There are many gases produced by the industrialized nations that are a much greater impact on global warming than carbon dioxide. Their impact is designated relative to CO2, which has a “global warming potential” of 1.0. R-22, a common refrigerant, has a GWP of almost 2000. The original Freon-12, banned by the Montreal Protocol, has a GWP of almost 20,000. R-23, which is not controlled by the Montreal Protocol, has a GWP of 12,000.
These values don’t tell the whole story. For example, the GWP of R-23 remains 12,000 after 500 years ~ essentially, it remains in the atmosphere forever. The GWO of R-134 is 4000 initially, and 400 after 500 years.
The original Freon Ban (aka the Montreal Protocol) cost $1 trillion worldwide because all the existing cooling equipment had to be replaced. Every subsequent refrigerant phase-out costs almost as much; i.e. every decade, new “safer” refrigerants are introduced. The only problem is that the GWP of these new refrigerants might look better on paper ~ but they remain much, much longer in the atmosphere. In other words, they do infinitely more damage to the environment over the long term.
What is Washington (and the scientific community) doing about this tragedy? They’re actively promoting the new, more long-lasting refrigerants as the “solution to climate change.” They cite the GWP of the new “ozone-safe” refrigerants, making no reference to the fact that they remain hundreds, if not thousands, of years longer in the atmosphere – doing, cumulatively, exponentially more damage to the environment.
Truth be told? Nobody knows exactly how long these new refrigerants will remain in the atmosphere. Given the 500-year rating of R-23 (which is unchanged from the initial value), it’s likely that they will remain in the atmosphere for millennia.
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Excerpted from Going Green, available as an eBook at this list of eBook retailers online.