scholarly journals Projections of hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) emissions and the resulting global warming based on recent trends in observed abundances and current policies

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guus J. M. Velders ◽  
John S. Daniel ◽  
Stephen A. Montzka ◽  
Isaac Vimont ◽  
Matthew Rigby ◽  
...  

Abstract. The emissions of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) have increased significantly in the past two decades, primarily as a result of the phaseout of ozone depleting substances under the Montreal Protocol and the use of HFCs as their replacements. Projections from 2015 showed large increases in HFC use and emissions in this century in the absence of regulations, contributing up to 0.5 °C to global surface warming by 2100. In 2019, the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol came into force with the goal of limiting the use of HFCs globally, and currently, regulations to limit the use of HFCs are in effect in several countries. Here, we analyze trends in HFC emissions inferred from observations of atmospheric abundances and compare them with previous projections. Total CO2-eq inferred HFC emissions continue to increase through 2019 (to about 0.8 GtCO2-eq yr−1) but are about 20 % lower than previously projected for 2017–2019, mainly because of lower global emissions of HFC-143a. This indicates that HFCs are used much less in industrial and commercial refrigeration (ICR) applications than previously projected. This is supported by data reported by the developed countries and lower reported consumption of HFC-143a in China. Because this time-period preceded the beginning of the Kigali controls, this reduction cannot be linked directly to the provisions of the Kigali Amendment. However, it could indicate that companies transitioned away from the HFC-143a with its high global warming potential (GWP) for ICR applications, in anticipation of national or global mandates. A new HFC scenario is developed based on current trends in HFC use and current policies in several countries. These current policies reduce projected emissions in 2050 from the previously calculated 4.0–5.3 GtCO2-eq yr−1 to 1.9–3.6 GtCO2-eq yr−1. The provisions of the Kigali Amendment are projected to reduce the emissions further to 0.9–1.0 GtCO2-eq yr−1 in 2050. Without current policies, HFCs would be projected to contribute 0.28–0.44 °C to the global surface warming in 2100, compared to 0.14–0.31 °C with current policies, but without the Kigali Amendment. In contrast, the Kigali Amendment controls are expected to limit surface warming from HFCs to about 0.04 °C in 2100.

Author(s):  
Peter Singer

There can be no clearer illustration of the need for human beings to act globally than the issues raised by the impact of human activity on our atmosphere. That we all share the same planet came to our attention in a particularly pressing way in the 1970s when scientists discovered that the use of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) threatens the ozone layer shielding the surface of our planet from the full force of the sun's ultraviolet radiation. Damage to that protective shield would cause cancer rates to rise sharply and could have other effects, for example, on the growth of algae. The threat was especially acute to the world's southernmost cities, since a large hole in the ozone was found to be opening up each year over Antarctica, but in the long term, the entire ozone shield was imperiled. Once the science was accepted, concerted international action followed relatively rapidly with the signing of the Montreal Protocol in 1985. The developed countries phased out virtually all use of CFCs by 1999, and the developing countries, given a 10-year period of grace, are now moving toward the same goal. Getting rid of CFCs has turned out to be just the curtain raiser: the main event is climate change, or global warming. Without belittling the pioneering achievement of those who brought about the Montreal Protocol, the problem was not so difficult, for CFCs can be replaced in all their uses at relatively little cost, and the solution to the problem is simply to stop producing them. Climate change is a very different matter. The scientific evidence that human activities are changing the climate of our planet has been studied by a working group of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), an international scientific body intended to provide policy makers with an authoritative view of climate change and its causes. The group released its Third Assessment Report in 2001, building on earlier reports and incorporating new evidence accumulated over the previous five years. The report is the work of 122 lead authors and 515 contributing authors, and the research on which it was based was reviewed by 337 experts.


Author(s):  
Salsabil Islam ◽  
Md. Sohan . ◽  
Faysal Ahmed ◽  
Zabun Nahar ◽  
Md. Rabiul Islam

Background: Studies of the pharmacotherapeutic pattern on schizophrenic patients are few clinical therapy is one of the bases for the assessment of the treatment of Schizophrenia. Objectives: This study aimed to analyze the demographics of these patients along with current trends of drug prescribing practice in Bangladesh. Methods: This survey was conducted over 6 months at the National Institute of Mental Health, Dhaka, Bangladesh, and Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, Dhaka, Bangladesh. A total of 250 subjects were investigated and their prescriptions were verified to obtain necessary information regarding pharmacotherapy. Non-cooperation and negative consent lead to exclusion from the study sample. Results: Out of 250 patients, the frequency of female patients was higher (54.4%) than that of the male patients (45.6%). Therefore, the gender ratio was female-biased. We found that 63.6% of the patients suffering from schizophrenia were above 25 years old. The treatment approach of schizophrenia includes pharmacotherapy and or psychotherapy. In this study, we found that the highest medication used in the treatment was antipsychotic drugs (n=388, 46.58%) followed by anticholinergic drugs (n=217, 26.05%) and anxiolytic drugs (n=172, 20.65%). Conclusion: The overall prescribing method for schizophrenia in Bangladesh complies with the authorized practiced guidelines and treatment pattern of the developed countries as well as authorized guidelines.


