing the birds, and now this.

Want to save the earth? Get rid of the liberals

[steve-b]

Nuclear Now.

[SunkenCiv]

What do solar panels and global warming have in common? The answer: Both are produced with nitrogen trifluoride ([NF.sub.3]), a gas that is 17,000 times more effective than carbon dioxide at trapping atmospheric heat, according to geochemistry professor Ray Weiss and a team of researchers at the University of California--San Diego Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

So, what's 17,000 times zero? ;')

This is pretty cool, because it would take a photovoltaic array of *at least* 10,000 square miles to produce enough electricity to supply our needs. And that's not considering A) that the Sun sets every day, B) that peak generation on a fixed array is a fairly narrow window centered at high noon, C) that the cells lose a significant fraction of their generating capacity after just a few months in operation, after which they operate at that lower level for their duration, D) that DC can't be pushed down power lines like AC can be (meaning, conversion from DC to AC, which means we'd need a bigger array to start), E) that one good windstorm could knock out capacity, F) that general maintenance would be, effectively, impossible without overbuilding the array to ensure that enough would be operating at all times, but would require even *more* labor, G) that the labor for the grid would increase, and the existing distribution grid would require just as much as now...