Chinese air conditioner manufacturers widen Earth’s ozone hole

Implications:  

Keith Bradsher in Hong Kong reported in the March 15 issue of the International Herald Tribune that a coalition of countries were pushing for limits on use of HCFC-22, a key component of inexpensive Chinese refrigerators. On Wednesday, March 14 the United States, Argentina, Brazil, Iceland, Mauritania and Norway told the Ozone Secretariat of the United Nations Environment Program that the dangerous refrigerant should be phased outer sooner than previously planned. Micronesia too wants an earlier end to the use of HCFC-22, a Chlorofluorocarbon that depletes the ozone layer and thus accelerates global warming. The island nations of the Pacific as well as those with low-lying coastlines are concerned lest their land disappear beneath the waves. Sateeaved Seebaluck, environmental secretary for Mauritius said, “that whatever touches the climate has to be dealt with fairly quickly.” The problem is that demand for refrigerators in China and India has been rising at the rate of 35%/year. Experts predict the trend could last through 2016. But no one agrees on what should replace HCFC-22. Environmentalists claim that chemical companies should use ammonia or carbon dioxide that are less damaging to the ozone layer. These chemicals do not produce the profit of more efficient chlorofluorocarbons and are thus less attractive to industry. David Doniger, climate policy director at the Natural Resources Defense Council said that new refrigerator designs use less of HCFC-22 and therefore help the environment. The European Union phased out these refrigerants in 2004. Other countries will phase them out by 2020.

Analysis: If indeed we are in a sustained period of global warming, the world will need more air conditioners. China is more interested in selling them than in plugging the ozone hole. A big country, it can easily afford to lose some of its coast line. The elevation of China’s major coastal cities is relatively high anyhow. India is mostly highland too. But coastal Bangladesh is vulnerable. All of the Pacific islands, which number in the thousands could be in trouble too. Air conditioning or not, all of those low-lying places are at risk of flooding. But that may not happen for decades. Maybe even centuries. Equally important to people living in the torrid zone is keeping cool. Many are unconcerned about the island nations. Thus the dilemma. The Hadley Centre of the United Kingdom Meteorological Office predicts a maximum sea level rise of 50 centimeters per century if present temperature trends persist. Five centimeters/year is hardly worth worrying about. Mother Nature, as we know, is often capricious. We could embark on an extremely expensive campaign to hold back the waves only to discover that we are plunging willy-nilly into the next little ice age. As for Micronesia’s 110,000 people living on 602 islands, typhoons pose a greater threat than global warming. Hydrochlorofluorocarbon (HCFC) refrigerants are technological wonders whose usefulness greatly exceeds their dangers. Western industrial countries may phase out HCFCs by 2020 but Chinese air conditioners look to be here to stay.