Author(s):  
Swapan Kumar Patra

Multinational Enterprises usually keep their crucial R&D close to their home base. However, recent trends show that MNEs are increasingly offshoring their R&D activities. A couple of decade ago this R&D offshoring phenomenon was mainly restricted in the developed countries. Since early 1990’s this paradigm has changed and many Multinational firms prefer developing countries as their R&D destination. Among developing countries, India and China are favorable destinations for many MNEs. The R&D alliance trends of foreign firms show that, in India they prefer Indian domestic firms and in China, they prefer universities and government research institutes. Government of both these countries should take policy measures to strengthen the linkages between foreign firms and local actor of innovation system. Also, innovation is no longer restricted to or confined within a firm’s border. Firms are acquiring knowledge from outside its boundary by “Open Innovation Mode.”


2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (9) ◽  
pp. 6317-6330 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dimitrios K. Papanastasiou ◽  
Allison Beltrone ◽  
Paul Marshall ◽  
James B. Burkholder

Abstract. Hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) are ozone depleting substances and potent greenhouse gases that are controlled under the Montreal Protocol. However, the majority of the 274 HCFCs included in Annex C of the protocol do not have reported global warming potentials (GWPs) which are used to guide the phaseout of HCFCs and the future phase down of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). In this study, GWPs for all C1–C3 HCFCs included in Annex C are reported based on estimated atmospheric lifetimes and theoretical methods used to calculate infrared absorption spectra. Atmospheric lifetimes were estimated from a structure activity relationship (SAR) for OH radical reactivity and estimated O(1D) reactivity and UV photolysis loss processes. The C1–C3 HCFCs display a wide range of lifetimes (0.3 to 62 years) and GWPs (5 to 5330, 100-year time horizon) dependent on their molecular structure and the H-atom content of the individual HCFC. The results from this study provide estimated policy-relevant GWP metrics for the HCFCs included in the Montreal Protocol in the absence of experimentally derived metrics.


Author(s):  
Luciano A. Catalano ◽  
Fabio De Bellis ◽  
Riccardo Amirante

Although Ozone Depleting Substances (ODS) were banned with the Montreal Protocol in 1987, current refrigeration plants can not be considered sustainable for the environment. ODS have been in fact substituted by gases with high Global Warming Potential (GWP). Among many alternatives, inverse Joule Brayton air cycle had been already implemented and tested for refrigeration purposes. In the open cycles described in the available literature, the operating fluid (air) is firstly compressed by a bootstrap (volumetric) compressor and then processed by a second (centrifugal) compressor and cooled; then, it is expanded in a turbine which drives the centrifugal compressor and discharges a cold flow which can be used (directly or indirectly) for refrigeration purposes. In this work, an inverse Joule Brayton air cycle has been studied with the employment of turbocharger units. Experimental tests have been performed in order to reproduce the state-of-the-art with a small automotive turbocharger unit. Measurements show Coefficient Of Performance (COP) smaller than unit together with minimum turbine exit temperature equal to −10°C. This is due to low components efficiency: the analysis of turbine and turbocompressor maps highlights a non-optimal coupling between them. Secondly, basing on these considerations, two new air cycle layouts are proposed and analyzed. Calculations performed by means of a thermodynamic model show that higher COP and lower cycle minimum temperature can be achieved with the proposed new cycles by means of better turbine and turbocompressor matching and bigger turbocharger units with higher components efficiency.


