As one can learn from many sources including Wikipedia, sulphur hexafluoride is a synthetic gas that is very effective as an insulating material for medium and high-voltage electrical installations.[1] Colorless and odorless, it prevents short circuits and other accidents. It is widely used across the industry, from power stations to wind turbines to electrical sub-stations in towns and cities. But it also has the highest global warming potential of any known substance. In particular, it is more then twenty-thousand times more warming than carbon dioxide, the gas at the center of global warming concerns. In addition, it persists in the atmosphere for a long while, warming the planet for at least a thousand years. In short, leaks of sulphur hexafluoride are just another nightmare facing the human species at the moment. Would that carbon dioxide were the species’ only problem at this juncture, not to mention methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone (“Bill Gates’ Equation,” May 21, 2016). Chances are that many more gases surpassing carbon dioxide will be invented before the end of this perilous civilization. As well as that they will affect life on earth for centuries and perhaps even millennia after that end. In the fullness of time, even sulphur hexafluoride may well look like a joke by comparison with other inventions to be harnessed by the mighty chemical industry. In short, forget about global warming and enjoy life while you can (“Enjoy Life While You Can,” February 22, 2014). For the foreseeable future, the human species is beyond anyone’s ken.

Footnote

1. URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulfur_hexafluoride (accessed on October 2, 2019).