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ArcticMelt2

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Little known greenhouse gases
« on: July 07, 2019, 04:20:38 PM »
As you know, now the main struggle is with emissions of carbon dioxide and methane. But the chemical industry produces many other gases that have greenhouse properties. Their influence on climate can be comparable to CO2 and CH4.

https://www.fluorocarbons.org/benefits-of-using-hfcs-and-hfos-including-hcfos/

Quote
(H)CFCs are ozone depleting substances (ODSs) and have been successfully been phased out under the Montreal Protocol. As a result, the abundance of ODSs in the atmosphere has declined and the ozone layer is expected to recover. CFCs also had higher Global Warming Potentials (GWPs) than the HFCs replacing them. As such, by replacing CFCs by HFCs, the refrigeration and air-conditioning industry and other users not only contributed to the preservation of the ozone layer, but also made a most significant and positive contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Their reduction would represent about four times the objective of the Kyoto Protocol. In 1990, CFCs represented 25 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions. In 2002, the emissions from the use of HFCs were about 0.5 % of total global GHG emissions and according to the US NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), which provides annual updates of the AGGI (Annual Greenhouse Gas Index), intended to follow the evolution of the radiative forcing (ability of all greenhouse gases to trap heat) of greenhouse gases, the HFC impact in 2016, was 0.89 % of the total GHG emissions.



https://epthinktank.eu/2013/01/16/f-gases-good-for-the-ozone-layer-bad-for-the-climate/

Quote
In the 1980s, scientists discovered that the earth’s protective ozone layer was thinning, raising the risk of skin cancer and cataracts. The culprits were chlorofluorocarbons (CFC), chemical substances widely used in spray cans, refrigeration and air conditioning equipment, and heretofore considered as safe because they are non-toxic, not inflammable and not explosive.

The international community reacted quickly and adopted the Montreal protocol in 1987, which phases out ozone-destroying substances. However, it turns out that the F-gases which replace CFCs contribute to global warming, having a global warming potential up to 23 000 times higher than CO2. F-gases account for around 2% of the EU’s greenhouse gas emissions.

The worldwide use of F-gases has grown rapidly and reached almost 500 million tonnes CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent) in 2005. The rapid growth is expected to continue with growing demand for refrigeration and air conditioning, especially in developing countries. By 2050, F-gases could account for 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Refrigerant leaks in mobile air conditioning systems are common and hard to prevent. To reduce the climate impacts from air condition in vehicles, the Mobile Air Conditioning (MAC) Directive requires that new cars be equipped with air conditioning systems that use more climate-friendly refrigerants. However,  Mercedes-Benz recently discovered that the relatively climate-friendly refrigerant R1234xy can catch fire in a car crash. The company intends to continue using HFC-134a, whose global warming potential 1320 times higher than CO2, and risks infringement proceedings for violation of the MAC Directive.



Projections for global f-gas emissions 2005-2050. Source: Umweltbundesamt
« Last Edit: July 07, 2019, 04:28:55 PM by ArcticMelt2 »

ArcticMelt2

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Re: Little known greenhouse gases
« Reply #1 on: July 07, 2019, 04:26:18 PM »
In general, taking into account all greenhouse gases and deforestation, the total impact on the climate now reaches nearly 60 billion tons of carbon dioxide per year.

https://www.fluorocarbons.org/mediaroom/the-emissions-gap-report-2018-unep/



Quote
Global greenhouse gas emissions show no signs of peaking. Global CO2 emissions from energy and industry increased in 2017, following a three-year period of stabilization. Total annual greenhouse gases emissions, including from land-use change, reached a record high of 53.5 GtCO2e in 2017, an increase of 0.7 GtCO2e compared with 2016.
Fluorinated gases (hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), sulphur hexafluoride (SF6)) are only responsible for 2.4 percent of total GHG emissions and continue to have strong growth at around 5 percent/year. The Kigali Amendment to the
Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer aims for the phase-down of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) by cutting their production and consumption.

Global greenhouse gas emissions per type of gas
Notes:
LUC = Land Use Change;
The chart includes emissions for the 6 greenhouse gases
CO2, CH4, N2O, and F-Gases (HFCs, SF6, PFCs) and LUC

Global GHG emissions in 2030 need to be approximately 25 percent and 55 percent lower than in 2017 to put the world on a least-cost pathway to limiting global warming to 2°C and 1.5°C respectively.

