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Action plan to phase out consumption of HCFC is on track: Ramesh

September 17, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

New Delhi, Sep 16 (ANI): Union Environment and Forest Minister Jairam Ramesh said on Wednesday that India has developed a comprehensive Road Map and Action Plan to phase-out of production and consumption of Hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) in various sectors.

Addressing the gathering during the 15th International Ozone Day here Ramesh said: “The Government of India has taken a number of policy measures, fiscal and regulatory, to encourage the early adoption of alternative technologies in this area by existing and new enterprises.”

Ramesh hailed the Montreal Protocol as the most successful international treaty to ever achieve universal participation.

“At a time when the world is trying to solve the problem of climate change, the International Ozone Day provided a timely reminder of how international cooperation can help to solve major global environmental problems,” Ramesh added.

India is one of the first developing countries to join the Montreal Protocol and pledge its commitment to protect the Ozone Layer.

As a part of the accelerated phase-out of CFCs, India has completely phased out the production and consumption of CFCs as on 1 August 2008, 17 months prior to the agreed schedule.

Ramesh informed that over 97percent of controlled Ozone Depleting Substances (ODS) have been phased out by the Montreal Protocol.

“The end of 2009 will mark another significant milestone in the history of its implementation, with the use of potent ODSs -CFCs, Carbon Tetra Chloride (CTC) and Halons, except pharmaceutical-grade CFCs used in the manufacture of Metered Dose Inhalers (MDIs) – being ceased completely,” he said

The CFCs required for manufacturing for MDIs used by Asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) patients are still available in India, a national transition strategy to phase them out by 2013 is currently under implementation.

“The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), with support from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the World Bank recently also launched the India: Chiller Energy Efficiency Project to accelerate the conversion of CFC-based chillers using new, more energy efficient technologies,” Ramesh said.

This year’s theme for the ozone day was ‘Universal participation – Ozone protection unifies the World.’ (ANI)

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‘Laughing gas’ leaves ozone layer in splits

August 28, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, August 28 (ANI): A new study has determined that nitrous dioxide, popularly known as ‘laughing gas’, has now become the largest ozone-depleting substance emitted through human activities, and is expected to remain the largest throughout the 21st century.

The study was authored by A.R. Ravishankara, J.S. Daniel and Robert W. Portmann of the NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL) chemical sciences division.

For the first time, this study has evaluated nitrous oxide emissions from human activities in terms of their potential impact on Earth’s ozone layer.

As chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which have been phased out by international agreement, ebb in the atmosphere, nitrous oxide will remain a significant ozone-destroyer, the study found.

Today, nitrous oxide emissions from human activities are more than twice as high as the next leading ozone-depleting gas.

Nitrous oxide is emitted from natural sources and as a byproduct of agricultural fertilization and other industrial processes.

Calculating the effect on the ozone layer now and in the future, NOAA researchers found that emissions of nitrous oxide from human activities erode the ozone layer and will continue to do so for many decades.

ESRL tracks the thickness of the ozone layer, as well as the burden of ozone-depleting compounds in the atmosphere. It maintains a large portion of the world air sampling and measurement network.

NOAA scientists also conduct fundamental studies of the atmosphere and atmospheric processes to improve understanding of ozone depletion and of the potential for recovery the ozone layer.

“The dramatic reduction in CFCs over the last 20 years is an environmental success story. But manmade nitrous oxide is now the elephant in the room among ozone-depleting substances,” said Ravishankara, lead author of the study and director of the ESRL Chemical Sciences Division in Boulder, Colorado.

The ozone layer serves to shield plants, animals and people from excessive ultraviolet light from the sun.

Thinning of the ozone layer allows more ultraviolet light to reach the Earth’s surface where it can damage crops and aquatic life and harm human health.

Though the role of nitrous oxide in ozone depletion has been known for several decades, the new study is the first to explicitly calculate that role using the same measures that have been applied to CFCs, halons and other chlorine- and bromine-containing ozone-depleting substances.

According to scientists, nitrous oxide is also a greenhouse gas, so reducing its emission from manmade sources would be good for both the ozone layer and climate. (ANI)

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Two-thirds of Earth’s ozone would have disappeared by 2065 in simulated world

March 20, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, March 20 (ANI): A new simulation has shown that if 193 nations had not agreed to ban ozone-depleting substances, then nearly two-thirds of Earth’s ozone would have been gone by the year 2065.

The simulation was developed by atmospheric chemists at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, and the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, Bilthoven.

Led by Goddard scientist Paul Newman, the team simulated “what might have been” if chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and similar chemicals were not banned through the treaty known as the Montreal Protocol.

The simulation used a comprehensive model that included atmospheric chemical effects, wind changes, and radiation changes.

Ozone is Earth’s natural sunscreen, absorbing and blocking most of the incoming UV radiation from the sun and protecting life from DNA-damaging radiation. s it is moved around the globe by upper level winds, ozone is slowly depleted by naturally occurring atmospheric gases.

It is a system in natural balance.

But, chlorofluorocarbons invented in 1928 as refrigerants and as inert carriers for chemical sprays, upset that balance.

Researchers discovered in the 1970s and 1980s that while CFCs are inert at Earth’s surface, they are quite reactive in the stratosphere (10 to 50 kilometers altitude, or 6 to 31 miles), where roughly 90 percent of the planet’s ozone accumulates.

UV radiation causes CFCs and similar bromine compounds in the stratosphere to break up into elemental chlorine and bromine that readily destroy ozone molecules. If 193 nations had not signed the Montreal Protocol in 1989, simulations predict that by 2065, nearly two-thirds of Earth’s ozone would have been gone, not just over the poles, but everywhere.

By the simulated year 2020, 17 percent of all ozone is depleted globally, as assessed by a drop in Dobson Units (DU), the unit of measurement used to quantify a given concentration of ozone.

Then, an ozone hole starts to form each year over the Arctic, which was once a place of prodigious ozone levels.

By 2040, global ozone concentrations fall below 220 DU, the same levels that currently comprise the “hole” over Antarctica.

By the end of the model run in 2065, global ozone drops to 110 DU, a 67 percent drop from the 1970s.

The ultraviolet (UV) radiation falling on mid-latitude cities like Washington, D.C., would have become strong enough to cause sunburn in just five minutes.

Also, DNA-mutating UV radiation would have gone up 650 percent, with likely harmful effects on plants, animals and human skin cancer rates.

“We simulated a world avoided, and it’s a world we should be glad we avoided,” said Newman. (ANI)

Filed Under: Science News Tagged With: atmospheric chemical, atmospheric chemists, Atmospheric Gases, bromine compounds, chlorofluorocarbons cfcs, dobson units, elemental chlorine, environmental assessment agency, goddard space flight, goddard space flight center, johns hopkins university, montreal protocol, nasa goddard, natural sunscreen, Ozone Depleting Substances, ozone molecules, radiation causes, radiation changes, space flight center, unit of measurement, uv radiation, wind changes

Action plan to phase out consumption of HCFC is on track: Ramesh

‘Laughing gas’ leaves ozone layer in splits

Two-thirds of Earth’s ozone would have disappeared by 2065 in simulated world

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