A long way to go: minimizing the carbon footprint from anesthetic gases

Excerpt

Greenhouse gases (GHGs) are important contributors to global warming because they absorb and trap infrared radiation within the atmosphere. Anesthesiologists use potent GHGs – i.e., hydrofluorocarbons (sevoflurane and desflurane), chlorofluorocarbons (isoflurane), and nitrous oxide. Following their anesthetic use, these gases are scavenged from the anesthetic circuit and expelled into the atmosphere, where they can remain for decades. The global warming potential (GWP₁₀₀) compares the energy absorbed by 1 ton of a GHG relative to the energy absorbed by 1 ton of CO₂ over a 100-year period, with a higher absorbance indicating a worse effect.1 With a GWP₁₀₀ of 2540, desflurane absorbs far more energy than a comparable amount of CO₂.2 Conversely, the GWP₁₀₀ values for isoflurane, nitrous oxide, and sevoflurane are only 510, 289, and 130, respectively.2

…