Fighting warming: when gasses are contraband

Fighting warming: when gasses are contraband

Subject: Environment

Section: Climate change 

Context:

• A California man is facing criminal charges for smuggling greenhouse gasses (GHGs).

Greenhouse Gasses (GHGs):

• Atmospheric gasses like carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide (N2O), water vapor, and chlorofluorocarbons are capable of trapping the out-going infrared radiation from the earth’s surface thereby causing greenhouse effect.
• Hence these glasses are known as greenhouse gasses and the heating effect is known as greenhouse effect.

About Refrigerants:

• A refrigerant is a working fluid used in the refrigeration cycle of air conditioning systems and heat pumps where in most cases they undergo a repeated phase transition from a liquid to a gas and back again.

About HFCs:

• Hydrofluorocarbon (HFC), any of several organic compounds composed of hydrogen, fluorine, and carbon.
• HFCs are produced synthetically and are used primarily as refrigerants. 
• They became widely used for this purpose beginning in the late 1980s, with the introduction of the Montreal Protocol, which phased out the use of chemicals such as halons and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) that contribute to the depletion of Earth’s ozone layer.

About HCFC:

• HCFCs are compounds containing carbon, hydrogen, chlorine and fluorine. 
• Industry and the scientific community view certain chemicals within this class of compounds as acceptable temporary alternatives to chlorofluorocarbons.
• HCFC-141 b is one of the most powerful ozone-depleting chemicals after Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).
• Nearly, 50 % of the consumption of ozone depleting chemicals in the country was attributable to HCFC-141 b in the foam sector. 

About Montreal Protocol:

• The 1987 Montreal Protocol on Substances that deplete the Ozone Layer and its succeeding amendments were subsequently negotiated to control the consumption and production of anthropogenic (ODSs) and some hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs).
• The Protocol was signed by 197 parties in 1987 to control the use of ozone-depleting substances, mainly chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).
• The Montreal Protocol mandated the complete phase-out of CFCs and other ozone-depleting substances (ODS), which it has successfully managed to do in the last three decades.
• CFCs were gradually replaced, first by HCFCs, or hydrochlorofluorocarbons, in some cases, and eventually by HFCs which have minimal impact on the ozone layer.
• The adoption of the 2016 Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol will phase down the production and consumption of some HFCs and avoid much of the projected global increase and associated climate change.
• Under Kigali it was agreed to phase down the consumption of HFCs by 80% by 2047.