Often used in science shows to lower the pitch of the human
voice, is sulfur hexafluoride the clean power industry’s “dirty little secret”
because it is a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide?
By: Ringo Bones
Ever seen those science shows on TV – now mostly on You Tube
– where the presenter uses a gas called sulfur hexafluoride to lower the pitch
of their voices like the opposite of what helium does? Well, unfortunately,
sulfur hexafluoride unbeknown to many of us, is a very dangerous greenhouse gas
– as in it possesses 23,500 times the atmospheric warming power of carbon
dioxide and could exacerbate the effects of global warming. Atmospheric scientists
had found out that concentrations of sulfur hexafluoride in our atmosphere had
been increasing during the past five years. But given it is a very potent
greenhouse gas, why is sulfur hexafluoride relatively widely available that
science show presenters can casually use it in a demonstration to lower the
pitch of their voices?
Due to the recent rush to wean our reliance on fossil fuels
in industrial electrical power generation – namely wind turbines, sulfur hexafluoride
is a necessity when it comes as fire suppressant in large-scale electrical
distribution systems – i.e. high capacity circuit breakers and relays. Given
that the alternatives are more damaging to the ozone layer – like the chlorofluorocarbon
based Halon –or prohibitively expensive when use in the scale we currently use –
i.e. the inert gas argon, it seems that the electrical power industry must now
find ways to minimize the leaking of large amounts of sulfur hexafluoride into
the atmosphere. Worst still, like most petrochemical derived plastics, sulfur
hexafluoride doesn’t break down easily in nature.
Given that the electrical power industry now has notice on
the potential problems posed by unnecessary leaking into the atmosphere of
sulfur hexafluoride, the due diligence doesn’t solely fall on them. Back in the
1990s, sulfur hexafluoride was used to fill the cushioning bubbles of running
shoes and who knows what other consumer products, making a renewed regulation of
sulfur hexafluoride throughout the various industries somewhat of an uphill
battle. Maybe science show presenters must now find other more earth-friendly
alternative gas to be used in demonstrations to lower the pitch of their
voices. Maybe the argon gas production industry could pitch in?
