Emissions Of HFC-23 - 14,800X More Powerful Than CO2 As GHG - Up 50% Globally From 1990-2000 Average

[hatrack]

Silver lining (so to speak): releases still relatively small-scale.

ScienceDaily (Feb. 1, 2010) — Despite a decade of efforts worldwide to curb its release into the atmosphere, NOAA and university scientists have measured increased emissions of a greenhouse gas that is thousands of times more efficient at trapping heat than carbon dioxide and persists in the atmosphere for nearly 300 years.

The substance HFC-23, or trifluoromethane, is a byproduct of chlorodifluoromethane, or HCFC-22, a refrigerant in air conditioners and refrigerators and a starting material for producing heat and chemical-resistant products, cables and coatings.

"Without the international effort to reduce emissions of HFC-23, its emissions and atmospheric abundance would have been even larger in recent years," said Stephen Montzka, a NOAA research chemist and lead author of the collaborative study between NOAA and university scientists. "As it was, emissions in 2006-2008 were about 50 percent above the 1990-2000 average."

HFC-23 is one of the most potent greenhouse gases emitted as a result of human activities. Over a 100-year time span, one pound of HFC-23 released into the atmosphere traps heat 14,800 times more effectively than one pound of carbon dioxide. To date, the total accumulated emission of HFC-23 is small relative to other greenhouse gases, making this gas a minor (less than one percent) contributor to climate change at present.

EDIT

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100131151009.htm

[phantom power]

1. I've been thinking

We've known for a while that there are these other gases that are (a) released in relatively small quantities from our industries but (b) hugely more potent as GHGs. You add up a fraction of a percent here, a fraction of a percent there, and maybe you're talking about a few percentage points. Especially if you consider that we aren't tracking them or studying them as well, and probably don't even know all of them.

In a chaotic system with feedback loops, a few extra percentage points means... what?

[M155Y_A1CH]

2. k&r

:kick:

[kristopher]

3. Good news and bad news

The bad is the finding in the OP. The good news is that we are now looking for and finding these pollutants so that we can deal with their use properly.