Ozone Depletion and Engineering?

Question

The Montreal Protocol contains provisions to reduce the global amount of ozone-depleting substances. What is the role of engineers in the implementation of the Montreal Protocol?

Chemists discovered the issue of ozone depletion, and it seems that engineers are forced to abide by these regulatory provisions.

I still think that engineers contribute to enhancing human activities, in this case, the well-being of the protective ozone layer.

Thank you.

Answer 1

I concur with Mavis b. In addition - -
I was a practicing refrigeration systems designer (ME) at the time. We made the changes at great cost not because it was good science and good policy, but because it was going to be the new law of the land. Now the cost of refrigeration and A/C has greatly increased and nobody knows if any real benefit has been the result or ever will.
The Protocol was the result of circumstantial evidence and first generation computer programs designed to show the future effect of a current trend if it continued. Chlorine molecules in the Freon - type refrigerants were fingered as the culprits supposedly "attacking" the ozone, making the hole larger. They acted like it was something they just found, but knowledge of the Ozone Hole was found by Dobson in mid -1940s. Well then over 40 years later the cowardly Chicken Little politicians got hold of it and away we went to save the future generations from a poorly defined threat.
The tragedy was compounded by the collateral banning of the Halon class of chemical agents which were the non-toxic and best fire suppression chemicals ever made.
The short-sighted Protocol exempted the "emerging third-world nations" like Mexico, India, China, etc from the ban. The same thing was done with the more recent Kyoto Protocol involving the Greenhouse gas scare which the current US Administration rightfully resists as being both technically flawed and environmentally hypocritical.
Before Montreal you could get your auto A/C serviced quite reasonably. Now, because of restrictions, licensing, mandated specialized equipment, it is very very expensive.

Answer 2

First, protecting the environment is every ones responsibility. Better designs using less material and energy are the engineers responsibility.
Second, the Montreal Protocol is causing more green house gas problems than it is fixing. Forcing the use of inefficient refrigerants and products that make machines use more power, causing power plants to burn more coal.
Third,
there isn't a shred of evidence that the ozone layer is deteriorating. The hypothesis was based on poorly collected data. In fact, recent study indicates that the ozone layer fluxes and is constantly repairing itself.