Stop buying flat panels, NOW!

[Spector_Ray]

It must be time for federal grants to be passed out again.


Flat-Screen TV Gas 'a Climate Time Bomb'
Friday , July 04, 2008

news.com.au


Booming demand for flat-screen televisions could have a greater impact on global warming than the world's largest coal-fired power stations, scientists warn.

A greenhouse gas called nitrogen trifluoride, used to make the TVs, is 17,000 times more potent than carbon dioxide, said Michael Prather, director of the environment institute at the University of California, Irvine.

But no one yet knows how much of it is being released into the atmosphere by industry, a report in Britain's The Guardian said.

Prather's research shows production of the gas, which remains in the atmosphere for 550 years, is "exploding".

It is expected to double by next year, from the current 4,000 tons produced annually.

But unlike other key greenhouse gases — such as carbon dioxide, sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) and perfluorocarbons (PFCs) — emissions of the gas are not restricted under the Kyoto protocol or similar agreements, The Guardian report said.

Prather and his colleague Juno Hsu — writing in the journal Geophysical Research Letters — said this year's production of nitrogen trifluoride is equivalent to 67 million tons of carbon dioxide.

That meant the gas has "a potential greenhouse impact larger than that of the industrialised nations' emissions of PFCs or SF6, or even that of the world's largest coal-fired power plants".

Air Products, which produces the gas for the electronics industry, told New Scientist that very little nitrogen trifluoride is released into the atmosphere.

But Prather raised concerns about companies being careless with the gas, given the lack of a regulatory framework.

[TheDarkReaver]

plasma flatscreens or lcd?

[superbassman2000]

it sounds like they are just talking about plasma screens to me

[hartke20g]

let's go back to CRT televisions. a decent sized one costs about $100, while the same size plasma/LCD/whatever costs up to 5 times as much.

that reminds me, does anyone actually sell any non-flat panel TVs anymore? i haven't seen one in a store in years.

[TheDarkReaver]

Originally Posted by hartke20g

let's go back to CRT televisions. a decent sized one costs about $100, while the same size plasma/LCD/whatever costs up to 5 times as much.

that reminds me, does anyone actually sell any non-flat panel TVs anymore? i haven't seen one in a store in years.

i see them in supermarkets mainly, in the cheaper tv section. don't see them in a lot of tv selling shops though.

[GeneralElectric]

Originally Posted by hartke20g

let's go back to CRT televisions. a decent sized one costs about $100, while the same size plasma/LCD/whatever costs up to 5 times as much.

that reminds me, does anyone actually sell any non-flat panel TVs anymore? i haven't seen one in a store in years.

I saw one at Sears. It was 200 for a flatscreen TV and it was the only one. Everything else was flat panel.

[JonathanD]

Just stop watching TV and play an instrument, write a book, do something yeash

[moomoocajoo]

Another ZOMG WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE QUICK GET THE TIN FOIL HATS story. Joy of joys.

[Atoz]

Originally Posted by Spector_Ray

It must be time for federal grants to be passed out again.


Flat-Screen TV Gas 'a Climate Time Bomb'
Friday , July 04, 2008

news.com.au


Booming demand for flat-screen televisions could have a greater impact on global warming than the world's largest coal-fired power stations, scientists warn.

A greenhouse gas called nitrogen trifluoride, used to make the TVs, is 17,000 times more potent than carbon dioxide, said Michael Prather, director of the environment institute at the University of California, Irvine.

But no one yet knows how much of it is being released into the atmosphere by industry, a report in Britain's The Guardian said.

Prather's research shows production of the gas, which remains in the atmosphere for 550 years, is "exploding".

It is expected to double by next year, from the current 4,000 tons produced annually.

But unlike other key greenhouse gases — such as carbon dioxide, sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) and perfluorocarbons (PFCs) — emissions of the gas are not restricted under the Kyoto protocol or similar agreements, The Guardian report said.

Prather and his colleague Juno Hsu — writing in the journal Geophysical Research Letters — said this year's production of nitrogen trifluoride is equivalent to 67 million tons of carbon dioxide.

That meant the gas has "a potential greenhouse impact larger than that of the industrialised nations' emissions of PFCs or SF6, or even that of the world's largest coal-fired power plants".

Air Products, which produces the gas for the electronics industry, told New Scientist that very little nitrogen trifluoride is released into the atmosphere.

But Prather raised concerns about companies being careless with the gas, given the lack of a regulatory framework.

This kind of hysteria crap makes me want to go out and buy four of the things.

[Masher88]

That article had a whole lot of "if's" and "but's" but not a whole lot of facts to prove there is a problem.

You can make any disaster "almost" happen by saying "IF you do or don't do this....you'll all die!"

These media outlets need to take another journalism class.