NF3

Look out! Here comes another problem that you didn't know you had. Its called Nitrogen Triflouride (NF3). It is used in the manufacture of flat screen LCD and plasma TVs. It is 17,000 times worse than Carbon Dioxide (CO2) and its' emissions are unregulated. Holy Cow! We dumped tons of it into the air in the last year and expect to dump zillions more in the near future. You can be sure that regulations are coming. Just think what this stuff is doing to global warming. We will all soon be sweating like expectant fathers on delivery day.

You might think that this would be a perfect time to buy a new TV because, surely, the price will go up when regulations take effect. Not so fast! Of course, twenty or twenty-five years ago when CO2 regulations took effect, most of the metal casting business in the U.S. was taken over by unregulated firms in the Far East. That industry has never recovered, but that is another matter. I don't expect the price of TVs to spike; even with new regulations. You see, most of our electronics industry has already relocated in or quit competing with Pacific Rim countries. Thank Goodness, we don't breath the same air they do.