Study says chemical in LCDs is 17,000 times stronger than carbon dioxide and is a "missing greenhouse gas."
07.08.2008 — A chemical used to produce LCDs may be causing global warming, according to a report published in Geophysical Research Letters.
Michael Prather, an atmospheric chemist who co-authored the report, is calling Nitrogen trifluoride (NF3) a "missing greenhouse gas," saying the chemical could double to 8,000 metric tons in 2009.
NF3 is used in chemical vapor deposition to make LCDs, semiconductors and synthetic diamond.
This isn't the first time the energy usage of LCDs has sparked controversy. Government officials in Australia and England considered banning LCDs altogether last year.
The Kyoto Protocol, an international climate change treaty, doesn't include NF3. When the agreement was reached in 1997, NF3 wasn't being mass produced.
The report says NF3 is 17,000 times stronger than carbon dioxide.
Not that this would occur, but if all the NF3 made this year was released into the air, the warming effect would emulate 67 million tons of carbon dioxide, the study found.
A recent DisplaySearch study says shipments of LCDs increased 69 percent year-to-year and don't show signs of slowing down.
http://www.cepro.com/article/lcds_may_contribute_to_global_warming_study_says/
07.08.2008 — A chemical used to produce LCDs may be causing global warming, according to a report published in Geophysical Research Letters.
Michael Prather, an atmospheric chemist who co-authored the report, is calling Nitrogen trifluoride (NF3) a "missing greenhouse gas," saying the chemical could double to 8,000 metric tons in 2009.
NF3 is used in chemical vapor deposition to make LCDs, semiconductors and synthetic diamond.
This isn't the first time the energy usage of LCDs has sparked controversy. Government officials in Australia and England considered banning LCDs altogether last year.
The Kyoto Protocol, an international climate change treaty, doesn't include NF3. When the agreement was reached in 1997, NF3 wasn't being mass produced.
The report says NF3 is 17,000 times stronger than carbon dioxide.
Not that this would occur, but if all the NF3 made this year was released into the air, the warming effect would emulate 67 million tons of carbon dioxide, the study found.
A recent DisplaySearch study says shipments of LCDs increased 69 percent year-to-year and don't show signs of slowing down.
http://www.cepro.com/article/lcds_may_contribute_to_global_warming_study_says/