Concern for nitrogen trifluoride impact
A recent journal study has suggested that increasing levels of nitrogen trifluoride use, as so heavily used in the North Pacific electronics market, may have a negative impact on the environment and speed-up climate change.
LCD TV’s for example, are praised as being greener than old-style television sets because they consume much less power, and represent a significant market sector in North Pacific rim countries such as Japan, China and Taiwan.
Michael Prather of the University of California at Irvine however, has completed a study which claims that atmospheric quantities of the gas nitrogen trifluoride (NF3) are escalating, reporting the findings in the latest issue of the journal Geophysical Research Letters.
The chemical is used in the production of flat-panel displays which, in turn, are used to make today’s TV screens. Prather believes that exploding demand for HD TV’s around the world has created a huge need for NF3, and that’s effectively sending emission levels sky high.
The problem according to Prather, is that NF3 emission levels are not being measured by the programme put in place by the Kyoto Protocol for climate change. When the agreement was signed by 181 countries in 1997, NF3 wasn’t included on the list of gases that should be tracked because at that time the compound's manufacture was miniscule.
The compound’s increasing use in flat-panel display production has changed this however, with NF3’s global-warming potential regarded as second only to sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) – supposedly the ‘nastiest’ greenhouse gas on the Kyoto list.
LCD TV’s for example, are praised as being greener than old-style television sets because they consume much less power, and represent a significant market sector in North Pacific rim countries such as Japan, China and Taiwan.
Michael Prather of the University of California at Irvine however, has completed a study which claims that atmospheric quantities of the gas nitrogen trifluoride (NF3) are escalating, reporting the findings in the latest issue of the journal Geophysical Research Letters.
The chemical is used in the production of flat-panel displays which, in turn, are used to make today’s TV screens. Prather believes that exploding demand for HD TV’s around the world has created a huge need for NF3, and that’s effectively sending emission levels sky high.
The problem according to Prather, is that NF3 emission levels are not being measured by the programme put in place by the Kyoto Protocol for climate change. When the agreement was signed by 181 countries in 1997, NF3 wasn’t included on the list of gases that should be tracked because at that time the compound's manufacture was miniscule.
The compound’s increasing use in flat-panel display production has changed this however, with NF3’s global-warming potential regarded as second only to sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) – supposedly the ‘nastiest’ greenhouse gas on the Kyoto list.
