Flatscreen television’s which have been become widely popular as prices have plunged over the last couple of years has an ominous darkside it turns out for the environment. 

From the Telegraph.

Experts in California estimate that production of a powerful greenhouse gas used in their production has hit 4,000 tonnes a year – enough to match the annual carbon dioxide emissions of Austria.

Research published in New Scientist estimates that the industrial component – known as “NF3″ – is 17,000 times more powerful as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. But it is not covered by the Kyoto protocol because it was only made in tiny amounts when the agreement was signed in 1997.

Professor Michael Prather from the University of California at Irvine, who came up with the estimate, said that if the entire annual production of NF3 was released into the atmosphere it would have the equivalent effect on the Earth’s climate as 67 million tonnes of carbon dioxide.

Although it is said to be accumulating in the atmosphere, its levels have not been measured. Scientists believe that it has a half-life in the atmosphere of 550 years.

Now here is a problem Al Gore should be tackling.  I would like to see him go to the people in Hollywood who gave him his Oscar and tell them that they need to rid themselves of all their flatscreen television’s before they doom the earth.  Let’s all go back to bulky tube sets and projection t.v.’s in the name of saving the planet.  So much for hi-def.

 

 

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