Diesels might not be so bad after all?

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This is a new one, green energy might be the worst thing we've ever done?

'Dirty secret' gas boosts climate warming


I know a little about this as I was an Electrical Engineer certified for high voltage switching. The SF6 switch gear had recently come in when I took early retirement 20 years ago. Previously we had used oil filled switch gear which worked fine but the switches were bulky and you had to change the oil after so many switching operations to maintain the insulation levels. SF6 switch gear was relatively maintenance free by comparison so it's no wonder it has become the norm. There is probably a degree of media exaggeration in this SF6 story. In the 11,000 volt switch gear that I operated the SF6 was hermetically sealed inside the switch. If it was able to leak out then the switch would be no longer safe to operate. There are far larger quantities of SF6 in very high voltage switch gear used by the grid and that isn't hermetically sealed. I know that the operators are required to inspect high voltage switches for leaks on a regular basis.

Alternatives to SF6 do now exist but there is an awful lot of SF6 still in use.

The electrical distribution industry has been here before in the late 70's with PCB's which were once widely used in transformers and then banned when it was discovered they were carcinogenic .
 
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They’re telling us that SF6 emissions in Europe in 2017 were equivalent to the greenhouse emissions from 1.3 million cars. Sounds a lot until you see that in 2017 there were over 300 million cars in use in Europe.
 
They’re telling us that SF6 emissions in Europe in 2017 were equivalent to the greenhouse emissions from 1.3 million cars. Sounds a lot until you see that in 2017 there were over 300 million cars in use in Europe.
But it’s still 1.3m.......
 

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