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Toward the design of greener consumer products
September 17, 2009So you're a manufacturer about to introduce a new consumer product to the marketplace. Will that product or the manufacture of the product contribute to global warming through the greenhouse effect? Until now, there was no clear way to answer that question. Scientists are reporting development of a new method for screening molecules and predicting how certain materials, ranging from chemicals used in carpeting to electronics, will contribute to global warming. Their study is scheduled for the Nov. 12 issue of ACS' Journal of Physical Chemistry A, a weekly publication.
In the new study, Timothy Lee, Partha Bera, and Joseph Francisco note that carbon dioxide is the main greenhouse gas, which traps heat near Earth's surface like the panes of glass in a greenhouse. However, other gases have the same effect, and in fact are even more efficient greenhouse gases than carbon dioxide. Scientists know that the molecules in gases differ in their ability to contribute to global warming. But they know little about the hows and whys - the molecular basis of those differences.
The scientists analyzed more than a dozen molecules involved in global warming to find out which chemical and physical properties are most important in determining their inherent radiative efficiency, and thus possess the largest potential to contribute to global warming. They found that molecules containing several fluorine atoms tend to be strong greenhouse gases, compared to molecules containing chlorine and/or hydrogen. They found for the first time that molecules containing several fluorine atoms bonded to the same carbon increase their radiative efficiency in a non-linear fashion. "It is hoped that the results from this study will be used in the design of more environmentally friendly materials," the study notes.
American Chemical Society
American Chemical Society
Global Warming Current Events and Global Warming News RSSOceans' uptake of manmade carbon may be slowing
The oceans play a key role in regulating climate, absorbing more than a quarter of the carbon dioxide that humans put into the air.
Research challenges for understanding landscape changes identified
Nine research challenges and four research initiatives that are poised to advance the study of how Earth's landscapes change were unveiled today in a new report by the National Research Council.
Study: Sea stars bulk up to beat the heat
A new study finds that a species of sea star stays cool using a strategy never before seen in the animal kingdom. The sea stars soak up cold sea water into their bodies during high tide as buffer against potentially damaging temperatures brought about by direct sunlight at low tide.
Drug industry, nonprofits join forces to fight world's neglected diseases
Drug companies and nonprofit organizations are joining forces to develop new drugs and vaccines to target so-called "neglected" diseases that claim millions of lives in the developing world each year.
Health care accounts for 8 percent of US carbon footprint
The American health care sector accounts for nearly a tenth of the country's carbon dioxide emissions, according to a first-of-its-kind calculation of health care's carbon footprint.
Cave Study Links Climate Change to California Droughts
California experienced centuries-long droughts in the past 20,000 years that coincided with the thawing of ice caps in the Arctic.
Reducing greenhouse gases may not be enough to slow climate change
Because land use changes are responsible for 50 percent of warming in the US, policymakers need to address the influence of global deforestation and urbanization on climate change, in addition to greenhouse gas emissions.
Past climate of the northern Antarctic Peninsular informs global warming debate
The seriousness of current global warming is underlined by a reconstruction of climate at Maxwell Bay in the South Shetland Islands of the Antarctic Peninsula over approximately the last 14,000 years, which appears to show that the current warming and widespread loss of glacial ice are unprecedented.
Climate variability impacts the deep sea
Deep-sea ecosystems occupying 60% of the Earth's surface could be vulnerable to the effects of global warming warn scientists writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Interactions with aerosols boost warming potential of some gases
For decades, climate scientists have worked to identify and measure key substances -- notably greenhouse gases and aerosol particles -- that affect Earth's climate.
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