Verification of fluorinated greenhouse gas emissions from Ireland

National emissions estimates for HFCs 23, 32, 125, 134a, 152a, 143a and 227ea; PFCs 14 and 116 and sulphur hexafluoride during 1995 and 1998 have been developed for Ireland. The most significant of these have been verified against Irish source strengths calculated independently by inverse modelling from continuous observations of their atmospheric concentrations at Mace Head, Co Galway. The method of estimating emissions involved firstly using macroeconomic parameters to calculate the quantities used in Ireland based on known European usages of the compounds. In the case of the HFCs which replace ozone depleting substances (ODS), the Irish usages were verified at this stage against historical data for consumption of ODS. Emissions were then calculated using standard global functions that have been extensively tested in other work. Similar estimates were also made for emissions of HCFCs 22, 141b and 142b that are emitted from Ireland in much larger amounts than the Kyoto greenhouse gases. The higher emissions, however, afforded a more rigorous assessment of the methodologies for estimating emissions and verification by inverse modelling.