ArcticMelt2

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Re: Little known greenhouse gases
« Reply #2 on: July 07, 2019, 05:05:09 PM »
It is also important that at the same time with the continuous growth of greenhouse gas emissions, people in pursuit of comfort very quickly reduce emissions of cooling aerosols (SO2).


https://so2.gsfc.nasa.gov/kml/OMI_Annual_EMI_AMF_Summary_2005-2018.pdf




With these illogical actions, people are increasingly destabilizing and shaking our fragile climate.

Most still do not realize the consequences of the anthropogenic impact on the planet’s climate, considering that it is miserable.

ArcticMelt2

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Re: Little known greenhouse gases
« Reply #3 on: July 07, 2019, 05:24:27 PM »
So in China, first of all, they are struggling with cooling sprays, spitting on greenhouse gases.

https://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/18/14095/2018/acp-18-14095-2018.pdf

People consider anthropogenic warming nonsense.

gerontocrat

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Re: Little known greenhouse gases
« Reply #4 on: January 21, 2020, 02:07:01 PM »
Count the ways humanity pollutes our atmosphere

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jan/21/study-finds-shock-rise-in-levels-of-potent-greenhouse-gas-hfc-23
Study finds shock rise in levels of potent greenhouse gas
Scientists had expected fall in levels of HFC-23 after India and China said they had halted emissions


https://agage.mit.edu/biblio/hfc-23-chf3-emission-trend-response-hcfc-22-chclf2-production-and-recent-hfc-23-emission
Quote
Abstract:
HFC-23 (also known as CHF3, fluoroform or trifluoromethane) is a potent greenhouse gas (GHG), with a global warming potential (GWP) of 14 800 for a 100-year time horizon. It is an unavoidable by-product of HCFC-22 (CHClF2, chlorodifluoromethane) production. HCFC-22, an ozone depleting substance (ODS), is used extensively in commercial refrigeration and air conditioning, in the extruded polystyrene (XPS) foam industries (dispersive applications) and also as a feedstock in fluoropolymer manufacture (a non-dispersive use). Aside from small markets in specialty uses, HFC-23 has historically been considered a waste gas that was, and often still is, simply vented to the atmosphere. Efforts have been made in the past two decades to reduce HFC-23 emissions,
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kassy

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Re: Little known greenhouse gases
« Reply #5 on: January 21, 2020, 02:58:31 PM »
This link is about the same;
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-01/uob-eop011720.php

This gas has very few industrial applications. However, levels have been soaring because it is vented to the atmosphere during the production of another chemical widely used in cooling systems in developing countries.

Looks like we ´forgot´some standards since the market is clearly not interested in preventing the waste of venting. In fact i often wonder about how little some people involved in this seem to care about pollutants they are dumping (mainly related to the Chemical industry).
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kassy

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Re: Little known greenhouse gases
« Reply #6 on: June 19, 2020, 03:47:55 PM »
A Switch in How Hospitals Use Anesthesia Could Have Huge Climate Benefits

...

The problem is that the most common inhalants used for general anaesthesia are nitrous oxide (or laughing gas) and desflurane. Both are greenhouse gases that can stay in the atmosphere for decades and wreak havoc on the climate (they also damage the ozone layer to boot). In fact, nitrous oxide is nearly 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide in terms of planet-warming potential. Desflurane’s potential is up to 3,700 worse than carbon dioxide, making it one of the most intense greenhouse gases in use. The process of using these drugs is also wasteful. When doctors administer these gases, patients inhale just 5% of them. The rest of gets sucked into a ventilation system, and then floats up into the atmosphere.

In 2009, more than one million hip and knee replacement procedures – which are usually done with general anaesthesia – were performed in the US alone. The authors calculated that if all of these were done under general anaesthetic, that would be the equivalent of nearly 247,000 lbs (112,000 kilograms) of desflurane and nearly 20,000 lbs (9,000 kilograms) of nitrous oxide released into the atmosphere. That’s equivalent to burning more than 3.2 million pounds of coal.