2014 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 383-406 ◽  
Author(s):  
VALBONA MUZAKA ◽  
MATTHEW LOUIS BISHOP

AbstractThis article challenges conventional narratives that suggest that the travails in the Doha Round, the shift to bilateral free trade agreements, and the broader unfolding of the global crisis collectively presage the decline of either the WTO or the broader institution of multilateral trade. We question the extent to which recent trends can indeed be said to constitute a genuine crisis of trade multilateralism by reflecting upon the contradictory and ambiguous nature of the multilateralism of the past, and also upon how contemporary multilateralism has been framed with reference to it. Our main finding is that, in contrast to the many short and medium-term symptoms which tend to appear in the conventional story of multilateral decline, there is actually a far more worrying long-term trend which underpins the varied conflicts that characterise contemporary trade politics: the fundamental lack of a shared social purpose between the developed countries and the more powerful emerging countries on which a stable, equitable, and legitimate edifice of multilateral trade rules can be erected, institutionalised, and enhanced.


Author(s):  
Chiaku Chukwuogor Ndu

This paper examines recent global trends of foreign direct investment (FDI) flows and the benefits derivable by the recipient countries. Some of The developed countries of the West, Japan and China are the greatest recipients of FDI flows. There has been dramatic increase in FDI flows to developing countries in Asia, Latin America and the transition countries in Europe. In general developing countries are still unable to attract significant FDI. Africa’s share of the FDI flows though slightly on the increase has been abysmally low. The identifiable reasons for this trend were highlighted. To achieve a more balance flow of FDI in the 21st century, a concerted effort should be made by international organizations, leading world government, multinational enterprises and governments of developing economies, through dialogue and negotiations to encourage multinational enterprises to diversify their investments across developing economies otherwise marginalized by globalization and liberalization.  


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dimitrios K. Papanastasiou ◽  
Allison Beltrone ◽  
Paul Marshall ◽  
James B. Burkholder

Abstract. Hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) are ozone depleting substances and potent greenhouse gases that are controlled under the Montreal Protocol. However, the majority of the 274 HCFCs included in Annex C of the protocol do not have reported global warming potentials (GWPs) that are used to guide the phase-out of HCFCs and the future phase-down of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). In this study, GWPs for all C1-C3 HCFCs included in Annex C are reported based on estimated atmospheric lifetimes and theoretical methods used to calculate infrared absorption spectra. Atmospheric lifetimes were estimated from a structure activity relationship (SAR) for OH radical reactivity and estimated O(1D) reactivity and UV photolysis loss processes. The HCFCs display a wide range of lifetimes and GWPs dependent on their molecular structure and H-atom content of the individual HCFC. The results from this study provide reliable policy relevant GWP metrics for the HCFCs included in the Montreal Protocol in the absence of experimentally derived metrics.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 678 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuai Zhang ◽  
Dajian Zhu ◽  
Jiaping Zhang ◽  
Lilian Li

In the “full world” and Anthropocene, global ecological consumption is beyond natural capital’s regenerative and absorptive abilities, and ecological consumption of humanity has to be reduced to have an ecologically sustainable future. To achieve the goal of ecological sustainability, influencing factors that could reduce ecological consumption need to be explored. Based on three panel datasets for the time period 1996–2015, this paper estimates the impacts of urbanization, renewable energy consumption, service industries, and internet usage on ecological consumption for all 90 sample countries, the 42 developed countries, and the 48 developing countries. Education and income are taken as control variables in the panel regressions. As a consumption-side indicator, the ecological footprint is selected to measure ecological consumption. The estimations find that (1) urbanization has negative impacts for all sample countries and the developed countries, and it is insignificant for the developing countries, (2) renewable energy consumption and service industries have negative impacts for all of the three samples, and (3) internet usage has lagged negative impacts for all sample countries, and it is an independent and significant force of reducing ecological consumption in the developing countries rather than the developed countries. It is found that there is a positive linear relationship, an inversed U-shaped relationship, and a U-shaped relationship between ecological consumption and income in all sample countries, the developed countries, and the developing countries, respectively. The estimated results provide guidance for evidence-based policymaking on reducing ecological consumption.


Economics ◽  
2015 ◽  
pp. 321-343
Author(s):  
Swapan Kumar Patra

Multinational Enterprises usually keep their crucial R&D close to their home base. However, recent trends show that MNEs are increasingly offshoring their R&D activities. A couple of decade ago this R&D offshoring phenomenon was mainly restricted in the developed countries. Since early 1990's this paradigm has changed and many Multinational firms prefer developing countries as their R&D destination. Among developing countries, India and China are favorable destinations for many MNEs. The R&D alliance trends of foreign firms show that, in India they prefer Indian domestic firms and in China, they prefer universities and government research institutes. Government of both these countries should take policy measures to strengthen the linkages between foreign firms and local actor of innovation system. Also, innovation is no longer restricted to or confined within a firm's border. Firms are acquiring knowledge from outside its boundary by “Open Innovation Mode.”


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document