• nova_ad_vitum@lemmy.ca
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    5 months ago

    I just looked it up and…

    SF6 has 23,500 times greater global warming potential (GWP) than CO2 as a greenhouse gas (over a 100-year time-frame) but exists in relatively minor concentrations in the atmosphere. Its concentration in Earth’s troposphere reached 11.50 parts per trillion (ppt) in October 2023, rising at 0.37 ppt/year.[8] The increase since 1980 is driven in large part by the expanding electric power sector, including fugitive emissions from banks of SF6 gas contained in its medium- and high-voltage switchgear. Uses in magnesium, aluminium, and electronics manufacturing also hastened atmospheric growth.[9] The 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which came into force in 2005, is supposed to limit emissions of this gas. In a somewhat nebulous way it has been included as part of the carbon emission trading scheme. In some countries this has led to the defunction of entire industries.[10]

    Umm wtf? Why are we selling this stuff in compressed air cans ? Even methane is “only” 30x more potent than CO2 .

    • RubberElectrons@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      3M made a great alternative I actually tried to get my company into, Novec 4710… But turns out they’ve stopped making it.

      The bitch about SF6 is that it’s so stable (as required, to resist high voltage electric breakdown) that it also lasts way, way long in the atmosphere.

      Yeah man, I don’t know. I think we need to just use less energy, as a species.