...

 in 2019, the hospital chose regional anaesthesia in those procedures whenever they could. Out of the 10,485 hip and knee replacements it carried out that year, hospital doctors gave just 4% of patients general anaesthetic. Doing so, the study found, saved the greenhouse gas equivalent of burning nearly 27,000 lbs (12,246 kilograms) of coal.

https://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2020/06/a-switch-in-how-hospitals-use-anesthesia-could-have-huge-climate-benefits/


https://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2020/06/a-switch-in-how-hospitals-use-anesthesia-could-have-huge-climate-benefits/
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Tom_Mazanec

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Re: Little known greenhouse gases
« Reply #7 on: June 23, 2020, 02:16:36 AM »
Interesting, kassy, but I don't know about that "huge" in the headline. What amount of the CO2 would this measure reduce? 1 ppm? Every little bit helps, but the headline is deceptive.

kassy

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Re: Little known greenhouse gases
« Reply #8 on: June 23, 2020, 01:23:11 PM »
´Huge climate benefits´

This research shows that for many types of operations we can just not use the really polluting general anesthesia. The numbers are for US and then from 1 hospital but they can be scaled up to worldwide. And we can do that now without loss of quality of care (while we can´t stop building etc).

With our small remaining budget we need all the low hanging fruit we can get our hands on.

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kassy

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Re: Little known greenhouse gases
« Reply #9 on: April 06, 2021, 12:03:42 AM »
Louisville super-polluting chemical plant emits not 1, but 2 potent greenhouse gases


LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Chemours Louisville Works emits a chemical feedstock and a separate gas byproduct that do more damage to the climate than 750,000 passenger vehicles — far more than the Environmental Protection Agency’s main industrial greenhouse gas inventory indicates.

Chemours’ most harmful climate super-pollutant is the byproduct, hydrofluorocarbon-23 (HFC-23), a potent greenhouse gas that produces 12,400 times more warming than carbon dioxide, the main chemical compound responsible for climate change. 

But the plant also emits hundreds of tons of hydrochlorofluorocarbon-22 (HCFC-22), a chemical ingredient in everything from Teflon to lubricants used on the International Space Station.

In addition to being a climate super-pollutant 1,760 times more effective at warming the atmosphere than carbon dioxide, HCFC-22 also destroys atmospheric ozone that helps protect the Earth from harmful ultraviolet rays.

As such, its production was banned in the United States and other developed countries on January 1, 2020, under an international agreement known as the Montreal Protocol.

But, Chemours is exempt from that prohibition because the HCFC-22 produced in Louisville is used as a feedstock to make other products that do not damage the Earth’s protective ozone layer.

In an article last month, Inside Climate News reported that the Chemours plant, in the city’s Rubbertown industrial area, emits so much of the byproduct HFC-23 that venting this single greenhouse gas likely had a greater climate impact than the emissions of all registered vehicles in the city, according to the main industrial greenhouse gas inventory kept by the EPA's Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program.

But the report did not include information on the plant’s emissions of HCFC-22, which the EPA makes public in another database used for different purposes — generally, toxic releases to the air, land and water. 

When data from both EPA repositories are combined, Chemours’ emissions of the two chemicals have a greater annual impact on the climate than the yearly greenhouse gas emissions of 750,000 U.S. passenger vehicles — about 17% more than previously reported.

...

https://eu.courier-journal.com/story/news/2021/04/05/super-polluting-louisville-chemical-plant-emits-more-greenhouse-gases-than-thought/7075408002/
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Sciguy

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Re: Little known greenhouse gases
« Reply #10 on: April 06, 2021, 06:58:56 PM »
HFCs contribute about 1.1% of greenhouse gas forcing.

https://www.fluorocarbons.org/news/2019-hfcs-contribute-1-08-to-climate-warming-influence-of-greenhouse-gases/

Quote
2019: HFCs CONTRIBUTE 1.08% TO CLIMATE WARMING INFLUENCE OF GREENHOUSE GASES
03 July 2020

The US NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) has released its 2019 update of the AGGI (Annual Greenhouse Gas Index), which follows the evolution of the radiative forcing (ability of all greenhouse gases to trap heat) since the onset of the industrial revolution. The HFC impact in 2019 is now 1.08% of the total (compared to 1.03% in 2018). The five major greenhouse gases (CO2, CH4, N2O, CFC-12 and CFC-11) account for about 96% of the direct radiative forcing by long-lived greenhouse gas increases since 1750. The 15 minor halogenated gases (listed below and including HFCs) contribute the remaining 4%.


kassy

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Re: Little known greenhouse gases
« Reply #11 on: November 09, 2021, 01:54:18 PM »
Why nitrous oxide emissions should factor into climate change mitigation

Poorly drained agricultural soils emit enough of the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide that the resulting climate change effects could far exceed the benefits of using the same soils as a means of sequestering carbon, according to a recently published scientific study.

