Until recently it has been unknown how detrimental to the environment nitrogen triflouride (NF3) really is. The chemical is used in LED’s that back light LCD screens on mobile phones, televisions, monitors and in other electronics used in various industries. Despite the chemical not being monitored by the Kyoto Protocol (or any environmental agency) it has an impact on global climate 17,000 times greater than CO2, according to an article in the Times. A study suggests that production of NF3 is expected to double by 2009 with several new manufacturing facilities opening around the world to accommodate for increasing demand of LCD’s.

“The chemical is found to stay in the atmosphere for 550 years and there is no force of nature known to remove it.

The study has found that this year, nitrogen trifluoride emissions are expected to have an impact equal to Austria’s CO2 output.

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LCD monitors have long been presented as environmentally friendly, particularly next to lead-laden, energy inefficient CRT models.

Though the use of mercury and arsenic has been of concern to the environmental and human health, LED-backlit display technology has begun to address these issues.

As far as the NF3 issue goes, it is cheaper for companies to create the chemical in a way that produces more emissions.

The chemical is found to stay in the atmosphere for 550 years and there is no force of nature known to remove it.

The study has found that this year, nitrogen trifluoride emissions are expected to have an impact equal to Austria’s CO2 output.”

According to CNET, scientists from the Georgia Institute of Technology have devised a system for ‘decarbonsizing‘ hydrocarbon fuels used in vehicles today (gasoline, methanol), separating the carbon from the hydrogen so that only heat, water and nitrogen (which is dealt with by the catalytic converter) are released from the exhaust into the atmosphere. This means no CO2 and perfectly green vehicles using our conventional internal combustion engines.
The report however does not touch the subject of energy: how much is lost in the decarbonizing process and whether this will reduce overall efficiency. Could this be the perfect solution? I remain intrigued.

“The system, developed by Georgia Tech professor Andrei Fedorov, removes the carbon from hydrocarbon fuels before it enters the engine. This means the engine does not emit any CO2 as the vehicle travels.

“The conventional internal combustion engine is a good candidate for this,” Fedorov told Automotive News Europe. “We simply decarbonize the fuel in a reformer before it reaches the engine. This separates the carbon from the hydrogen.”

Technorati Tags: decarbonsizing, hydrocarbon, fuels, gasoline, methanol, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, atmosphere, CO2, green, engine, energy

The European Environment Agency (EEA) has published in their 2008 annual report that European (EU-27) greenhouse gas emissions have reduced by 7.7% between 1990 and 2006. This quite positively assures that if the EU stays on track, the Kyoto target of a reduction of 20% by 2020 will definitely be reached. The EU-15 countries however, have only had a reduction of 2.2% in that period.
The report gives detail of each country’s levels and the reason for reductions, summarized to be primarily a reduction of nitrous oxide production in chemical plants.

The Lieberman-Warner bill which is scheduled for consideration by the American Senate this month is likely to be the greatest step into creating a worldwide emissions trading scheme. The bill will cap US greenhouse gas emissions at about 30 per cent of their current level by 2050 and an emissions trading scheme will be at the centre of the reduction effort, according to an article in Ethical Corporation.

“Republican presidential candidate John McCain is the strongest endorser of Lieberman-Warner. In October 2007, he said he was “bitterly disappointed” by US inaction on climate change so far. “The Europeans implemented a cap-and-trade system; they stumbled and had their problems but it is still the right thing to do,” he said.

Peter Liese, a German centre-right member of the European Parliament, says a US scheme, which could be up and running by 2012, is crucial both for the establishment of cap-and-trade worldwide, and for a global agreement on greenhouse gas reduction targets after 2012, when the Kyoto Protocol expires.

The US coming on board will be “a very important signal for all other countries; nobody will have an excuse any more,” says Liese, who is in charge of steering through the European parliament the EU legislation that includes aviation in emissions trading.

General Electric Co and Schlumberger, an oilfield services company have joined forces to sequester CO2 on a large scale, according to an article in Reuters.

“The accord is the first global pact on C02 linking an energy technology provider and an oil industry company, Diarmaid Mulholland, regional general manager for GE’s energy services in Europe, told Reuters.

“It’s more of a long-term alliance. It’s going to take a number of years for this really to get up and going,” he said. Sequestration calls for capturing CO2, a gas blamed for global warming, and injecting into the earth.

The pact calls for GE to provide integrated gasification combined-cycle (IGCC) systems to capture CO2 from coal-fired plants. Schlumberger will furnish expertise and management for storing CO2 at least a kilometre (0.6 mile) underground.“

Technorati Tags: General Electric, Schlumberger, sequester, CO2, energy, GE, Sequestration, global warming