Ozone-friendly chemicals lead to warming

[Barrett808]

Ozone-friendly chemicals lead to warming
By JOHN HEILPRIN, Associated Press Writer
Sun Aug 20, 5:40 PM ET

WASHINGTON - Cool your home, warm the planet. When more than two dozen countries undertook in 1989 to fix the ozone hole over Antarctica, they began replacing chloroflourocarbons in refrigerators, air conditioners and hair spray.

But they had little idea that using other gases that contain chlorine or fluorine instead also would contribute greatly to global warming.

CFCs destroy ozone, the atmospheric layer that helps protect against the sun's most harmful rays, and trap the earth's heat, contributing to a rise in average surface temperatures.

In theory, the ban should have helped both problems. But the countries that first signed the Montreal Protocol 17 years ago failed to recognize that CFC users would seek out the cheapest available alternative.

The chemicals that replaced CFCs are better for the ozone layer, but do little to help global warming. These chemicals, too, act as a reflective layer in the atmosphere that traps heat like a greenhouse.

(more)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060820/ap_on_sc/ozone_global_warming

[texastoast]

1. Whatevuh did we do before

we had spray deoderant, room fresheners, and the all-so-important hair spray?

How DID we survive?

And gosh, I heard people lived in Houston without air conditioning. YEAR-freaking-round??

:wtf:

[meganmonkey]

2. But..but...but...

I NEED toxic crap to spray on my body, my children and my toilets! And air conditioning? What do you expect me to do - close my windows and CURTAINS all day to keep the hot air out, opening them in the evening after the weather cools down? I mean, between pushing a thermostat button and dealing with windows and curtains, I'll take pushing a button any day. I just don't have TIME to open and close curtains and windows...

;)

[ConcernedCanuk]

6. "I just don't have TIME to open and close curtains and windows" - thats it

.
.
.

just plain ignorant and lazy

BUT

you have to realize that there are a WHOLE lot of people that don't even consider "trapping" the cooler air at night, or whenever they know it's going to be HOT in the future.

I manage a property for one of y'all up here in Northern Ontario.

And it DOES get hot up here

But this is an old farmhouse with a full basement made out of field stones, and it is always cool down there

Well one hot day while the owner was here I just undid one of the ducts in the basement and sucked the cool air out to the upstairs with a small exhaust fan that one normally has in their bathrooms.

If run 24 hours a day that would be under 25 cents a day for "A/C"

And it can be even run(because of it's low power consumption) on one 12 volt battery with an inverter (makes 120 volts out of 12 volts) in a power outage

Survival skills are going to be the most valuable skills in the future I'm afraid . .

TY to GWB and the PNACers

(sigh)

[mom cat]

3. Afternoon naps ...siestas. I grew up in Texas before AC and have

decided to do without it again. It is quite possible to live without it, except in environmentally unfriendly buildings that become crematories without it. I have had a couple of very uncomfortable days without AC this year, but my discomfort is nothing compared to the scorching we face if we keep burning coal and gas to make our living spaces 70 degrees year round.

[enuffs_enuffs]

4. And the savings!!!

Time to spend those pence... on a brand new SUV!

[mom cat]

7. Or photovoltaics!

[Ragin_mad]

5. I still have to wonder about all this CFC and HCFC causing ozone depletion

The theory is, the CFC's and HCFC's rise into the upper atmosphere where the chlorine molecule is released from the compund and then begins attacking the ozone. If all of thius is true, then why did they not ban the use of straight chlorine in swimming pools where it is used by the gallons and evaporates into the atmosphere ?

[jpak]

8. Chlorine gas and chloride in sea salt aerosols dissolve in rain drops

and are quickly removed from the lower atmosphere - they just don't make it to the stratosphere.

CFCs and HCFCs are insoluble and don't get rained out.

(short explanation)