The study, published Monday in the academic journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that a range of agricultural soils produce nitrous oxide emissions in quantities big enough to contribute to climate change. The researchers compared soils with various moisture content and found agricultural soils are capable of high nitrous oxide emissions across a wide range of environmental conditions.

Nitrous oxide has 298 times the warming potential of carbon dioxide over 100 years, according to previous research, suggesting that climate change mitigation efforts must account for nitrous oxide, said Steven Hall, an associate professor of ecology, evolution and organismal biology at Iowa State University and the study's senior author.

"In this study, we show that the climate warming effects of nitrous oxide emissions from local corn and soybean soils are two-fold greater than the climate cooling that might be achieved by increasing soil carbon storage with common agricultural practices," Hall said.

Researchers, farmers and policymakers are considering strategies that might encourage producers to store carbon, also a greenhouse gas, in the soil, where it can't contribute to climate change. Hall said storing carbon in agricultural soils is a valuable tactic to mitigate climate change, but the new research indicates any such policies should first take into account nitrous oxide emissions. Failure to do so could result in policies that are much less effective in addressing climate change.

Instead, Hall said management plans also should encourage nitrous oxide mitigation strategies in concert with carbon sequestration. Examples of such strategies include more precise and efficient use of nitrogen fertilizer. New products known as enhanced efficiency fertilizers, as well as the application of biochar to fields, might also help to limit nitrous oxide emissions.

Microorganisms in the soil give off nitrous oxide as a byproduct as they cycle nitrogen. Nitrogen stimulates nitrous oxide production, so adding nitrogen fertilizers to soil tends to result in more emissions.

"If we want to maximize our climate benefit, we want to be strategic about it," Hall said. "We're not simply going to flip the switch on climate just by putting more carbon in the soil. Nitrous oxide emissions need to be a priority as well."

Hall and his fellow researchers developed a new means of measuring nitrous oxide emissions from corn and soybean fields to help gather data for the study. The scientists tweaked previously existing technologies to measure nitrous oxide emissions every four hours. The technology utilizes small containers placed at various locations on top of the soil of ISU research farms in central Iowa. The containers pump air samples into a central shed where an analyzer automatically measures nitrous oxide content. This method hadn't been used before to measure nitrous oxide, and Hall said the researchers had to design the system to withstand the wet conditions often present in agricultural fields.

Hall's coauthors include Nathaniel Lawrence, an ISU graduate student in ecology, evolution and organismal biology; Carlos Tenesaca, a research scientist in ecology, evolution and organismal biology; and Andy VanLoocke, an associate professor of agronomy.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/11/211108161422.htm
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kassy

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Re: Little known greenhouse gases
« Reply #12 on: March 12, 2022, 10:00:56 AM »
Researcher sheds light on the main source of a rare but destructive greenhouse gas

Termites are destructive, and notoriously hard to kill. Structural fumigation—tenting a house and piping in chemicals to kill the bugs—is the most effective way to do it.

One common chemical used for termite fumigation is sulfuryl fluoride (SO2F2), the only fumigant approved by the EPA for use in residential structures. Sulfuryl fluoride is popular because it is relatively cost-effective and does not contribute to ozone destruction, but it also happens to be a potent greenhouse gas that can remain in the atmosphere for decades, contributing to climate change.

To get a better handle on the prevalence and location of sulfuryl fluoride in the atmosphere, as well as its possible impact, a team of researchers led by Dylan Gaeta, a PhD student in the Whiting School of Engineering, used atmospheric observations from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to show that the large majority of sulfuryl fluoride emissions in North America came from California in 2015-2019. Emissions were especially large from the Greater Los Angeles Area, where structural fumigation for termites is common. Their findings were recently presented at the American Geophysical Union's fall meeting.

...

Why did you choose to study this?
I first heard about the sulfuryl fluoride problem from my PhD advisor, Scot Miller. He had run a preliminary atmospheric inversion using NOAA data, and I remember him showing that the emissions map of SO2F2 "lights up like Christmas" over California. This was around the time when I first started my PhD, and I thought the problem sounded interesting and policy-relevant, so I picked up the project and have been working on expanding Scot's preliminary work to finer spatial scales and daily time scales. I find there is usually cause for concern when an entirely human-made chemical is accumulating in the atmosphere, especially in the case of a potent greenhouse gas like sulfuryl fluoride.

Why is this problem concentrated in California?
California's year-round warm climate is favorable for termite colony growth, both indoors and in nature, so it is very common for buildings there to have termite infestations that require fumigation.

