Nature
News: Modern refrigerants designed to protect the ozone
layer are poised to become a major contributor to global
warming because of their future explosive growth in the
developing world.
Hydrofluorocarbon
chemicals (HFCs) were developed to phase out
ozone-depleting gases, in response to the
Montreal
Protocol. But they can be hundreds or thousands of times
more powerful than carbon dioxide as greenhouse gases in
trapping heat.In
the
new study, a team led by Guus Velders at the
Netherlands
Environmental Assessment Agency in Bilthoven analyzed the
latest industry trends and then modeled HFC production to 2050.
Their results suggest that HFC emissions could be the
equivalent of between 5.5 billion and 8.8 billion tonnes of
carbon dioxide annually by 2010—roughly 19% of the
projected CO
2 emissions if greenhouse gases continue to rise
unchecked.
Related Link
The
large contribution of projected HFC emissions to future climate
forcing
