Will TV threaten atmosphere more than coal?

Scientist Michael Prather has published a report in June’s edition of the respected scientific journal Geophysical Research Letters, which claims that a gas given off during the production of flat screen TVs causes more harm than coal fired power stations.

According to the report a chemical known as nitrogen trifluoride (NF3), which is used in the production of semiconductors and LCD type TVs, has an extremely detrimental effect on the build up of greenhouse gasses.

In fact Mr. Prather claims that the gas may be 17,000 times more destructive to the atmosphere than carbon dioxide.

Next year it is expected that production and use of this chemical will double to around 8,000 metric tonnes.

It is unclear just what effect this gas build up may have on the atmosphere, but that amount of new emissions is the equivalent of Australia’s entire annual greenhouse gas emissions.

That amount would be more than the present perfluorocarbons (PFCs) already put out annually by the world’s main industrialised nations

Another big possible problem is that the gas, NF3, is not even mentioned in the Kyoto Protocol that governs climate change policy worldwide, and it is not tabled to be discussed as part of the upcoming new climate control talks.

In the US alone, next year will see the dumping of around nine million old TVs in favour of the new flat screen varieties, as the country moves to full digital television broadcasting just eight months from now.

It is ironic that many TV and semiconductor manufacturers had actually moved to NF3 with the specific intention of lowering their greenhouse gas emission levels, as up until now the gas had not been considered to be particularly threatening.