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Solar cells, flat-panel screens are source of potent greenhouse gas mongabay.com October 23, 2008 Solar cells, flat-panel screens are source of greenhouse gas 17,000 times more potent than CO2 Using a technique that measures the prevalence of nitrogen trifluoride for the first time, researchers from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography found that the gas currently has a concentration of 0.454 parts-per-trillion (ppt) — up from 0.02 ppt in 1978 — and far higher than the previous estimate of 0.1 ppt for 2006. 0.454 ppt equates to 5,400 metric tons of nitrogen trifluoride in the atmosphere, an amount that has been increasing by 11 percent per year since 2006. The finding is significant because nitrogen trifluoride is 17,000 times more potent than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas and survives in the atmosphere about five times longer. Therefore despite its minute (but increasing) use, the gas accounts for "about 0.04 percent of the total global warming effect contributed by current human-produced carbon dioxide emissions," according to a statement from the American Geophysical Union (AGU).
The authors say the results suggest that nitrogen trifluoride should be regulated as a greenhouse gas under international climate agreements. "As is often the case in studying atmospheric emissions, this study shows a significant disagreement between 'bottom-up' emissions estimates and the actual emissions as determined by measuring their accumulation in the atmosphere," said lead author Ray Weiss of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. "From a climate perspective, there is a need to add nitrogen trifluoride to the suite of greenhouse gases whose production is inventoried and whose emissions are regulated under the Kyoto Protocol, thus providing meaningful incentives for its wise use." Weiss, R. F., J. Mühle, P. K. Salameh, and C. M. Harth (2008), Nitrogen trifluoride in the global atmosphere, Geophys. Res. Lett., doi:10.1029/2008GL035913, in press.
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