The Greenhouse Gas Nobody Knew - NF3, Vital To High-Tech, Has 17,000X CO2's Heat-Trapping Power

[hatrack]

When industry began using NF3 in high-tech manufacturing, it was hailed as a way to fight global warming. But new research shows that this gas has 17,000 times the warming potential of carbon dioxide and is rapidly increasing in the atmosphere – and that's turning an environmental success story into a public relations disaster. Hypothetical question: You're heartsick about global warming, so you've just paid $25,000 to put a solar system on the roof of your home. How do you respond to news that it was manufactured with a chemical that is 17,000 times stronger than carbon dioxide as a cause of global warming?

It may sound like somebody's idea of a bad joke. But last month, a study from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography reported that nitrogen trifluoride (NF3), with a global warming potential of 17,000, is now present in the atmosphere at four times the expected level and rapidly rising. Use of NF3 is currently booming, for products from computer chips and flats-screen LCDs to thin-film solar photovoltaics, an economical and increasingly popular solar power format.

Moreover, the Kyoto Protocol, which limits a half-dozen greenhouse gases, does not cover NF3. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change now lists it among five major new greenhouse gases likely to be included in the next phase of global warming regulation, after 2012. And while that may be reassuring, it also suggests the complicated character of the global warming problem.

In fact, NF3 had become popular largely as a way to reduce global warming. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency began actively encouraging use of NF3 in the 1990s, as the best solution to a widespread problem in making the components for everything from cell phones to laptop computers. Manufacturers in the electronics industry all use a vacuum chamber to etch intricate circuitry and to deposit a thin layer of chemical vapor on the surface of a product. Some of the vapor inevitably builds up instead as glassy crud on the interior of the chamber.

EDIT

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/nov/17/network

[Cronus Protagonist]

1. We'll just have to resign ourselves to heat death

It's the future.

[phantom power]

2. Good punchline: "industry really cannot be trusted for self-regulation."

Wow, who knew?
:eyes:

[Ian David]

3. I think we should put a penal colony in The Maldives for polluters. n/t

[appal_jack]

17. and here's another good general rule:

The halogens are trouble. Whether one examines pesticides, or solvents, or plastics, or just about anything else with halogens* (especially the lighter-weight F, Cl, and Br) it will come back to haunt us. I of course understand that their reactivity is a fundamental part of their utility in organic chemistry. But we really need to get much more careful and judicious in how we employ this chemistry, and what we do to clean up after it.


* - I am referring to covalently-bonded halogens in organic chemistry as the trouble-makers here, and not the ionic salts such as NaCl.

-app

[Taverner]

4. Someone needs to figure out what causes more damage

This, or the current 'solution'

[hatrack]

5. As long as it involves Further Study and More Research, onward!!

Let America boldly lead the way into a bright future of gratuitous studies, papers and roundtables!

[The2ndWheel]

6. Hunting with sharp sticks increased our environmental impact

We exist within physical reality. Every solution causes the next problem. We can't escape.

[formercia]

7. Think about this next time you buy a new 'toy'.

My computer is over 10 years old and runs well on the open-source operating system I use. I'd like to get another few years out of it before it craps out for good.

Do the same and save the Planet.

Even better, read an old book.

[Duppers]

9. hear hear!

I do the same.
I do not understand the 'if I can afford a new one, I'll get it' attitude adopted by the mass ignorant.

[formercia]

10. Oooh my Gawd!!! It won't run Vista!!11!11!!

Fuck Vista. Get a real operating system, Morans!.

[BeFree]

8. Oh noes

Tech-NO-Logic strikes again!

Its almost funny.

[Viking12]

11. Current NF3 emissions contribute only about 0.04 percent of the total global warming effects

I point this out not say that we shouldn't take NF3 seriously but that we need to put it into perspective. NF3 is preferable to other scrubbling gases and the technology exists to both continue its use and to protect the environment from unintended consequences. NF3, used correctly, can contribute productively to total reduction in GHG emissions.

More reading:

http://scrippsnews.ucsd.edu/Releases/?releaseID=933

http://enochthered.wordpress.com/2008/07/03/nitrogen-trifluoride-as-an-anthropogenic-greenhouse-forcing-gas/

http://rabett.blogspot.com/2008/07/eli-calls-rabett-droppings-well.html

[jpak]

12. Beat me to it

:hi:

[Dead_Parrot]

13. True, but PV only contributes about 0.05% of global energy

A little perspective can be a dangerous thing.

[Viking12]

14. Indeed. A little more perspective...

The production of solar PV constitutes only a small percentage of the total use of NF3 and, given that thin film solar PV generally relies on the latest technology for production, that segment is not responsible for the bulk of NF3 emissions. Nice try to muddy the waters though.

[Dead_Parrot]

15. Nice hand waving

Solar already uses the majority of produced silicon, and is growing:



so I'd be more convinced if you provided a cite for that "small percentage".

And dumping bucketfulls of silicon tetracloride by a school is hardly relying on "the latest technology", so you have some convincing to do there, too.

Given that PV already has the highest footprint for non-fossil generation, I'd be a bit happier if you actually addressed the situation rather than offering vague platitudes.

Unless, of course, you are one of those people who finds facts boring and irrelevant. In which case I'll leave you to it.

[Viking12]

16. Change the subject much?

Again, nice attempt to muddy the waters. If you want to discuss NF3, I will. If you want to discuss other issues, like say the poor record of Chinese environmental oversight, start a new thread.

[Dead_Parrot]

18. How is that changing the subject?

China's share of PV production is expanding rapidly - 80,000t in development, with 30,000 due to come on line in the next two years (source): compared to this year's production of 62,000t, that's a fair chunk of the market.

And if they are happy to dump buckets of silicon tetracloride in a field, by a school, in broad daylight, do you really think they are being meticulous about scrubbing out any unused NF3?

[Viking12]

19. I'll take your post as an admission that you don't know &/or don't care about NF3

So you have to toss in a big smelly red herring to cover up your lack of knowledge.

[Dead_Parrot]

20. On the contrary...

...I do care. One of the things I particularly care about is where the stuff is coming from, but since this is something you are clearly not interested in discussing there seems little point in continuing this.