Termites also can be found in the Southeast, especially in Florida, where the climate is also conducive to termite colony growth. Unfortunately, NOAA does not operate a greenhouse gas monitoring station downwind of Florida, and so it is difficult for us to infer much about sulfuryl fluoride emissions from there. NOAA does operate a tower in South Carolina, but concentrations of sulfuryl fluoride, which would indicate large emissions, are rarely detected at this lone Southeastern site. However, it is still possible that fumigations occurring in Florida could be swept up and carried over the Atlantic Ocean without being detected at the closest NOAA monitoring sites.

In addition, California is the only state that publicly releases a statewide record of sulfuryl fluoride use.

...

What are the climate implications for sulfuryl fluoride use?
Sulfuryl fluoride is a potent greenhouse gas that is entirely human-made, with no significant natural sources. The buildup of this gas in our atmosphere is an entirely human-caused problem. Sulfuryl fluoride was first discovered in ambient air in La Jolla, California. This discovery prompted a series of studies into the chemical and physical properties of the gas, including an investigation of potential removal mechanisms and quantification of the global warming potential. The results of these seminal studies were published in 2008-2009, with the main takeaway that sulfuryl fluoride has a much longer atmospheric lifetime than initially thought: 36 (plus or minus 11) years.

With such a long lifespan in the atmosphere, the global warming potential was revised upwards to 7,510 over a 20-year interval. In other words, 1 ton of sulfuryl fluoride traps as much heat in the atmosphere as 7,510 tons of carbon dioxide. After these studies were released, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change added sulfuryl fluoride to its list of greenhouse gases in 2013, and the California Air Resources Board added the chemical to its list of short-lived climate pollutants. However, despite the evidence from the 2008 study that sulfuryl fluoride is a potent greenhouse gas, global emissions of the gas have continued to rise. The gas has been left out of most major greenhouse gas inventories and emissions reductions targets.

...

https://hub.jhu.edu/2022/03/11/sulfuryl-fluoride-greenhouse-emissions/
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vox_mundi

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Re: Little known greenhouse gases
« Reply #13 on: May 10, 2022, 12:51:56 AM »
Atmospheric Helium Levels Are Rising, Research Confirms
https://phys.org/news/2022-05-atmospheric-helium.html

The atmospheric abundance of the 4-helium (4He) isotope is rising because 4He is released during the burning and extraction of fossil fuels. The researchers report that it is increasing at a very small but, for the first time, clearly measurable rate. The 4He isotope itself does not add to the greenhouse effect that is making the planet warmer, but measures of it could serve as indirect markers of fossil-fuel use.

Study co-author and Scripps Oceanography geochemist Ralph Keeling, overseer of the famed carbon dioxide measurement known as the Keeling Curve, describes the study as a "masterpiece of fundamental geochemistry." Though helium is relatively easy for scientists to detect in air samples, present at levels of five parts per million of air, no one had done the work to measure it carefully enough to observe an atmospheric increase, he said.

The study appears today in the journal Nature Geoscience.



 Benjamin Birner, Increasing atmospheric helium due to fossil fuel exploitation, Nature Geoscience (2022)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-022-00932-3
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sidd

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Re: Little known greenhouse gases
« Reply #14 on: May 10, 2022, 06:22:48 AM »
Wait, what ? Helium is a greenhouse gas ? And is released during combustion of fossil fuels ?

sidd

vox_mundi

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Re: Little known greenhouse gases
« Reply #15 on: May 10, 2022, 06:29:21 AM »
It's a proxy, sidd
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FishOutofWater

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Re: Little known greenhouse gases
« Reply #16 on: July 08, 2022, 03:40:44 AM »
Helium 4 is produced by the radioactive decay of uranium and thorium series elements. Alpha particles produced in the decay chains are bare helium nucleii. The helium 4 accumulates along with natural gas in the geologic traps that the oil and gas industries produce from.

sidd

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Re: Little known greenhouse gases
« Reply #17 on: July 08, 2022, 08:26:09 AM »
Current thinking is that most He-4 produced in about half an hour after big bang

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oren

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Re: Little known greenhouse gases
« Reply #18 on: July 08, 2022, 10:25:49 AM »
Quote
Helium: Sources and Uses
Helium is thought to be the most abundant element in the universe, as it the product of the fusion reaction that happens in the heart of stars. On Earth, however helium is exceedingly rare and comprises only 5.2 ppm of Earth’s atmosphere. Most of the helium on Earth comes from radiological sources. As elements like uranium and thorium decay deep underground into thorium and radium, respectively, α-particles consisting of two protons and two neutrons are released and trapped. As these α-particles pick up electrons from their environment they become stable helium atoms.

U238→Th234+α; U235→Th231+α; Th232→Ra228+α

The major sources for terrestrial helium are natural gas deposits that can contain up to 2.7% helium. Because helium is a noble gas with a full electron shell, it is extremely unlikely to react with other chemicals, and once it reaches the surface, rapidly rises to the highest levels of the atmosphere. Over most of the planet, the Earth’s magnetic field lines are able to retain the vast majority of our atmosphere; however over the poles, these field lines trail off due to the solar wind allowing lighter atoms like hydrogen and helium to escape.

This polar wind is the cause of almost all of Earth’s lost helium at a rate of 1600 metric tons per year. For many years and, in many cases still today, radiogenic helium was wasted as a byproduct of the natural gas extraction process. It was only during World War I that the federal government began to recognize the usefulness of the noble gas for potential military applications including dirigible flight. In 1917, Congress authorized the Federal Helium Program and started processing helium in its facility in Texas. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) under the Department of the Interior extracts and refines helium from the Hugoton shale field in Oklahoma and pipes it into the natural caves of the Bush Dome Reservoir in Amarillo, TX, that are used as the storage facility. As of 2013, 35% and 70% of the world’s helium supply came from the Federal Helium Reserve in specific and the United States in general.

https://researchservices.pitt.edu/helium/sourcesanduses

kassy

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Re: Little known greenhouse gases
« Reply #19 on: March 03, 2023, 08:51:11 PM »
Scotland first to ban environmentally harmful anaesthetic


Scotland has become the first country in the world to stop its hospitals using the anaesthetic desflurane because of the threat it poses to the environment.

NHS data suggests the gas, used to keep people unconscious during surgery, has a global warming potential 2,500 times greater than carbon dioxide.

Banning it in Scotland - from its peak use in 2017 - would cut emissions equal to powering 1,700 homes a year.

UK hospitals have already cut down.

In the last few years, more than 40 hospital trusts in England and a number of hospitals in Wales have stopped using it.

NHS England will introduce a similar ban from 2024, which - like Scotland - prohibits its use for anything but exceptional circumstances.

Banning it across NHS hospitals in England would cut harmful emissions equivalent to those caused by powering 11,000 homes every year, according to NHS analysis of desflurane use in 2020.

Other countries, including many in Europe, are likely to make similar moves in the next few years.

...

"I realised in 2017 that the amount of desflurane we used in a typical day's work as an anaesthetist resulted in emissions equivalent to me driving 670 miles that day," he said.

...

Many hospitals have switched to safe and effective anaesthetic gases with less warming potential such as sevoflurane, which has a global warming potential 130 times that of carbon dioxide, or to using alternative non-gaseous anaesthetics and more efficient equipment.

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https://www.bbc.com/news/health-64347191
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vox_mundi

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Re: Little known greenhouse gases
« Reply #20 on: June 07, 2023, 05:16:45 PM »
New Study Estimates Global Warming Potential of Hydrogen
https://phys.org/news/2023-06-global-potential-hydrogen.html



The global warming effect of leaked hydrogen is almost 12 times stronger than CO2, shows a new study by CICERO, a climate research center, published in Communications Earth & Environment.

Hydrogen is not a greenhouse gas, but its chemical reactions in the atmosphere affect greenhouse gases like methane, ozone, and stratospheric water vapor. In this way, emissions of hydrogen can cause global warming, despite its lack of direct radiative properties.

"We have assessed the uncertainties, and our study forms a robust foundation for political decision-making on hydrogen," said Sand.

"A global warming potential of 11.6 is significant, and our study clearly shows the importance of reducing hydrogen leaks. We lack the technology to monitor and detect hydrogen leaks at the scale needed, but new technology is being developed as the industry adapts," said Sand.

The potential benefit of switching to a hydrogen economy will depend on the magnitude of hydrogen leakages and to what extent hydrogen replaces fossil fuels.

Maria Sand et al, A multi-model assessment of the Global Warming Potential of hydrogen, Communications Earth & Environment (2023)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-023-00857-8
“There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see.” ― anonymous

Insensible before the wave so soon released by callous fate. Affected most, they understand the least, and understanding, when it comes, invariably arrives too late